Happy New Year, 2021.......

 

Lol, these are pretty good ~ if I could find wine labeled that way, I would buy a few for friends. :-)

So, here we are, on day 3 following the vaccine.  I did have a headache (not a bad one) off and on yesterday.  Today my arm is still a tiny bit sore, but mostly I don't notice. 

I have no idea why, but this soundtrack is the epitomization of 2020 to me.  It is sad, soulful, beautiful.   And if you've never watched 1917, you should.  The story of a simple soldier during WWI.  It is not factual, but was inspired by stories of the "runners" during that war. 

(It starts off very slowly and quietly, you'll need to give it a minute)

I can't help but grieve for all those that have died this year ~ the doctors, nurses, grandmothers and grandfathers......our parents and our children.......our neighbors, friends, co-workers.  I will remember you always.

Love, 365

Day 1 following the vaccine....and other stuff because the former is boring.......

 

It has been roughly 24 hours since I received the first shot.  The only thing I've noticed is that my arm is sore.  There's a bit of swelling surrounding the injection site, and some muscle soreness.  I've been working it out to reduce the soreness, but it is still there.  I experience the same issue with the flu vaccine, so ~ so far, there is nothing.  No headache, no fever.  I'm relieved!  This is my employer paid vacation and I really didn't want to spend even a day feeling like crap.

 

For more info, go here....

Turkey feather blankets were commonly found in New Mexico, Arizone, Colorado and Utah.  I don't know what I expected them to look like (feathers tied to a cord?  sort of flapping in the breeze) but the above photo gives you an idea.....

If you would like to read this article, click on this link ......

 The woman pictured here is an anthropologist with the New Mexico Department of Cultural Affairs.  She had to teach herself how to make the yucca cording, and how to weave the feathers into the cord.  It took her 18 months to complete it.  Not too bad considering we do not have the daily lives of the Puebloan Indians during 700AD to around 1200AD.  The turkeys were not killed to harvest their feathers, they were "harvested" during their natural moulting period.  I remember being rather surprised when my professor mentioned they didn't eat the turkeys, although they did eat their eggs.   Ms. Weahkee is now working on a turkey feather raincoat that uses the wing fletch feathers for it, given that they repel water.  Ok, thanks for indulging me!  I just love this kind of stuff.....

Lol, this is supposed to be a funny meme, but for Romeo and I, it's more of a testimonial. 😁  Do we drink and party? no  Do we go out to other people's parties? no  Do we hit the sack around 10-10:30. yes

So there ya go, our plans for New Years Eve.....

Love, 365

 

Ending 2020 in the best way.....

 

The Child (photo from Disney.com)

 Our youngest son ~ who is as obsessed with science fiction as we are ~ recommended we subscribe to Disney+ for a month or two to watch The Mandalorian.  This is a Star Wars series, so if you hate Star Wars, you can scuttle off to another blog, haha.  It is really very good.  We've been glued to it the past few days, but are trying to pace ourselves to watch one or two episodes every evening.  We will finish it in a day or two, but I will re-watch while doing my daily treadmill workout.  

I swear there are times I feel like Penny on The Big Bang Theory...you've no idea how many times I've come home and there he is watching one of the many Star Wars movies AGAIN.  I usually immerse myself in a book or a game and try to ignore it, or go to my office and watch something else.  Seriously, how many times will my nerdy husband re-watch these things?

As I said in an earlier post, I baked like mad and gave away cookies, fudge, and cranberry nut bread.  My neighbor reciprocated with the most unusual item.......

 An amaryllis bulb, covered in wax that is guaranteed to bloom ~ without watering.  Curious, no?  I'd never seen anything like it, but I haven't been shopping in a long time.  Mostly I just run in and out with the item I needed.  Have you every seen one of these?  It will be cool to see it bloom.

This is the week off our employers gave us.  There's no one at the office....the dentists are alternating being on call for emergencies.  And they paid us ~ unprecedented.  And according to our office manager, never to be repeated, haha.  I think we are all hoping that they (the dentists) enjoy the time off as much as we do.  Perhaps it will happen again!  We'll see.

I am being vaccinated tomorrow with the Moderna vaccine.  I will let you all know how it goes, although as with the yearly flu vaccine, some folks don't feel well for a day or two, where others suffer from no more than a sore arm.  I really don't want to feel sick during my time off, so here's hoping!

Love, 365

Merry Christmas everyone!

