Five things that made me happy today – 10/31/23

Are all our nightmares just pleasant dreams we try to run from?  

Alex Besson

1. It was 36 deg at dawn this morning with fog – appropriate for Halloween. It’s very quiet around here for Halloween – we almost never get small goblins and ghosts. The high this afternoon was only 51 deg.

2. I spent the morning writing my Intentions Review for October.

3. I went to the Wellness Center and worked out for a while before lunch. They had a whole collection of Halloween candy. I didn’t take but two Nestles Crunch individual bars.

4. I fixed myself a tomato and onion sandwich for lunch. I’ll probably have cheese and crackers with grapes for supper since I didn’t even get a cookie for lunch.

5. Greisser Girls Gab is this afternoon. One sister is in Hawaii (jealous!), but the other one and I will enjoy ourselves and lift a glass of wine to her.

How about you? What made you happy today?

Intentions Review for October 2023

My Star Word for this year is REJOICING.

I’ve been struggling with setting some intentions this year. After my heart attack on December 21, 2022, I realized that I really don’t know what I want for this year, or even for the rest of my life. At age 78-and-a-half, I could have another 20 years left, or I could easily not even have another year.

I’m tired of the pandemic, I’m tired of politics, I’m tired of pushing myself to DO SOMETHING. I’m ready to just let life happen and observe for a while. I’ll keep on writing my “5 Things”, and I’ll stick with my regular groups and activities, but I’m ready to find out why I’m REJOICING. Maybe I’ll try just REJOICING about my regular, ordinary life.

Therefore, I’m leaving the same general categories that I had last year, and I’ll use them as a wish list and fill in markers for a “diary” of events and activities.

Health and Fitness

1. Recovery – I’m feeling fine after my heart attack
   • I had a blood test in late February and my cholesterol numbers were exactly where they should have been all along
   • I went to Cardiac Rehab early in March, and the nurse agreed that my personal trainer can do everything they would do, so I should keep on working with him. If I ever want to go to Cardiac Rehab my referral is good for a year
   • I had my 6-month follow-up and the cardiologist said my heart sounded fine
   • I had an Echo Cardiogram in July. The tech said there was no need for me to schedule an earlier appointment than my 1-year follow-up in December with the surgeon who put the stint in
   • I had a little scare in July that turned out to be nothing except a UTI
   • August has been uneventful, health-wise (TBTG)
   • Ditto for September
   • And the same for October
   • I got my fall inoculations in October for the new bivalent COVID, RSV, and the annual flu shot
2. Exercise
   • I continue to work with my personal trainer on balance and strength
     • While working on balance in May, I stumbled and fell on my knee. I didn’t do any permanent damage, but my leg was bruised and swollen. It’s still bruised but no longer swollen
   • I try to spend 55-60 minutes a day, five to six days a week on the NuStep
   • My trainer has added long walks instead of too much strength training
   • We are starting to try walking on uneven surfaces like grass. Fear on my part is the biggest obstacle
3. Diet
   • I’m trying to be much more proactive about the kinds of things I eat
     • The dietitian who counseled me, said the same things the dietitian said when I lost the 70 lbs back in 2014. It was good to have a reminder
   • Three fruits and two vegetables every day – limit red meat – eat more fish
   • The blood work they did diagnosing the UTI showed I was slightly anemic, so I’m trying to include more “leafy, green vegetables and beans” in my diet
   • I’m deliberately including more sources of iron in my diet, including at least one meal a week with beef
   • Weight
     • I was keeping steady on the .9 lbs a month loss from last year until the latter half of February. Living in temporary housing, and not being able to cook made March a total loss. In fact I gained a pound
     • I was back on the weight loss wagon in April and finished the month .4 pounds lighter than I started March
     • I seem to have hit another plateau, and haven’t been able to lose any more weight in May, ending the month exactly where I ended April, but at least I didn’t gain anything
     • I lost a pound in June – Hooray!!
     • I lost another pound in July – Whoohoo!!!
     • I managed to regain a pound and a half in August. Combination of the Annual Picnic, and my personal trainer being on vacation
     • I lost one of the pounds I gained last month. Basically holding my own
     • I’ve lost 10.4 pounds since May 2022, an average of .7 pounds a month
     • I’ve lost 10.2 pounds since May 2022, an average of .6 pounds a month – maybe because my weigher stayed stubbornly at the same place

