A Howling Good Day!

Yesterday, something amazing happened.  I was upstairs getting ready for my day; the dogs were downstairs.  As usual, Ty was barking at Brenna trying to get her to play.  All of a sudden, the two of them were howling, howling, howling, just like wolves.  I have no idea what set them off; there were no sirens or anything going off.  Neither of them has ever howled before.  But, there they were, just howling at each other like crazy.  It was really funny, but also an amazing sound.  I loved the music they were making together.  It was awesome.

So, let me catch up with myself.  What's been going on....I've been attending my Transitions cancer support group and really enjoying it.  Tonight is our last night together until we have a reunion dinner on Nov. 20.  It will be weird not to be with these women every Tuesday.  I also have been going to the Thursday night group.  It's a tougher one for me because there is a friend in the group who is declining, and I may not see him again.  We all are trying to deal with this, and deal with it as a group as well.

I have started physical therapy to try and fix the pain in my bones.  I had my annual exam with my PCP, Dr. Lynam.  He did all kinds of exams (blood, ekg, etc.) and everything is wonderful.  I'm a healthy 62 year old...except for a low Vitamin D level.  He told me to take 2000 mg of Vit. D every day.  Two things that a low Vit. D level can cause are bone pain and impaired cognitive issues.  Yea!  These are the two things in my life that bug me the most, so maybe if I can get my Vit. D level up to normal the bone pain will stop and my inability to concentrate will improve.  Whoo-hoo!

Our friends from Ephrata, Dan and Barb, were here for the weekend.  Their two granddaughters live here and were celebrating their 2nd and 3rd birthdays on Sat.  We went to the party, too, and it was fun.  Then the four of us went to Trinacria for dinner.  That place it just so delicious it's almost indescribable.  Quite yummy.  Sunday Barb went to babysit, Dan and Mark played golf, and I worked on stuff around the house.  Just my regular daily routine.  Mark and I also had to take Leonard (our truck) back out to Nisqually to try and get the cruise control fixed, again.  So, Monday night, we went out to pick up the truck and eat at the Nisqually Bar and Grill.  We watched Monday Night Football, and we were there late enough (7:00 p.m.) to play the free Bingo they have on Monday nights.  I won a drinking game with shot glasses and a spinner.  I hadn't played Bingo since I was in elementary school.

Mark just called and he is not going to be going to MT at all now.  The project that has kept him so busy for almost a year now still is not finished and, therefore, he cannot leave.  There are just way too many moving parts, parties and people involved in this thing for it to ever get done, I think.  Oh well.  Hopefully he can take the week of Thanksgiving off and go then.  We shall see.

So, that's it for now.

On being lost in Olympia, and turning 62 (I forgot)

Sometimes I feel like I have gotten 'lost' in Olympia.  I forget to check my email.  I forget to write to friends.  I seem to be 'involved' in something here that takes up my time, but I have not figured out what it is, other than living day to day, and enjoying it.  I do feel bad, though, that I seem to have been out of touch with all the friends we have around the country.  I also don't seem to have 'time' to write in my blog every day...so I have to do these catch-ups.

So, the last time I was here it was Mark's birthday.  We did not go out to dinner that night because he was in meetings all day, and someone had sent out for pizza for lunch and then someone else brought in brownies and ice cream...so he wasn't hungry.  We went out on Friday, instead.

The day after his birthday I woke up with a screamer of a migraine.  I went to work at Weight Watchers, but fortunately was able to come home early.  I spent the day in the dark and then went to bed early.  Friday proved even more fun -- I woke up with my 15th or maybe 20th bout of cellulitis; I've lost count now.  I went to work, though, and then to the lymphedema therapist, and then she got me in to see the doctor.  Back on antibiotics for ten days.  Whoo-hoo.  Thanks to the cancer support groups I'm going to now, I am handling these late-term effects better, I think.  Well, at least I'm getting angry about them now, openly wishing they would just go away and leave me alone.

On Oct. 6 we went to a fundraiser for Wolf Haven.  It was a very nice evening of local wine tastings and hors d'ouvres.  We bought some raffle tickets and actually won a huge (1 gal.) custom engraved bottle of old vine zinfandel from a winery in California.  The ventnor and his daughter were at the fundraiser (she goes to school here at Evergreen State College), so we got to meet and talk with him.  He made us promise to drink the wine and not just hold onto it, so we will.  We probably will have the folks who work with Mark and sold us the tickets to the fundraiser over for a big spaghetti dinner and have the wine then.  That would be fun.

Mark got in a round of golf the next day, and the way the weather has turned lately, it may have been his last round for a while.  We definitely are experiencing 'typical' Pacific Northwest weather right now.  That evening our friend Susan came over for dinner and we had a really good time, as always.