 

                                                        Image from Legacy Icons

Well!  Here we are at Christmas Eve!  We are attending a service today ~ tomorrow ~ and Saturday.  Yep, that is, as I've heard from one of my Orthodox friends "a lot of church", lol.  Old calendar Orthodox will celebrate the nativity on January 7th.  New calendar Orthodox like myself will stick with the 25th of December.  It is both humorous and confusing, at least to me.  Gregorian calendar (which is the one most of the world uses) was established by Pope Gregory in 1582, to modify and correct errors in the Julian calendar (yep, named for Julius Caesar).  I love history, but I thought it best not to subject you to more than this, unless you are interested, go here.   

We did not buy each other gifts this year.  This was a relief to Romeo, who unfortunately really sucks at picking out gifts.  No matter how many hints I give!  Some years I've bought the gift, let him wrap it, etc.....   He never wants gifts, every year he says there's nothing he wants.  For all I know I may suck at gift giving too, so there's that!

It has been very cold.  Nights in the teens, highs in the 30s or 40s.  No snow, which surprised me when we first moved here.  I thought we would more often than not have a white Christmas, but in the last 25 years, it's only happened a couple of times.  When living in San Antonio (Texas) we sometimes had temps in the 70s at Christmas.   

I have stopped baking.  It is not very fun anymore!  I have given away 85% of it, and still need to finish baking the cookies I started on Sunday.  I'll get to those eventually, and will give those away too, but the recipient won't get them until after Christmas.  I just didn't have time.  

Today marks the first of 11 days I have off until Jan. 4th.  Our dental office has given us a week off, paid.  We were all so excited, and ready.  This has been an exhausting year, and very stressful.  We got the word that we will soon be able to get the vaccine if we want it ~ they aren't making it mandatory.   We have a few that aren't going for it, because they believe it's been developed too quickly.  We also have a couple of folks that believe all the conspiracy theories that it will be "the mark of the beast" and all that nonsense.  I don't know when we will be scheduled, but perhaps soon?  Even though I am not a hygienist or assistant, I do come in to contact with 20-30 patients a day.  I take their temperature which it close contact, although only for 1/2 a minute or so, then we distance for the screening questions (fever-cough-difficulty breathing-loss of sense of taste or smell-exposure to anyone positive-pending Covid test-travel outside the state in the past 14 days).  We still have people who will come in without a mask, or wearing it under their nose.  And people still give us "the look" when we ask them to put one on (we supply if they don't have one) or to wear it over their nose.  What the heck?  It's been nearly 10 months!  One young guy grumbled how we are going to clean his teeth with his mask on.....the educational system isn't really doing it's job in our state. 

                                And now.....

Merry Christmas to you all!

Love, 365

Time for a few decorations..........

 

Merry Christmas from Sioux, and all of us to you......

I did not put up the tree, but after a monumental effort of hauling out the decor boxes ~ because they are way back in the closet in my office ~ I scrounged through and picked out some things to put up.  Then once I had put up the items I had to put the storage boxes back, because I wouldn't even be able to walk without stepping over it all.  What a giant pain in the arse.  Next weekend I will look and see if any of the tree lots have fresh garland.  If not, well, that's OK.

Romeo wants Louisiana gumbo for New Years, and now I want it today :-D  I probably ought to get lunch after I finish this!  

It has been quite cold, and we did have a few snow flurries this morning, but I think the snow is done.  The high today is supposed to be 35 ~ it's 30 right now ~ I doubt we will hit 35 unless the sun comes out, which it hasn't done yet.  The perfect day to do a few chores, and curl up in my chair with my book.  I don't have much else planned except baking bread for a friend.  Oh, and I had planned on cleaning the stove top, but that may end up waiting until tomorrow.

I am really trying my best to find some Christmas cheer ~ it's quite a struggle.  I hope all of you are doing a better job than I am!  

Off for lunch ~ have a great week!

Love, 365

Didn't I do that yesterday?.......

 

Lol, I love Dachshunds.  This popped up on my Facebook feed as a memory from a couple of years ago.  Aren't they the cutest?

As I sat down to my aging and slow (like slug slow) computer, reading everyone's new posts I then turned to my own and was surprised that I hadn't written anything in over a week.  I could have sworn I wrote a few days ago......I guess I did it in my head while baking.   :-D

And I have been doing a lot of baking, because there just isn't enough $$ for purchasing gifts.  I'm making sourdough, cranberry nut bread, and cookies cookies cookies.  I did spring for some plastic bins to give them away in with little reindeer and ornaments ~ they were a little over a dollar each.  I would like to go to Home Goods for a birthday gift, but they are closed.  New Mexico has decided to give us a color coded Covid rating and right now we are "red", meaning the highest restrictions.  Sigh.