Friends and Community

1. Gazebo Group – We meet regularly once a week
   • I send out reminders for the meeting every week – I have a distribution list that I use
   • Google lost its mind in September and decided that I was spamming all the people on the list – I hope we’ve developed a work-around because we meet on Zoom once a week during the winter and we don’t have a regularly scheduled link
2. Greisser Girls Gab – This is sacrosanct time for me
3. Other Residents at Franke Tobey Jones
   • Lunch with Jett Brooks
   • There was a new resident in the Duplexes in April who has been attending Gazebo Group pretty regularly recently.
   • With better weather and the relaxing of pandemic restrictions, other folks in the Gazebo Group have been traveling. I’ve vicariously taken a cruise to Egypt, enjoyed a bicycle tour of the Low Countries in Europe and cruised to Alaska in April and May
   • We had the Annual Picnic in August with great food and a live band – it was delayed a couple of weeks because on an outbreak of COVID in Assisted Living
4. August tickled my wanderlust, but nothing is planned before April of 2024 when I will visit my Arkansas sister to view the total eclipse (from her driveway)

Learning and Knowledge

1. Great Decisions
   • January – we met and got our assignments for leading the discussions
   • February – Energy Security – There wasn’t much I didn’t know already, but it was nice to have a conversation about it
   • March – War Crimes – We basically agreed that Russia’s actions in Ukraine are war crimes, and shortly before our meeting Putin was invited to explain himself at The Hague
   • April – China and the U.S. – We are fortunate to have an ex-State Department employee who lives here – he was able to give us first-hand insight into our relations with China during the early part of this century
   • May – Economic Warfare – This discussion was right in my wheelhouse, and I really enjoyed it
   • June – Political Trends in Latin America – Once again we were glad to have some professional insight from our retired State Department employee
   • July – we took a vacation in July – we will resume in August
   • August – the topic was not very interesting to me and I skipped the meeting – opting instead to go to Happy Hour with other folks from FTJ
   • September – Iran at the Crossroads – once again, this was written over a year ago and many changes have happened in the world, so the discussion in the book was not relevant
   • October – we took the month off
2. Creative Writing Classes
   • Al and I took a course in Journaling in May – I learned that my 5 Things is doing double duty as a blog and a journal
   • In June and July we took a course in Finding, Telling and Sharing Life Stories taught by the same professor as the Memoir class
   • In August I attended one workshop where we met in small groups and critiqued each other’s story
   • In November I’ll be starting a Creative Writing and Poetry class

Travel and Culture – This has been a total bust – I don’t think I’ve left Pierce County since #2 son and his spousal unit went Whale Watching with us in August 2022 and a train trip to Portland for Thanksgiving in 2022

1. Visit Harriet (upstate New York) and/or Betty (Texarkana)
2. Visit Kennewick and Bill’s Family
3. Visit Chicago and Ray’s Family
4. Visit Victoria, Canada

Hobbies and Creativity

1. Reading
   • This Body of Death by Elizabeth George – finished
   • Demon Copperhead by Barbara Kingsolver – finished
   • A River Runs Through It by Norman Maclean – finished
   • Raven Black (Shetland Island #1) – Ann Cleeves – finished
   • White Nights (Shetland Island #2) – Ann Cleeves – finished
   • The Way of the Bear – Anne Hillerman – finished
   • Red Bones (Shetland Island #3) – Ann Cleeves – finished
   • Blue Lightning (Shetland Island #4) – Ann Cleeves – finished
   • Dead Water (Shetland Island #5) – Ann Cleeves – finished
   • Thin Air (Shetland Island #6) – Ann Cleeves – finished
   • The Way of the Bear – Anne Hillerman – finished
   • The Crow Trap (Vera Stanhope #1) – Ann Cleeves – finished
   • The Flag, the Cross, and the Station Wagon – Bill McKibben – finished
   • Telling Tales (Vera Stanhope #2) – Ann Cleeves – finished
   • Dark Winds – Tony Hillerman – finished
   • Frozen (Vera Stanhope #8.5) – Ann Cleeves – finished
   • Democracy Awakening – Heather Cox Richardson – finished
   • Hidden Depths (Vera Stanhope #3) – Ann Cleeves – finished
   • Prequel – Rachel Maddow – reading
2. Writing
   • Memoir – I took a course on Journaling in May
   • Personal/Family Stories – I wrote small vignettes (300-500 words) every week for the Life Stories class
3. Blogging – 5 Things that Made Me Happy Today continues daily

Spirituality

1. Bible Study
   • I’m trying to attend Presbyterian Women at FPC, Texarkana – via Zoom
2. Bethany Presbyterian Church
3. The First Presbyterian Church of Texarkana, Arkansas (my ancestral church)
   • I’ve been attending on-line, regularly
   • I think of this as my church
   • I will pledge money there as soon as I fulfill my commitment at Bethany
4. PCUSA Nominating Committee – I resigned in July as I am no longer able to travel the distances required to attend meetings