Mark's sisters, Mary Kay and Ann Lynn, came over on Monday to spend a few days with us.  All four of us were supposed to go on Wednesday to Seattle to meet up with our nephew, Kristian, and go see the King Tut exhibit.  Unfortunately, Mark had to work, so he didn't get to go.  MK, AL and I left at 7:30 a.m. and decided to follow the directions provided by MK's Garmin GPS.  What a mistake!  It took us almost three hours to get to Bellvue to pick up Kristian, and we went on some really roundabout ways.  Nice scenery, though.  We laughed, and had a good time, but it was crazy.  At one point we were going 2.8 mph in a 60 mph zone.  Instead of having a nice brunch, we ate at a McDonald's and then headed to the exhibit.  The exhibit was really good, but the highlight for me was getting to see naked mole-rats again!!!  I didn't know there were were NMRs at the Seattle Science Center, but I sure was glad to see them.  They make me laugh so hard, they are so funny!  Then Kristian took us out for an incredible seafood dinner at Seastar in Bellvue.  It was amazingly declicious.  The ride home was fast and uneventlful -- we made it in about an hour and a half.  The only excitement was just south of Tacoma when nine police cars went whizzing by in the opposite direction.  Something major was going on, but we never found out what it was.

On Thursday MK and AL went shopping at the giant Joanne's store here, and I stayed home and worked on stuff around the house.  That night we went to this terrific little hole-in-the-wall Italian restaurant downtown called Trinacria (it's the word used for the three corners of Sicily).  The chef doesn't speak much English, but boy, can he cook!  We each had a different dish, all tomato based, and not a hint of any dish tasting remotely like another.  Very unique flavors.  Quite, quite good.

After dinner we did our birthdays celebration thing (Mark the 3rd, me the 12th, Mary Kay the 21st).  Mark gave me a Samsung Gallaxy II tablet!  Yea!  I still haven't opened it; maybe tomorrow.  I need to have time to sit down and read the instructions, because I am so technically illiterate/challenged that I know it's going to take me quite a while to figure out how to use it.

MK and AL took off Friday morning, so I just ran errands and did stuff I hadn't done all week, so just sort of my basic day -- except for the fact that it was my 62nd birthday (I almost forgot that part; sheesh).  We ate at home because we'd been eating out so much lately.  We grilled shrimp along with fresh veggies from our neighbors' garden.

I'm trying to remember what we did Saturday -- I think Mark went shopping for his upcoming trip to Montana and I worked around the house trying to catch up.

Sunday our friend Des stopped by for a couple of hours on his way from Snohomish to Eugene.  It was fun; we watched the Seahawks game on fast forward (yea! no commercials!).  After he left, Mark and I went and looked at cafe tables for the eating area in the kitchen/family room.  Then we came home and Mark tried a new 'grilling' method for steaks (it was a recipe from the wine guy we met at the Wolf Haven fundraiser).  The steaks turned out amazing!  First you heat up a cast iron skillet in a 500 degree oven, then you put the skillet on high heat on the stove, throw the steaks on for 1-2 minutes each side, then put them into the oven for another 2-3 minutes and voila!  Perfect steaks.  Oh yeah, first you let them marinate in Kosher salt for an hour...  They really were more than delicious.  We're pretty sure we won't be regular grilling steaks anymore.

And that brings me up to today!  I went out and did my errand-running, as usual.  I bought a table and chairs for the kitchen/family room.  We got Mark's truck back, but the cruise control still doesn't work.  We ate dinner at Nisqually Bar and Grill, again.  It wasn't crowded tonight like it was two weeks ago when the Seahawks were playing on Monday Night Football and we were dropping the truck off to get fixed.  And, as always, I am hoping to get my act together this week...we shall see.

And that's it for now.

Mark's birthday, Dragon fruit and other stuff

Today is Mark's 58th birthday.  Happy Birthday, Markie!  We will celebrate at Red Robin, we're just not sure if we're going tonight or another night.  He loves eating at Red Robin, plus he gets a free Gourmet Birthday Burger there.  Whoo-hoo!

I bought a dragon fruit, but I haven't eaten it yet.  It is really pretty and I have never had one.  Maybe we'll eat it tonight.  I thought I took a picture of it, but it was actually a video.  I think I need to learn how to use my point and shoot camera....

My Tuesday night Transitions group is going along quite well.  I am learning lots of things about lots of stuff; facing old isses and looking forward to new experiences.  The women in this group are amazing (there are only women in this group, though men could attend; there just didn't happen to be any this session).  Some of them have been to hell and back and are still standing.  I'm not sure I would be.  Tomorrow night is a mixed group.  There's a different dynamic on Thursdays, but equally as amazing people.  It's good to get different perspectives from so many people and both genders.