Lol, agreed....

 

I'm happy to be off until Thursday, I took a few days off with the thought of baking, but after today I think I'm done!  So, unless Romeo asks for more cookies........... (which is likely).  

I do have a haircut this afternoon, so I will be delivering cookies and cranberry bread, and I'm planning to give some to the neighbors.  

And how about those phishing emails?  I've had two in the past week that really freaked me out.  I am still working on removing an old email address from stuff I subscribe to.  I had no idea I had used it in so many places.  The plan is to delete the email as soon as that's done.  I guess I've had that particular email for over 20 years, and it has been hacked a few times (despite the stupidly long and random passwords I use).  

Woo hoo!  I am off to bake some cookies, and then go outside!  Exciting....

Love, 365

The short weekend......

 

Apparently my Grandson's new fascination is with cookies, lol.  And it's his new favorite word 😊

So it's a good thing I've made some to send to them with a family yard game, Yardzee....a funny play on the Yahtzee I guess.  I still have one more batch of cookies to bake, and hope to send it all out next week.

Even though the holiday season has begun, I just don't feel it yet.  Maybe I won't.  I'm still trying to decide if I want to put up the tree.  Or maybe I'll just do decorations.  I just don't know!  Romeo leaves all that stuff up to me, which tells me he doesn't care one way or the other ~ he'll be happy either way.  It's just the two of us, after all, so I guess I'll go with what I feel like doing!  

Work is still going on, nothing new is going on other than patients cancelling because they've got Covid, or been exposed to it.  It's happening a bit more regularly these days ~ not really surprising.  Patients also cancel if they aren't feeling well, which is fantastic really.  It's tough to keep the schedule full, but we do the best we can, and from the news on the dental grapevine, this is true across the board.  

I spent yesterday after work helping my friend make spanikopita for our church bake sale.  I am happy to report I know how to make it now, haha!  Wow, there's a lot of butter in it.  It's not a diet kind of dish, but we baked one to see if it was alright (although I pointed out that there's nothing we can do about all of the trays of it she and I put together) but wow, it was delicious.  The phyllo is crispy and browned, the filling is so good!  We will be eating ours sometime between Christmas and New Years.  

Have any of you watched The Crown, the most recent season?  This is the one that deals both with Thatcher and Charles and Diana's marriage.  What a disaster.  Of course we are feeling sad for Diana.  She was so horribly unhappy.  And why not, with your husband continuing his affair with Camilla.  The royal family never embraced her, or helped her adjust.  And I never had any idea of how driven Thatcher was, and that drive made her many enemies.  Although I watched the entire season, I must say it didn't really bring me any joy ~ although it was very entertaining.

Last weekend we watched "Away" which I loved.  How disappointing that it won't have a second season.  Recently started watching "The Queens Gambit".   I so enjoyed the first few episodes, it's quite different from what you see on tv.  It will be interesting to see where they take the story.

Well, I best get on with cookie baking!  

Enjoy your weekend!  Love, 265

Thankful, but I'm making some changes for next year.......

 

Come on, Bluebird of happiness.....

I hope you all had a wonderful Thanksgiving!  We had a good time and stuffed ourselves with turkey and stuffing ~ despite the fact our turkey was a bit dry (because when I unwrapped it, it was still fairly frozen and I over cooked it).  This was the first time I made stuffing from scratch, because when I bake sourdough, we cube what ever is left of the bread from the week before and freeze it, so I had quite a bit to work with.  Why do I always make 3x amount of stuffing than we need???  Truth: I don't like previously frozen stuffing.  Romeo might eat it though.  But I'm not doing turkey and stuffing next year.  Perhaps homemade lasagna.  Or make pizza on the grill.  I think I'm done with turkey for a couple of years.

Unfortunately I have been having some issues with my left hip.  At first I thought I had pulled a muscle in my back, but I think it's the hip.  I'll have to discuss physical therapy treatment with my Doc, hoping I can strengthen it on my own.  I always take a lot of vitamin D, and I also know I have osteopenia ~ the dreaded precursor to osteoporosis.  

We spoke to the boys, and everyone is doing well.  My youngest had a negative Covid test (another thing to be thankful for!  His boss had been exposed, but prior to that knowledge he just wasn't feeling great.  It was probably just allergies, but we are all paranoid these days.  Mom is doing well, and my niece is in her final week ~ or days! ~ of her pregnancy.  It will be her first, and we are all very excited!  My sister made the tough decision not to go right now, she didn't want to put anyone at risk, but she is sad and disappointed.  For now she is planning on April, but will wait and see how things go.  

