I took a several week hiatus and I am ready to restart my blog again.
One of my friends, Mike had a stroke recently. He has had complications. We are anxious that he have a positive outcome from all of this! He is being weened off the oxygen and that is a plus and got moved out of the Intensive Care Unit. It is anxiety provoking and I am 5 or 6 hours from there. His wife Marykay was the first friendship I developed when I moved to Bakersfield. We have known each other about 40 years. I contacted them a day or two before this happened to arrange when I should come up which we set up toward the end of February. I have been willing to come up sooner if she wants me, but she had Mike's daughter and granddaughter at the house. We have been texting each other, but then we graduated to messaging but with a camera, so it is like we are visiting. Mike has been improving and they are both hoping he will be home at the time of my scheduled visit, We did discuss that and it is still a plan. He is a wonderful man and he urged me to start doing my blog again. He also worked on my family tree which added a lot of information I did not have. Marykay is very special to me. Ours is a very strong bond. We have always been so busy and get together one time a year these days, but it always feels like we have been together all along. These people are so important to me that how they do affects how I feel!
Last time I had written, I was contacted by my solar company that they would send someone out to repair what records my usage. When that man came, he said the company needs to replace the unit. He also said the company he works with was going out of business. I received a call from another man a month later stating when he would be out to replace the unit. Then I got another call from a different company saying that solar company went out of business and they were arranging another date that someone from this company would be out next week. He insisted they are doing fine and not about to go out of business. So they did make it out. This took three months, but it was not something that affected my service. I'm so glad it didn't affect getting to use my solar power!
My friend Annmarie did make her move to Nebraska. She hired a Handiman to help her in getting repairs done on the house she bought in Omaha and to make it more livable. She invited me to come visit when there will be a total eclipse of the sun. We will drive 5 hours from her home to see it. She is going to arrange a stay at an Airbnb in that area so we will be fresh when we see it. That will be a once in a lifetime experience and I'll be seeing her after her being many months away.
I started having food delivered by a program called Blue Apron recommended by one of my sisters. It is delivered once a week three recipes with the food to prepare it, except olive oil, salt and pepper. There are two servings per recipe, so I get six meals out of this. But I sometimes have my daughter Shelley over or a friend. I rave about the food because it is tasty. It is also healthy. They also make a weekly delivery, that serves four for three meals for $10 more a week- $70. The one I have is $60 a week.
Here is a list of companies doing this on the mainland USA. I say mainland because one of my friends lives in Hawaii and she does not know of this program. I have no idea if other countries or Hawaii have something like this. Some offer more variations in diet and the prices are about the same. So, I'm listing others I am aware of. They may taste better or have more choices. Like I said, I am using Blue Apron.
MEAL DELIVERY PROGRAMS
I still get a box every two weeks from Hopeful Harvest of organic fruits and vegetables. They include recipes, but the fruit I can eat daily and sometimes the veggies make a great addition to a hearty soup.
Since I last wrote, two of my granddaughters, Alyssa and Meagan (granddaughter-in-law) have had babies. Surprisingly, they both named their sons Bentley. One was premature but did so well he was able to go home after a week! That is five great-grandchildren. They are both darling!
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| This Alyssa's son Bentley - Shelley is Grandma |
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| This is Meagan and Billy's son Bentley. He was premature, but doing very well, born 6 days before Christmas, (Billy's birthday!) Meagan's hand gives an idea how little he was! |
In October my friend Janet and my daughter Shelley went to a barbecue held at Robby's Nursery and Calico Garden once a year. A chef showed us how to use fresh herbs with all the food prepared. It was wonderful. We got to enjoy wonderful food and we picked up some great ideas. You need to go there to pay and register for it before the event. A fabulous evening that is very reasonably priced.
Thanksgiving and Christmas are always pleasant. I like that we have tasty food and gather together. Thanksgiving is at my home and Christmas has been at Shelley's home.
My daughter Shelley, got her Real Estate License. I think this was a good move for her so she can be more independent.
My daughter Ronda sent me homemade jams, lemon bars, Divinity and a butter cream with nuts in it. Though one jar broke and the lemon bars were crumbs, it still was delicious!
Thanksgiving and Christmas are always pleasant. I like that we have tasty food and gather together. So after Christmas, I went to see my step-mom, Kate for a couple of days and then down to Seal Beach to see my friend Barbara. We met with two other friends from high school days, Linda and Toni for lunch. We graduated almost 50 years ago! Here is a picture of us.
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| From Left to Right, Linda, Rachel, Barbara and Toni |
My friend Barbara and I are going to go to the 50th reunion. Both Linda and Toni hedged on going to the reunion. I will pick Barbara up when we go.