We went to a really fun wine tasting party at our friends Jon and Jules' house last Friday.  Ten very good wines to taste, delicious food to go with them, and lots of people, some from southern California and some from upstate New York, along with the usual locals.  Great conversations and lots of laughter.

We have been puppy sitting a seven year old black Lab, Coot, and a three year old English setter, Goose, since last Thursday.  They will be going home this coming Sunday.  Ty has been having a great time playing with Coot.  And Goose is learning to run with Ty when they are outside.  Brenna is not all that happy about having two other 'women' in the house, but she's dealing with it.  It's kind of fun having four dogs in the house again, though it does tend to limit some goings and doings.

I have been pretty tired and fatigued today, and it has been one of my 'hurt all over' days.  I even took a nap on the couch this afternoon.  Then I got up and took myself for a walk around the neighborhood.  It is gorgeous outside, crisp, sunny.  Lovely day.  And from door to door around my neighborhood is exactly one mile, so it's a perfect distance to just get myself moving.  I'm glad I went.

I have some assignments from my groups to work on, all of which require me to sit down, read, think, and write -- all things that are difficult for me to do these days.  But, I will, because I want to.  So maybe I'd better get started.

And, that's about it from here.

Taking a breath...

I've been busy, and I've been thinking about things.  I'm having a hard time getting my thoughts together/in order so that I can actually think about the things I am thinking about.  It's quite confusing and frustrating.  But, there is a lot going on in my head right now.  A lot of it has to do with the many people I am making friends with in the various cancer groups I am participating in, and also how I am reacting in/feeling due to these gatherings.  I'm glad I am doing this, but it is beginning to be hard -- thinking about things, facing things, that sort of stuff.  And it's going to get harder as a few of my new friends may not be here very much longer, and I am so not good at dealing with death.  Of course, I think that's part of why I am doing this, too.  I need to learn to cope with death, or at least figure out why I have such a hard time with people dying.  That's just part of what's going on in my head...  I am hoping to have some quiet time to myself this weekend to sort of sit and ponder, maybe write down things as they come to me and start sorting through things.

So, I managed to leave my car lights on while I was at work this morning.  Dumb.  I finally got hold of Mark to come and rescue me.  We're going back tonight to jump start the car.  We'll probably take the puppies with us so they can have a fun truck ride.  They love riding in the truck.

Our friends Dan and Barb were here last weekend.  We attended their grandson's 1st birthday party with them.  It was fun, and tasty -- perfectly grilled steaks.

I went to a farewell lunch this week for our cancer group yoga teacher.  She is moving to Portland to start a more restful and less busy life.  She is very happy about the move, but we all are very sad to have her leave.  I have a feeling the yoga group will begin to disband.

Our gorgeous summer weather is rather quickly turning into fall.  I am hoping to wrap my head around this change, too, as I want to keep a happy face about non-sunny and warm weather.  I have always enjoyed fall, it's just that the weather we have been having has been spectacular, the kind everyone wants all the time.

Anyway, I need to go get things gathered up and start preparing dinner. So, that's it for now.

Beach Day!

So, Mark and I and the puppies went to the beach Saturday!  This was my first trip to the WA coast, and the puppies' first visit to a beach ever.  They had a blast -- running, running, running.  It was a very warm and sunny day here, but the beach was overcast, cool and breezy.  It was terrific.  It was a nice drive, very little traffic, and pretty much a deserted beach.  We had lunch at The Green Lantern.  Good burger with a toasted bun (makes all the difference).  Saturday night and Sunday were pretty ordinary -- watching TV on two different levels Saturday night, Mark played golf on Sunday, and I puttered around the house and then ran errands and went shopping for a new pair of sport shoes.  Of course they had to be ordered because of the narrow width, and then today the store called to tell me they are backordered and not sure when they will be able to get them.  Oh well.

Today was just another regular day -- I have no idea why I seem to always be running errands, but I do.  Today was no different.  Another oh well.

The puppies are enjoying a rawhide chew bone right now, and I'm going to go finish cleaning up the kitchen.  I may even try reading something tonight, since my evening wrapped up fairly early (football started at 4:30, so it's been a quiet night for me downstairs...).

And that's it for now.

Lots of fun lately

It's been the regular sort of stuff lately, except that we had a 'luau' for friends and neighbors on the Sunday before Labor Day.  It was fun.  Lots of laughs and great food.  The weather was perfect and we were able to be outside until way late into the night.  We grilled teriyaki chicken and Sonnenberg's sausages (great sausages from a Spokane meat/deli).  We had fresh crab dip, homemade quacamole, shrimp cocktail, homemade berry cobbler and backyard apples and berry pie with ice cream, really good jalapeno mac-n-cheese, a beet salad that was 'to die for' and all sorts of other goodies.  No one went hungry, or thirsty.  Brenna and Ty had an amazing time because they had lots of people that would pay attention to them, and Jon would always throw the toys for them.  We actually can't find one toy, it may be up in the bushes somewhere, and the puppies were both so tired by the end of the night.  Ty was even limping a little bit, but that didn't last long.