Well, I need to do a bit of black Friday shopping for my Grandkids.  I already bought a yard game for the family ~ yatzee.  It looks like a lot of fun.  When I visit in March, I hope we take in a game or two 😃

Love, 365

Happy Thanksgiving to all of you!

I have lots to do ~ but mostly just preparation today.  Tomorrow the house will smell wonderful.  Even though I was initially unhappy that Romeo bought such a big bird (16 lbs), I have embraced the dinosaur turkey he brought home.  Apparently smaller turkeys were much more popular this year due to fewer family and friends around the table this year.  Here in our house, it will be the same turkey day we've had for the past 4 years since our youngest son moved back to Texas.  Romeo and I and the ever faithful dog, sharing and laughing, and calling all of the family to stay in touch.

Given the surge in Covid cases, you would think everyone would get the message, but no.  They had a video of our airport, and it was both a surprise, and not a surprise .....  right?  Ms Loud has admitted that the virus is more contagious, but she still thinks masks are a waste of time, and if you do get the virus, you'll be over it in a coupla days, no problemo!  This is partly due to her daughter becoming infected (she is an EMT, has high exposure rates) but not really becoming very sick from it.  One of the reasons she is now more convinced than ever that masks are useless is due to the fact that her daughter always wears a mask.  She and her uncle are going to her sister's house for Thanksgiving, where there will no doubt be at least 10 people.  I will be keeping my distance from her next week. 

Luckily my pie is already done, and it won't be quite as good as it would be if I baked it tomorrow, it's one more thing I don't have to do today!

Stay safe y'all!  Be thankful for all the blessings ~ isn't that what this holiday is all about?  

Love, 365

Live & learn.....

 

This isn't my bread, but it is very similar.  I was so disappointed that I spent nearly the entire day doing all the steps and it didn't come out the way I wanted.  However, it was edible and delicious, so my friend says it's not a "fail".  Very nice to say, but no....I wanted all my efforts to produce the bread texture I wanted.  I am spoiled and not very patient with myself 😏

This past week has been very difficult.  I think that Romeo is feeling the stress of all the Covid crap and is not sleeping well.  He is worrying too much, and I told him that worry never solves anything.  Easy to say, not so easy to do. And for some reason I have felt very fatigued this week.  I was supposed to do something on Saturday that I sent a last minute email letting them know I just couldn't.  Which I don't normally ever do.  So maybe I'm letting stress and worry get to me too. 

Friday my chef friend and I got together ~ something we do every 2 weeks ~ and we made this:

Blueberry filling (made from scratch), then lemon curd (made from scratch), then swiss meringue .......

The most fun is browning the meringue with my torch.  Guys aren't the only ones who like playing with fire 😁  We also made sweet potato vegan scones which were surprisingly delicious, because for the most part I don't seem to like vegan stuff.  But For the next 30 days I'm on a vegan diet, so.....well, except for Thanksgiving.  We have turkey, and the pie, biscuits, gravy, cranberry, salad...plenty.  We have much to be thankful for.  

I hope all of you have a great Thanksgiving, even though we are likely not getting together with large groups (or any groups at all).  Be safe, wash your hands, wear your mask, and for pete's sake, don't touch your face.

Love, 365

The pursuit of perfection......

 

It sure looks pretty, doesn't it?  And it is, and it was delicious and wonderful.  Sourdough baking has become the thing to do during the isolation of Covid.  In April there was one or two sourdough facebook groups....I don't know how many there are now, but it's certainly more than 2!  The people (yep, men too) in those groups are always working to improve the bread ~ it could be the scoring....

Or the different flavor combinations.....

Sage and gruyere

carrot

 

Yep, and even chocolate.  My goal is this:  

Don't get me wrong, there isn't anything wrong will my previous loaves.  But no matter what I do, I haven't been able to achieve this open crumb.  Oh, there's an open area here and there, but it's not been as consistent as the loaf above.  But, wow, is it time consuming.  I started this morning at about 8:30.  It's now 12:30, and I think I'm about halfway through the process.  IF I achieve this type of crumb, I'll only do it on my 4 day weekends, because that first day of making the bread will require me to be home and not too involved in some other project.  

Unfortunately our governor has locked us down for two weeks.  So, bars and restaurants will be closed through the end of November.  Grocery stores, department stores, churches are reduced (again) to 25% of capacity.   I may have expected this to happen, when the outside is cooler and in our case windy, but I wish it wasn't happening.  I won't know how it will affect my hours at work until I go into the office on Tuesday.  It may not affect us at all ~ our staff has been texting all these different opinions, but generally we follow the NM Dental Association guidelines.  

