Positive things

- The Halloween candy is almost gone. Any that is left will be pawned off on visiting family members next week.
- The scale continues in the right direction.
- I slept for 8 solid hours last night.
- The udder cream is making my skin feel better.
- My mouth sores are sort of going away.
- I am finally organized to make pies for Thanksgiving.

Otherwise I have no life. For those interested, I am making three pies for Thanksgiving. Pumpkin, pecan, and apple. Walter is highly skilled at apple peeling which will minimize my involvement. Pumpkin is easy but even easier when assistance is supplied by young visiting family members. Pecan is almost as easy as pumpkin as you add sugar, butter, and eggs to nuts. (Just think sugar and fat added to more fat. It tastes yummy but is not on any diet I have every seen.) Pie crust is thawed and unrolled. Not very complicated.

The only problem is time. When to make the pies. I have chemo most inconveniently the day before Thanksgiving. I hope it will be late enough in the day so I can make two of the pies before going and leave the apple to make Thursday morning. I will have to see how convenient Lahey wants to be when these are scheduled.

Otherwise, today I am okay. A little tired but I did sleep well. I am off for my daily walk once it warms up. They promise us 60 degrees today but right now its 32 on our thermometer. I will wait for 45 I think. Then I will go to work for the afternoon.

Yesterday I got very tired and didn't go to my support group. I came home and watched TV with the cat. (Yes, I know, part of the problem, not the solution.) However the cat really didn't want to watch TV, it was his dinner time he thought. I went out and came home when it was dark. Therefore, it must be his dinner time. Nope, dinner time is 530pm. I made him suffer until 520 and then took pity on him and fed him. He is not patient. He walks back and forth and looks very anxious - like I might be starving him to death - and never mind that there is a whole bowl of dry food waiting for him. No, he wants his tiny little bit of canned food. If he paces back and forth, I will notice he is waiting and take pity on him! However I have the opposable thumbs and can open the can at the appropriate time. If I listened to him, I would give him canned food at 8 am after about 3 days of begging.

Finally the damn bulbs are planted

It only took me a month??? Yesterday, the ground did defrost enough so they could be planted. I was getting concerned that it was too late. (So much for global warming when you will be able to plant bulbs in December.) I was very helpful. I placed all the bulbs where I wanted them to go on the ground. Walter then was highly skilled and dug all the holes, put in fertilizer, and covered them up. He has now had so much practice planting bulbs, I think I can get him to 'help' again every year. All the dead annuals are now gone as well. Basically, we are ready for winter except for needing to rake and mow again.

I have had an ongoing battle with the squirrels who come along and eat my bulbs - or just decapitate my tulips when blooming. Walter has been rather ambivalent about this problem until now. I did ask him if he changed his mind about them after digging all the holes. He said a BB gun with a night vision scope would solve the problem. (NOT HAPPENING!!!)

My strong gardening efforts combined with a support group trip and a walk made me very tired. I got in bed at 8 pm last night. As was subtly pointed out (by Walter again yesterday and several other people at different times), people under going chemo get tired and need to take care of themselves and going to bed early is important. My big dilemma is all the good TV shows are on after 9pm so I have to tape them and watch them the next day.

I would like to point out that I may get tired and need to take care of myself but I am still capable of doing things like making Thanksgiving pies, cooking, and working part time. I do think I get too tired to do things like fold laundry, wash dishes, clean the bathrooms, mop the kitchen floor, and empty the toxic waste dump (litter box). Chemo patients must preserve their resources and do the best they can. Yucky chores are left for those who are not under going chemo.

Today's big plans are to go to the gym (its too rainy for a walk outside), make baked ziti, work this afternoon, and go to my other support group. Not very exciting? Maybe I'll have to sneak in some Halloween candy for an extra energy boost...

Bacon update...

Yes I had bacon for brunch yesterday. However there was a momentary scare when I went to get food at the buffet and the chafing dish labeled bacon - WAS EMPTY! I was then forced to make a second trip to the buffet. And the bacon wasn't very good. As many restaurants do, it was cooked in the oven and was over cooked. It wasn't burned but all the fat was cooked out and it was brittle and flaky. Somewhat of a letdown. However I think I am going out to breakfast this coming weekend and will get bacon then if I still have a craving. (Then when I went back up for dessert, the apple crisp was empty... Its a conspiracy I tell you!)

Anyhow, 1/2 an hour of gardening yesterday, followed by brunch and a trip to the farm stand and I spent 6 quality hours in front of the TV set. I did do some crocheting and the cat had a very nice nap on my lap. I know there is a problem in the US where Americans spend too much time watching TV. Well I am now part of the problem and not the solution. When done with treatment, I will be part of the solution and not spend 6 hours in a row watching TV, but at this point I just don't care.

Also, I got to watch 'How the Grinch Stole Christmas'. It was on last night. I think they recolorized it as the colors were very strong - and the snow was a bright blue in places. Either my eyes are changing or it was updated. It is a tad early to watch holiday shows but that is one I will suffer through several times. I have tried to watch the Grinch movie that came out a few years ago and it was just awful. I will take the original one any day.

Today, I hope the ground defrosts so that Walter can plant the damn bulbs. It might even hit 50 degrees, which would be a vast improvement over the lovely upper 20's of this morning. We are going for my daily walk this morning. (You will notice the use of the word 'we' with the term 'my daily walk'. It is good for him, builds character. A little stroll on the bike path to get the blood circulating.)