We also had a fun evening at Fish Tale Brew Pub with some folks from Mark's office and a guy from the Spokane office who is doing a detail over here for a few weeks.

Mark and I played golf on Labor Day and had a really good time.  The weather has been so amazing!  And the course was not crowded, so we got to play by ourselves.  Mark finally gave me a few pointers and it made a big difference in the way I hit the ball.  I need to bug him to give me more instruction when we're actually on the course.

I got the front stitches of my gum surgery taken out this week.  Yea!  The back ones will come out in two months.  Good thing none of this hurts or is bothersome.

I was not in the mood to make lunch for Mark on Tuesday night because I had been 'battling' with my computer and printer all night trying to figure out how to download some drivers.  So, Wednesday we went out to lunch at Top Food.  We like eating there -- they have a good oriental counter.  We had some really fresh spring rolls and an Empress chicken bowl.  Yum.

I'm taking care of Scampi, our neighbors cat, again.  She still likes me when I feed her, but gets grumpy after I feed her, much like "I'm done with you now, so you can leave."  She's very funny.

I worked my Weight Watchers shifts yesterday and today.  Both were good; fairly productive.

I wasn't in the mood to attend my cancer support group last night; I'm not sure why.  But, I didn't go, and that's ok.  I'll make it to the next one.

I made a big pot of veggie soup yesterday, and I think I'll go get it and start heating it up for dinner.  Right now, it sounds pretty good.  Plus, it's another beautiful day, so I should go sit outside and read for a while.  Chill out, etc.

And, that's it for now.

Still enjoying it here

Yes, I am still enjoying living in Olympia.  We were told summers here are wonderful, and that has indeed been the truth.  Too bad summer didn't show up until almost the end of July...  But, it really has been nice.

I'm still going to my Thursday evening cancer support group and really liking the people in the group.  I'm still dealing with the lymphedema in my arm, but my compression sleeve helps, and it's comfy.  The gum grafts I had done earlier this month are doing very well.  Yea!

Mark and I tried using Smart Phones for two weeks, but decided that we really aren't 21st century sort of people, so we returned them.  However, during the short time we had them, Mark became completely addicted to playing Angry Birds.  He even downloaded it onto his lap top so that he can play without a phone.

Our friends from Ephrata came over and spent a couple of days.  As always, we had a really good time.  Dan even stayed an extra day so that he and Mark could get in an extra round of golf.

I met with a new doctor and really like him, so I think I will be comfortable now with a primary care physician.

Our friends Susan and Brian brought back crabs from their cabin on Lopez Island and we went to their house and ate our fill.  It was delicious.  Plus we were joined by friends Connie and Paul.  Lots of laughter and fun.

Mark went to Butte for his annual guys golf trip with Jason and The Other Mark.  Mark met up with Jason in Spokane and they drove to Butte.  The Other Mark drove over from Wyoming.  They had a lot of good golf and steaks at Barclay's in Anaconda.  I had a very productive four days of getting my office files organized and other puttery stuff around the house.  I also got 'trained' to work at the new Weight Watchers store that opened on August 27.

I am managing to get to yoga about every other week.  I need to be really much better about going each week.  It feels so good when I do it, and I really enjoy spending time with the other folks in the class and having fun lunhces together.

One of Mark's co-workers from the Spokane office is here doing at detail, so we had him over for dinner last week.  We grilled some Sonnenberg's sausages that were really tasty.

I worked a couple of days at the WW store doing data input.  That was kind of fun.  Hadn't really done that kind of work in a long time, and there were others there, so we got to yak and laugh.

Mark and I worked in the yard most of this past weekend.  He cut down several broken branches from our neighbor's tree that were laying on our trees.  Then we cleaned out the gutters.  Real exciting stuff.

This pretty much is a run-down of my day-to-day life so that I can look back and try to remember what I was doing at any given time during this year.  Lots of other stuff goes on, I just don't remember it because it all happens so fast and all the time.  I play with the dogs, run errands, try to read (but that's still difficult for me, so I get frustrated and stop).  I think about really cleaning the house and cooking good meals, though most of the time neither happens.

I'm getting a hair cut tomorrow, and then working at the WW store on Thursday and Friday mornings.  We're having a Labor Day Luau on Sunday, and Mark and I are going to play golf together on Monday.

And then, it's pretty much September, and Fall.  Wow.

Well, that's it for now.