I certainly hope that all of you are wearing your masks, staying home, and washing your hands.  I don't have so many friends that I can afford to lose any of them.  And hey!  I hope to be here too.....

Love, 365

And now for an update in our dental practice......

 

As all of you that have been reading my blog should know, I work in the dental field.  I'm not an assistant or a hygienist, just to be clear.  I'm the one who bills your insurance, makes your appointments, and tells you how much your next visit will cost you.  Oh, and answers your questions about which insurance to pick during open enrollment, gives you advice on whether or not that bothersome tooth requires an appointment.  And calls your insurance for you for details that you could get on your own.  Lol.

The hygienists were off for three months, but the rest of us ~ dentists, assistants and front desk staff were still working, although on an abbreviated schedule (8 hours per week instead of 34).   When we re-opened to full time, it was a little scary.  But as the weeks went by, the routine became.........well, routine.  We took temperatures, asked screening questions, that sort of thing.  But in the last 3 weeks, we have been getting reports from patients ~ my husband was exposed at work, so we all need to reschedule our appointments, etc.  I had one patient exclaim he contracted covid from our office, and when I pointed out to him that he was at our office ONE day before his positive test, he changed his tune a bit.  He never even called us to report his positive test.  The hygienist spent an hour cleaning his teeth.  And the very same hygienist saw a patient that had a positive test this week.  So, she had to go and get a rapid test on Monday so that she could be cleared for Tuesday ~ which cost the office $500.  Can you believe the cost of that?  Gouging much?

Her test was negative.  

The point of all of this is ~ we are doing everything we can to make our office safe for you.  If you have doubts, ask your dental office what they are doing to keep it safe for you. Everyday we "fog" the office with a salt based acid spray to disinfect the areas we can't reach (the tops of cabinets for example).  Every week we have professionals come in and do it for us.  We wipe down the door handles, the thermometers, the counter tops all day long.  We all wear masks all day long (unless someone can't hear me on the phone, but I put it back on after the call is over).  We screen each other every day.  We ask patients to cancel if they aren't feeling well.  Yesterday I had to catch a patient as she was getting ready to come in and explain that her friend called us to let us know that one of the ladies she had lunch with on Sunday had been exposed, so we need to reschedule her.  We added a questions to our screening to include "do you have a pending covid test?" because we discovered one day that a patient had just that, and hadn't received the results yet.  

We believe we have seen patients that aren't symptomatic and luckily, due to the measures we have in place, none of us have become sick.  Of course, we all hope this continues to work, but our bosses warn us every week to resist the urge of complacency.  One misstep and we could be shut down for two weeks.

Be safe out there, be reasonable.  Wear your mask and wash those hands often.  

Love, 365

"F" that......

 

Ah, the "f" word.  Y'all know which one I mean.  Even kids do.  Lots of people use this word a lot.  Although I used to use it ~ although not a lot ~ I've worked hard to erase it from my vocab.  It's hard to change old ingrained habits, sort of like quitting smoking 😉

At first I had limited success.  You don't realize how it becomes your go-to word for those moments until you're trying to stop.  It has taken me nearly a year, and I still slip up although rarely.  I think it's a horribly ugly word that has tragically become an every day expression for a great many people.  

I recently added three comedy channels to my Sirius radio, which I found when I was traveling to and fro from Texas.  Do you ever listen to adult comedy?  I guess comedians think it's not really funny unless they use that particular word ~ although they use lots of others that are as bad.  Jim Gaffigan is one of the few really funny comedians that doesn't ever use it...there are others, but the majority put "f" this and that in all of their routines.  It really disappoints me.  With thousands of words at our disposal, I guess people feel the need to be shocking and foul.  =sigh=

Well, there it is.  My little rant for today.  Am I too sensitive?  Or maybe I've become an old grandma.

Love, 365

He doesn't like being an angel.......

 

Look closely at my angel grandson here........yep, there are tears.  I asked his Mom how long she was able to keep them on him, and she said 2 or 3 minutes and he cried the whole time.  Dang, but he is so super cute........

Apparently he is going through not wanted to get dressed or have his diaper changed.  When I was on the phone with my son I could hear him in the background 😀 complaining.  