Money and Finances

1. Quit obsessing
   • I finished the 2022 taxes and sent the return off in early February
   • I planned very well last year, and owed $3.00 that was deducted from our bank account on April 18
   • I need to look at increasing the amount I send to the IRS a little bit
   • Apparently my obsession was warranted as the country barely seems to have averted a crisis over the Debt Limit
     • We retired counting on five US Government checks every month – Al’s Air Force retirement check, his VA Disability payment check, his Air Force Civilian retirement check, his Social Security payment, and my Social Security payment
     • The settlement in Congress seems to be all right, and we did receive our first of the month checks for June, July, August, and September. I’m still worried about what will happen in the fall at budget time
     • We received our checks for the beginning of October before the government shut down – “they” are promising that Social Security won’t be affected by the shut down – fingers crossed
     • The first of November checks have arrived – still holding out hope for a settlement before the deadline in a couple of weeks
2. Keep Al informed – I try to let Al know where we stand
   • Al may be eligible for the PACT Act – if so, it will increase his VA check to up to 100% disability
   • We mailed his paperwork off to the VA – we sent it Certified Mail and know they received it
   • We mailed an additional batch of paperwork off to the VA August 30, and they should receive it September 1 (according to the Post Office)
   • We have received notice that the VA is “working” on his application, but the shutdown will probably delay that
   • Al has an appointment with a medical group in town to have his records reviewed (AGAIN) at the end of November. Hopefully, VA will make a determination before the first of the year

Five things that made me happy today – 10/30/23

When will our consciences grow so tender that we will act to prevent human misery rather than avenge it? 

Eleanor Roosevelt

1. Near 40 deg when I got up (one source says 37 deg, and another says 42 deg). It was clear, so the sun was out all day. The temperature is gradually getting back into the mid 50s during the day, and we can anticipate it to stay that way through the week (even though we may have some rain.)

2. The laundry is almost finished – washed, dried, separated, delivered, etc. It WILL be finished before bedtime.

3. I went over to the Wellness Center for a little while on the NuStep before I met with my personal trainer for a session. I did some balance, and some strength exercises. We did stairs, and I practiced standing up from being on the ground.

4. Lunch was ham, Cole slaw, and I had roasted broccoli, while Al had baby lima beans.

5. Gazebo Group this evening at the Wellness Center – too cold to meet at the Gazebo. I’m looking forward to a glass of wine with friends.

How about you? What made you happy today?

Five things that made me happy today – 10/29/23

Even in the darkest days, the moon and sun make their ancient, reliable journeys. Birds sing. Some green thing insists on growing in a ravaged land. Our own human life force refuses to give up. 

Trebbe Johnson

1. Low 30s (frosty, but not freezing) and clear when I got up. The sun was out all day, and the high this afternoon was 54 deg – very acceptable for the end of October.

2. Amazon delivered a box with two new 8″ skillets overnight. They are my Christmas present from Al, but I used them to make breakfast. I’ve had two little skillets from a couple of different sets of cookware that have been around for forever – one was so well used that all the non-stick (even with oil) was gone, and the other’s handle was falling off.

3. I attended church on line at First Presbyterian Church, Texarkana, Arkansas. The sermon was a modern retelling of Martin Luther’s statement of faith from Romans. We sang A Mighty Fortress is Our God, and In Christ There is no East or West for hymns, and the Choir sang Dona Nobis Pacem for the anthem (I sang along in my living room).

4. Since this is All Saints Sunday we remembered the members of the church who have died during the past year – a large part of my childhood, youth and young adulthood went with them when they died.

5. Al and I went to Pomodoro’s for lunch. He has been jonesing for some lasagna and one serving of theirs will do him for at least two meals. I had a bowl of their clam chowder (house made) and a caprese salad with lots of fresh lettuce and toast.

How about you? What made you happy today?

Five things that made me happy today – 10/28/23

Don’t be concerned about being disloyal to your pain by being joyous. 

Pir Vilayat Inayat Khan

1. Cold again this morning, although the predicted freeze didn’t happen – 33 deg at dawn. Sunny skies all day with a high of 49.

2. I made a visit to the Wellness Center this morning. I felt like I needed to do SOME cardio since the rest of the day was spent firmly ensconced in my chair watching football.

3. The Ducks played Utah (in Utah) today. I was nervous because they have been a nemesis in the past, but we scored two quick touchdowns, and they could only get a field goal at the beginning of the game. Final score – Oregon-36 – Utah-6.

4. I thawed a serving of Bill’s Gumbo that I froze a week or so ago. Good lunch on this late fall day. I warmed it up and cooked the rice before half time, and, then enjoyed it during the second half.

5. I’ll enjoy watching the rest of the PAC-12 games – USC v Cal, Washington v Stanford, Colorado v UCLA, Washington State v Arizona State, and Oregon State v Arizona. That ought to hold me for another week.