It is amazing that while I'm gone, I can keep myself going. As soon as I get home, I crash. My friend Janet said that did seem to be my pattern. She said, "you need to plan not to do anything for at least 48 hours after you get home." She is right. I forget this, so it helps for a friend to remind me of what is going on.
The other thing I have done during this time is with my friend Barbara (I have several friends named Barbara and Linda), who is also a retired social worker and I got a room close to Universal Studios so we could go to see The Wizarding World of Harry Potter in Hollywood. This area did look like areas that would be in Harry Potter. We ate lunch there and I had a frozen Butter Beer, which I really enjoyed. It is non-alcoholic. We also went on this ride that gave you the sense of playing Quidich with Harry Potter. I haven't been on a roller coaster since high school, since I was so dizzy and disoriented then. I closed my eyes to get my bearings and would peek periodically to see what was happening. It was interesting and that was the only way for me to look without getting sick.
So I have had Art Classes with Carol Bradshaw. We have been using colored pencils which has been fun. I have a lot of the same problems, but I have enjoyed them. My step-mom Kate gave me a 36 pencil set of Faber-Castells. She said the professional artists use this brand. I'll try it to see if there is a difference. So all of these are colored pencil drawings.
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| Coloring Flip-Flops |
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| Heart Design |
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| Added more to Hearts, Framed for Alyssa |
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| Pumpkin in Front of Spider Web (My Step-Mom Kate thought it was Interesting to have the Pumpkin in the Web. I Thought it was in Front of Web!) |
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| Butterflies Settled on a Wood Fence |
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| Bananas on a Counter. My Friend Linda (another one) Gave me a Palette of Eye Shadow to use in my art. I used for Wall Paper Design. Carol Bradshaw Our Teacher did not know if it Would Last Life the Colored Pencils. |
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| Two Pears |
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| Leaf with Three Drops of Rain |
Someone was calling me, but I was suspicious because it wasn't from in the United States. It was 3-175-067-3676. I looked it up on the internet and found that many people have been called by this number. Some have answered and were told there was a problem with their computer. I responded to something like this, but it was a USA phone number and foolishly gave them my credit card info and access to my computer. I freaked when I realized what I had done. My bank helped me to untangle myself from them. My computer was acting up even though I took it in to be cleaned up. I ended up buying MAC products to cut down on my vulnerability and I'm so glad I did! I never answer the phone now unless a person I know is calling. My feeling is that they can leave a message. It is much safer handling it that way.
The last time our Red Hat group met, we talked about private issues. You normally would not discuss some of this, but if one of us gets brave enough to bring it up, we find that several of us have been dealing with it. So I brought up piddling. I mean, I used to have a good stream, but no longer! Sometimes I think I should sit a while longer because more might come. Ugh! Though my daughter Shelley is not at that point yet, she hears about issues that will be hers when she becomes our age. It does help to have other people around who know what you are talking about.
I read a list of what people have said to this young man, Ryan Hamner who has survived four bouts with cancer. It is initially a stunner when you first hear it. He started this site 2Survive, a site for cancer survivors in 2011. He is a singer and songwriter encouraging others to tell their stories. His site is 2Surviveonline.com 2Surviveonline.com. I had a similar experience of people saying very odd things to me. I didn't feel people were trying to be cruel. My thought is that they just didn't think. So this was Ryan's experience:
So I will do my blog once a month. I felt like I had a full time job doing it weekly. It became particularly hard when I traveled. I did it, but I had to set aside time to do this. I appreciate that you are curious, interested in what I write. Though I have breast cancer which became a stage IV in 2007, I'm still here and it is 17 years from my first diagnosis in January 2000, then a stage II. In April of 2007 is when my husband died of cancer and my cancer had spread to my neck. Comfort measures were the words used with me then, but I think it is more than comfort measures. I take Herceptin now because they found I was also HER2 Positive then. I refused the other chemotherapy because they had really made me sick. Why do this if I have to do it for the rest of my life? It doesn't make sense to me. So I'm looking for ways to live my life fully until it is my time to go. Psychologically, I'm doing okay. I had worked through a lot of issues before, so I'm taking it day to day now. I have some great family members and friends which can make all the difference in the world! I love going to art classes and I'm seeing how I can do better. I've given several of my pieces away, because I have no room to put more on my walls. I see it as I'll live on through the pieces I created. It is a good feeling! If you want to understand a little more about my background, read my intro. I have done well over 100 issues of my blog which varied a lot depending on what was going on. So thank you for reading and I will see you next month. And, if you have any thoughts on what I share or what you would like to hear, I would appreciate hearing from you!
Rachel