I remember a kid ~ Jonathan ~ who lived in the duplex where we lived too,  always running around the neighborhood in his underwear and a towel for a cape.  Jonathan was famous for coming up to our screen door and yelling "You know what???" even if he couldn't see anyone.  We still talk about Jonathan, who is probably 38 years old now.  Ugh, that makes me feel old.  Oh, wait!  I am technically considered old.  Ba humbug.

Love, 365

Ruidoso, New Mexico.....

 

 

This view of the lake is one of my favorites...

 

A very sweet Texas lady helped us with this photo.....where it looks like we're choking the dog 😁

 

 A wee bit of color in the woods.....

Another beautiful view....

There were pluses and minuses on the condo.  

    Pluses: Deer, turkey, birds were all over.  Some of the deer were very tame and allowed people to touch them.

                Amazing views...

                Fairly quiet.....

                Open woody areas for hiking/walking the dog....

                Inexpensive, with a full kitchen so we didn't have to eat out......

 

    Minuses:  The outside lights came right through the flimsy curtains, so it was like having a full room night light.....

                There was no soap for the shower (which I felt they should have let us know ahead of time)...

                The sofa and chair were so worn out it made your back hurt after 30 minutes, but the tv wasn't in the bedroom.......

                 The shower head, omg, sprayed water every where.......

                 A charge of $50 if you don't wash up the dishes ~ there was a dishwasher but no soap for it....

                They put us right next to the office, so there wasn't much privacy when we were out on the deck (which was most of the time when we weren't out and about).  The family who ran it had kids, and one little girl thought it was fun to sit and watch us......to be fair, she did get bored after a few hours... 

 

Next time we go we are going to rent one of the cabins in town.  These condo's were obviously high end back in the day ~ there was a jetted tub that worked at one time.  It's just so run down!  Ah well, lesson learned.  We had a good time relaxing and it was so good to get away.  The minuses were minor inconveniences really.  Or, we could stay in Cloud Croft, which is a very small town not far from Ruidoso.  

 

Enjoy your weekend!

Love, 365

 

P.S. I voted early not long after the early voting began.  I've been amazed at all the folks that have dusted off their voting plans and have gone out there!  Records are being set all over ~ I believe I heard Texas has over 9 million early votes!  So, don't be shy, get out there!!

 

 

The good, the bad and the wonderful.....now for the wonderful..

 

 

I know it doesn't look white like snow, but it is....

 

Look closely ~ those sun shades/picnic tables are the same as they were in the 1950s when Romeo's family first visited...These were designed by Lyle Bennett, who also designed the visitors center.

 

Sioux with her goggles on.....she did ok but we did have to adjust them constantly...

 

Oh, Romeo, my Romeo......💞

Yeah, that last one...oh, how I dislike having my picture taken.  

Although we arrived in Ruidoso on Sunday, we took off for White Sands on Monday morning.  The weather was perfect, and we hiked bare foot!  Not many places you can do that.  The people had a lot more fun than the dog.  She didn't really like all that sand, but you'd have to ask her to know why!

 

I will post more photos and stories this weekend.  

Love, 365

“The truth is, of course, that what one regards as interruptions are precisely one’s life.” CS Lewis....

 

My Mom's thimbles.......

It is still fairly raw, cleaning out my Mom's house.  Mom is in assisted living now, and bedridden, although we are hoping that she will regain a small bit of mobility in the months to come, with physical therapy. 

 My sister and I placed Mom's house for sale, but first it needed a new roof (thankfully covered by insurance) and repair of an area with water damage.   The first full weekend there were over 7 offers on the house.  Two of them cash offers.  We settled on one cash offer from a man buying the house for his son who works nearby, also giving his mother (son's Grandmother) a place to stay when she goes into town to see her doctors.  He did not care about having an inspection, saying he would take care of any repairs that come up.  To say that we were blessed with that offer is an understatement!  The cash offer meant that closing is quick, easy.  So, Mom's house is now someone else's house, which is sometimes difficult to come to terms with.  I suppose the next time I'm in town it'll be weird not to go "home".

We are preparing for our trip out of town to Ruidoso, probably a 3 1/2 hour drive from our house.  It's just a get out of town and be somewhere else trip.....we plan to hike, and walk, and visit White Sands.  

A photo of the balcony of the condo where we are staying in Ruidoso.....this is from their web site.

Also from their web site, a photo of the outside.......

White Sands National Monument, photo from their website.  I hope to take some great photos there too!  We haven't been to White Sands in 20 years, so I'm excited to go!

Of course we are taking the doggo with us, and Romeo bought some "doggles" to protect her eyes while we're in White Sands.....