How about you? What made you happy today?

Five things that made me happy today – 10/27/23

Our glad hearts, accepting the miracle of this moment, this breath, this day, this life—that is the foundation of all sanity. 

Terry Patten 

1. Mid 30s when I got up with clear skies (not that I could see the sky). Sunrise isn’t until 7:45, and sunset is at 6:01. We have officially entered the “Big Dark”. The high this afternoon was 49 deg.

2. I slept pretty well last night even though both arms are a little tender from getting shot. The COVID shot isn’t noticeable, but the flu shot and the RSV shot are both red and tender to the touch.

3. I worked out on the NuStep for a while before lunch, and then met my personal trainer. He was gentle with me today because both arms are still a little achy.

4. We had steak, and boiled potato for lunch. I had a yellow squash cooked with onion, and Al had baby lima beans for veggies.

5. Al and I watched The Mighty Quinn with Denzel Washington yesterday evening. It’s been a long time since I saw it, but it’s still just as good. It left me with a raging ear worm.

How about you? What made you happy today?

Five things that made me happy today – 10/26/23

If your moral compass is attuned to the suffering of only one side, your compass is broken, and so is your humanity. 

Nicolas Kristof

1. The threatened frost this morning didn’t materialize. It was 38 deg when I got up – and cloudy. The sun came out around breakfast time, and the temperature managed to get up to 51 deg under mostly clear skies.

2. We left right at 9:00 am headed to the Commissary. We stopped at McDonalds for breakfast and arrived at Joint Base Lewis-McCord at 10:00, We shopped, and were checked out and on our way home at 11:30.

3. I had to stop at Trader Joe’s for my sausages on the way home, so Al went to Jimmy John’s that’s right next door. He got our lunch there.

4. We came home, unloaded the groceries from the car, and got the refrigerator stuff put away. We ate our sandwiches, and finished shelving the canned goods, etc.

5. FTJ had a pharmacy come and give anyone who wanted them COVID, RSV, and Flu shots. We both got all three shots. We’re now tired from shopping, and ready to rest and recover.

How about you? What made you happy today?

Five things that made me happy today – 10/25/23

One day you will tell your story of how you overcame what you went through, and it will be someone else’s survival guide. 

Brene Brown

1. 42 deg with drizzle when I got up. We had alternating drizzle and hard rain all morning. By noon, the sun started to come out, but clouds with sun breaks (and occasional spotty showers) remained.

2. I scurried out right after breakfast (not having my second cup of tea or my toast), and went to the dentist where I had my teeth cleaned, x-rays and a dental exam. Everything looks good – TBTG.

3. I went straight to the Wellness Center after the dentist, and was able to watch this week’s episode of The Morning Show while I worked out.

4. We ate the leftover from Saturday chili for lunch. Al had his poured over a Breakfast Bowl. It sounded pretty nasty to me, but he seemed to have enjoyed it.

5. Our ballots came in the mail yesterday, and we filled them out today. We’ll take them to the dropbox tomorrow when we’re out.

How about you? What made you happy today?

Five things that made me happy today – 10/24/23

Your life and my life flow into each other as wave flows into wave, and unless there is peace and joy and freedom for you, there can be no real peace or joy or freedom for me.  

Frederick Buechner

1. Mid-40s this morning and drizzle when I got up. The drizzle continued on and off all day, with a high of 50 deg. Probably the coldest day we’ve had so far this fall.

2. I went over to the Wellness Center and worked out for a while around noon.

3. The housekeeper was here today and we have clean floors, clean bathrooms, a clean kitchen and a fresh smell to the house.

4. The Bistro had BLTs on special today, and I had one for lunch along with a raspberry scone. Al had his Italian noodle concoction.

5. Greisser Girls Gab later this afternoon. My New York sister is going to Hawaii to see one of her high school friends who lives there.

How about you? What made you happy today?

Five things that made me happy today – 10/23/23

Blessed are those who can give without remembering and take without forgetting. 

Elizabeth Bibesco

1. 50 deg when I woke up this morning and cloudy. It stayed cool/cold all day even though the sun came out sporadically mid-morning, and it felt colder because it was very windy. High of 57 deg. I hope the wind doesn’t blow all the leaves off of the tree outside my window before it finishes turning turning color.

2. Appointment with my personal trainer before lunch. We took a short walk, and I did sit-to-stands, balance, and three flights of stairs.

3. It’s laundry day and I got everything washed, dried, sorted and delivered. Also all is folded, hung up and put away.

4. We had pork chops, cinnamon applesauce, and Stove Top Stuffing for lunch. I also had roasted broccoli and Al had beets.

5. Gazebo Group this evening. It will be nice to drink a glass of wine with friends.

How about you? What made you happy today?