Then I have a support group to go to. This is my new group that only meets for seven weeks and actually has structure. This week it is about humor. I think I can come up with a few jokes.

PS I have not had any Halloween candy in about 3 days.

Today being overly ambitious

I wanted to plant the last of my bulbs (read Walter is home and available to help) and the damn ground is FROZEN!!! We have to wait until it thaws. I hope this is later today and not in April. I still have to dig up my dahlias and glads as well (read that as Walter will dig them up).

I also trimmed back my dead plants outside (the inside ones are fine thank you.) and started forcing freesia inside again so they will bloom in January. Generally I started getting the garden ready for winter. Now I need a little break. Only 1/2 an hour and its snooze time. The cat is patiently waiting for me to finish typing by sitting on my lap. He doesn't understand this slows me down. Then we are going out for a fancy brunch where I will have bacon. For some reason I am dying for some bacon. Don't ask me why. Maybe its some weird side effect. We wanted to do something fun and go out to eat. Going out at night doesn't work. I am too tired, so brunch it is.

Otherwise in general I am okay. Tired. Little bits of tingling in my hands. My fingernails look like they might fall off sometime. (Yucky).

Just because I want to share, here is my carrot cake recipe that I made yesterday and actually got from a friend in 1990. Its just as good now as it was then.

Carrot Cake

1/2 c oil
2 c sugar

4 eggs
2 c flour

2 tsp cinnamon
2 tsp baking soda

1/4 tsp ginger
1/4 tsp cloves

1 tsp baking powder
1 tsp salt

1 tsp vanilla
1 20 oz can crushed pineapple, drained, less 3 oz.

3 c raw grated carrots
1 c raisins

1 c chopped walnuts

Mix oil, sugar, eggs together. Add flour, spices, soda, baking powder, salt, mix well. Add vanilla, pineapple, carrots, raisins, and nuts. Bake in greased tube pan or 13 x 9 pan at 375 for 55-60 minutes (tube) or 40 minutes (13x 9)

Cream Cheese Frosting

1 pkg (3 oz) cream cheese
2 c confectioners sugar (or more)

1/2 stick margarine
dash of vanilla

3 oz crushed pineapple
1/3 c minced nuts

Blend cream cheese, butter. Start adding sugar until consistency is smooth. Add vanilla and pineapple. Top with nuts.

Notes: I used 1/2 cup apple sauce instead of the oil. I did not put the 3 oz pineapple in the frosting.

Nothing to write about

That's it. I have nothing to write about. Boring life.

Well maybe just a little. I made a cake yesterday for a friend's birthday and frosted it this morning. Tonight I am making home made soup for dinner. We trimmed the cat's claws (notice the operative use of the word we - he is most agreeable for his front claws but his back ones require an assistant to hold them still.) I also got a good night's sleep.

An update on my search for insulated curtains. I finally found curtain liners that are insulated that I can use to instead of the sheer curtains we have for the summer. Then I can keep up the regular curtains that I like and haven't been able to replace with insulated ones. They come from www.countrycurtains.com and are cheaper than buying or making new curtains.

See I do lead a boring life if I am keeping people up to date on the search for insulated curtains.

Well maybe..

I might have over done it yesterday. By the time I got home, I was exhausted. I will put it down to the fact that I went to the gym again and lifted weights. I also went to the Burlington Mall for the first time in months. I am on a long term search for insulated curtains. I finally found ones I like but they were not the right size.

I did lots of searching for Udder Cream. I finally found it in Trader Joe's (its really cheap $2.99 for a 12 oz tub). It was in the personal care section but all the labeling on the container is for use on teats. It has a warning not to use on cow pox. (Well, I certainly don't have that!) Nothing about use on humans other than to say it may be used on chapped or chafed skin - but it doesn't state it if it referring to human or bovine skin. And the ever useful: Do not use on or near eyes. All I know is now my feet feel great, well a little cold but nice and soft.

Today's big plans include going for my daily walk and working at home.

PS Message to Marie who commented yesterday. Go to www.komen.org for message boards.

Udder cream???

Is there something ironic in this? I mentioned to the nurses that the skin is peeling off the bottom of my feet as a result of chemo. They recommended Udder Cream. (I feel there is some irony here in recommending udder cream to breast cancer patients. Does anyone else see it or is it just my warped mind?) Anyway, they gave me some samples and I put it on my feet last night with socks over them and they feel much better today. Now quick I have to go buy some before I run out of little samples. It works better than anything else I have tried. Nothing like big sheets of skin peeling off... icky, icky, icky.

Otherwise, yesterday went fine. We got there at 915 and they were running late. we didn't get out of there until after 1230. That is a long time considering that I only had blood drawn and chemo infusion and didn't see the doctor. Unfortunately I couldn't find out what time my appointment is the day before Thanksgiving. I have to wait another week for that.

Not much else happened. I did take an hour and half nap when we got home and went for a walk. Today I am going to the gym because it is a tropical 31 degrees outside and I need to work on my flabby arms. I will go to work and do some work at home. Also, I think the frost has finally killed off my annuals so I need to start cleaning them up. Not only do I have to dig holes for new bulbs but I need to dig up summer bulbs and put them in storage. (Its a good thing Walter has a long weekend and is good at digging.)

7 down, 5 to go. (I feel like now I am just about at the Kansas/Colorado state line and still have to cross the last of the plains before up and over the mountains and down to the Pacific.... Progress, but slow.)

PS I found my note and brought it with me and asked all my questions. Gold star for me for the day.