This is not Sioux (I'll try to get a few photos of her with them on, but these are what they look like).  Not exactly sure why Romeo thought it necessary to buy these for her, but he's been getting her used to them with varying success.  She'll be ok with them when we're on our walk, but once we get close to the house she tries to get rid of them by shaking her head or rubbing on our legs 😀

Our trip is not too long, a three night stay, but nice to get out of town without having to comply with a two week quarantine afterward ~ which we are supposed to do if we travel out of state.  Not sure this makes any sense, considering we are experiencing an uptick in cases here as is everywhere else.  😟 

 We will be cautious, and take our own pillows (although I'm not sure this will make any difference at all), and take our Lysol wipes, etc.  I'm not going to go crazy with that sort of thing though.  

Have an amazing weekend y'all, and hopefully I'll have some amazing photos when we return!

Love, 365

Autumn musings.......

Normally we would be enjoying the last day of the International Balloon Fiesta here in Albuquerque this past Sunday, but like so many other things, not this year.  

The same weekend of the Balloon Fiesta, my church produces the Greek Festival.  Of course I knew this was cancelled in April, because that's when we start baking and preparing for all of the baked goods that are sold.  

I'm sure all of you have felt the loss of the special events held in your town, or the one down the road.  So, perhaps we won't take things for granted next year.  But we still have Thanksgiving and Christmas this year.....but it's normally just Romeo, me and the dog then anyway.  I still feel bad for all those who won't be able to travel to see their families.

Garden update: Oh, boy does the tomato plant look awful.  But last weekend I saw a large fruit that was beginning to ripen.  So, last night I went out to check on it, and some critter had eaten half of it.  So, the ugly tomato will be unceremoniously ripped out today or tomorrow.  I still have peppers that are ripening and a pimento that is nearly ready to pick.  I just hope the critter doesn't like pimentos!  Romeo thinks it's the squirrel that had taken residence in the tree of the house next door ~ it is still empty after our neighbor passed away this past summer.  I'm not sure why the house is still on the market, houses are selling quickly here.  

We did get some great news at work on Wednesday's monthly meeting ~ the Docs have decided to give us all some time off at the end of the year, so after Dec. 23rd, we will be closed until January 4th.  And we'll be paid!  We were all very happy and grateful.  And, yes, surprised since this hasn't exactly been a banner year.  A bright spot to finish off a rather dark year....

So!  Today is the first day of my vacation until October 26th.....a greatly needed break!

Have a great weekend!

Love, 365
 

The start of the last season.......

 

Here we go with the last season, and the first season of the spin off, The World Beyond.  It both excites and repulses, you know?  The train wreck analogy....you just can't turn away.  

It's been a really nice break from work.  I have more scheduled for November and December.  Next time I take off a Tuesday instead of a Thursday, for reasons that aren't worth explaining.  Best of all we leave for Ruidoso in two weeks.  It's only a few days, but it will be so nice to get out of town!  

I can't believe that we still have our a/c on.  Usually by this time we have turned it off and put the warming pad on the bed.  Oh, wait, there's no global warming right?  That's just a myth.

My youngest son asked me who I was planning to vote for, and I had to say that it'll be the best of two awful choices.  It was a great conversation we had ~ he is not much of a talker!  Spoke to my eldest too, and wow, you could hear the chaos in the background...that comes from 3 boys under the age of 7.  

Tried a new recipe for snicker doodles that were yummy.  I made them much smaller than the recipe called for.  Can you imagine an 8 ounce cookie?  The whole batch would have made a total of 12 if I had done it the way the recipe called for.  As it was I got 28.

That's it!  I've got nothin' else!  Stay safe, be kind and generous to those who need it.  Love to you all...365

Fall came and then went on vacation ......

 

We went hiking last Monday ~ this is one of the photos I took (probably the best one).  Off in the distance is the Kiwanis cabin built by the Civilian Conservation Corps (or CCC as it is commonly known) around 1930.  It is quite tiny in the photo.  If you want to learn more about it, go here.

We had a great day, the sun was warm, but the temperatures mild with just the slightest breeze.  A few weeks ago we had a very windy evening and night with gusts up to 70+.  The results of that were the Aspens that were at the top had all of their leaves blown off.  The forest floor was covered with them.  Luckily there are plenty more that were in a more protected places that are beginning to take on their golden fall colors.  They were only just started to turn when we were there....

 

Beautiful, isn't it?  That is Sioux and Romeo on the trail.  We both tripped and both of us skinned our right knee ~ I found it funny afterward, although I wanted to take a hammer to the root that I tripped over, haha.  Romeo slipped on one of the rocks which have had so many people walk across them that they are smooth and very slippery with a fine coating of dust on them.  It is so dry, that the soil is very like powder.  My ankles and halfway up my calves were coated with it when we got back in the suv to go home. 

Our weather teased us with cooler days ~ in the 50s in the morning to the low 80s to high 70s for a week, but this week the temperatures have climbed back up to the 90s.  Fall is starting out slow, summer still seems to have a firm grip on us.  It has been a very very long summer, and those of us that are ready for cooler weather are ready for it to go!  I do have friends that hate seeing summer end, although I'm not sure if they like for it to be uncomfortably hot or just prefer the longer days ~ I've already noticed it's darker in the morning when I get up.  We all like longer days.....

Although all is going along, sometimes well, sometimes not......I am concerned about the spike in cases in France, India, Israel and other places.  I've heard opinions that here in the states we will probably have another shut down.  I certainly hope not!  Like everyone else, I am ready to be able to step outside without a mask, hug people, be able to converse without feeling like I have to yell to make myself heard. 

We did have a patient that "went off" on us this past week, her husband and son have the same name, and when the claim was posted to the insurance web site I inadvertently posted her son's claim under her husband's name.  She was really po'd, even though she had, right off the bat, stated that the insurance company had resolved the issue based on OUR efforts.  This was a person who just kept berating us for minutes on end, and didn't allow us to have any part of the conversation.  We kept trying to interrupt, but she wasn't having any of it, and was very rude to all of us.  Which resulted in her being booted from the practice.  I was a tiny bit surprised, but honestly, why should anyone have to put up with that type of behavior?  It's still a free country, we don't have to keep on with people that treat the staff like that.  I wrote the "dismissal letter" (because I'm the writer of stuff that comes out of the office for some reason) and the reason given was that we strive to have a positive relationship that is open and honest with our patients where everyone involved is respectful to each other.  So, there she goes.  We all were speculating on if she responds to every "insult" (how dare we make a mistake!) she encounters.  Our consensus was yeah, she does.  Probably because most of the time it works, and she gets what she wants, although in our case, I'm not sure what she wanted.  For us to grovel before her feet perhaps?  :D

Every other Friday I go over to a friend's house to bake.  The Greek Orthodox church we both are members of has a very nice commercial kitchen, and makes good use of it.  When we aren't in a pandemic, we bake goods for the Greek festival (cancelled this year), Festival of Tables (also cancelled, and is a fundraiser for the women's philanthropic group), baptisms, weddings, etc.  The reason we are "practicing" is because Tula (Greek much?) has retired from the position of handling/organizing menus/maintenance....in fact she moved to Austin.  My friend has been given the dubious honor of taking over for her, and she is in the process (the one thing the pandemic has been a blessing, so she didn't get thrown in) of developing some new baked goods, menus, etc.  She is also "training" me to help her out.  I can bake, no question.  But she is a trained cook, has her culinary degree, and knows much more than I do. 

Yesterday we made these pavlova shells (bottom right) and meringue kisses.  Aren't they gorgeous?  It's a lot of fun even if it is exhausting to work from 7:40 - 2, then go and bake for 5 more hours.  Still, fun fun, and I need some fun!  These particular meringue kisses have been flavored (very delicately I might add) with watermelon flavoring.  I can't wait to try them!

May you all have a great weekend!

Love, 365

    

Contentious with a hint of blue skies....

 I wish I knew who the photographer is on this photo, but just so pretty.

It has been a lovely Friday.  Went to get my hair cut, then to my friend's house to watch the men's final of the U.S. Open (tennis).  Romeo was feeling a little bit neglected I think....    A big factor is that it's my Friday off.  😛

Ms Loud took Thursday off, so it was nice to have a little break.  Did I tell you before that she is talking about retiring in January?  I think I did ~ and as wonderful as that would be, I think it's just hot air.

I had asked our OM for 3 to 4 additions to my PTO (paid time off) in lieu of a raise, and although I don't think that will happen, she did give me and one of my other co-workers 3 more paid days off this year.  I will take it!! I already asked to be off on Oct. 1.  No rhyme or reason, just a day off, giving me 5 days in a row instead of 4 on one of my 4 day weekends.  I am so spoiled.  

So, although the world at large is still a stressful place ~ especially with the election rhetoric heating up ~ there have been a few bright spots here and there to keep me from running around screaming.  Which might scare Romeo, not to mention the neighbors.

I hope all of you have a few bright spots too.  Enjoy your weekend!

Love, 365