Good whole wheat bread with lots of seeds and grains
Salt and pepper
Slice that tomato into very thick slices. Put as much mayo as you like on two slices of bread. Put those tomato slices on one and season generously with salt and pepper. Clap the other slice of bread on top and devour.
Juicy and tangy and delicious! I ate two for lunch today. High-quality bread and a good ripe tomato is such a perfect combination.
It’s Dave’s birthday! Happy birthday sweetheart, if you read this <3
After lunch (at a different falafel place because ours is closed on Mondays) we went shopping for furniture for his new apartment! Sofa, chairs, kitchen table, dressers, etc. I’ve never done that before and it was tremendous fun but exhausting so I am wiped out. After that he showed me his new place. It’s really nice, and well-planned. Big balcony, nice little kitchen, laundry in unit! And there’s a leafy tree outside the bedroom window which filters the light and is so pleasant.
Hot. Tired. Air quality is very bad outside so I had to close my window and run my air purifier, but then my co2 level rose so I had to open my bedroom door. I hope the rest of the house stays at a safe co2 level with everyone home and the windows all closed…
Played a little WoW, got a pair of comfy shorts for Dave finished but for hems and a final elastic try-on, embroidered flowers on some slippers that I made for Lulu. Pics tomorrow maybe, too tired now.
Today is my 52nd birthday! Unbelievable. I wasn’t expected to make it to 50, even, but here I am still alive and kicking and doing exactly as I darn well please :D
Spent the day with Wonderful English Dave. He had a lot of meetings while I played on my iPad (why is Merge Dragons so addictive?). Our usual lunch at Falafel Corner, and then Kirsten and Marcos treated us all to Thai food and gelato for dinner.
Dave gave me six packets of Rowntree’s Fruit Gums and two bars of genuine English Cadbury’s Dairy Milk chocolate, and a birthday card that was so loving, heartfelt, and meaningful that it brought tears to my eyes.
And best of all he found an apartment to rent and can soon move out of his current awkward roommate situation so we can finally spend entire days and nights together at his place <3
Everyone in my family texted birthday wishes and NO ONE called, which is how I like it.
My former pulmonologist at UCSF, Dr. Kennedy, moved away, darn it, I liked her. Today I had my first online appointment with my new guy, Dr. Simon. Seems like a pleasant, knowledgeable, caring fellow. I asked if I might be able to switch from my old-school anticoagulant (warfarin) to one of the modern ones (Eliquis), and he said yes! Now comes the fun game waiting to see if my insurance will cover it. I think there’s only a 10% chance they will, because there’s no generic yet so it will cost them much more than what I’m currently using. We shall see.
I’ve had “Your Girlfriend Does” in my head all day and I’m not even mad. Great lyrics. I love an anti-hater song :D
“I get it, you don’t dig it, ain’t no big deal bro, but for real though — your girlfriend does…”
The weather changed! All of a sudden the air smells slightly different and it’s crisp and cool in the shade. We haven’t had a hideous heatwave yet this summer, but there’s still time. Sometimes the Santa Ana winds come in September or even October…
Over the past month I’ve been titrating my Remodulin dose up from 0.04 mL/hr, increasing by 0.002 mL/hour each week. Today I hit the goal of 0.05! The side effects have been minimal and tolerable, just slightly worse than my ordinary constant side effects — more stomach issues, nausea, diarrhea, joint pain, some insomnia — but NOT the constant migraines I got last time I increased my dose, thank goodness.
Might help me live a bit longer, so totally worth it!
Today was a Tired Day, but I did manage to sew some slippers for the little girls. I use this pattern, and have drafted larger sizes for larger feet:
Mom gave me new sheets for my upcoming birthday! I opened them early because I couldn’t wait :D They’re from LL Bean and are beautiful and such high quality, a million times better than my worn-out old Target sheets. The set came with fitted, flat, and two pillowcases. I made my bed using both sheets for the photo, but tomorrow I’m going to turn the flat sheet into a second fitted sheet by adding extra fabric and elastic on the edges. Aren’t they lovely?
I made a small batch of my famous carrot – cheese – potato soup today. Sooooo delicious!
A small onion, minced
A few carrots, sliced
2 or 3 russet potatoes, diced
A small amount of milk or cream
A lump of cheddar cheese, chopped or grated
a lump of cream cheese
Dill, salt, pepper
Sauté the onion in a fine knob of butter. Add potatoes and carrots. Cover with water and simmer till soft. Turn the heat as low as possible.
Now, if you have an immersion blender, go to town until the soup is as smooth as you like. Add splashes of milk or cream if it’s too stiff. I use a regular blender and it works fine, just be careful and do a small amount at a time. I puree a couple of ladlefuls, then pour them back into the pot, fish out a couple more chunky ladlefuls and puree them, etc. I always leave some chunks of vegetables.
Now, turn the burner to medium-ish and stir in a your cheeses. Stir stir stir. Add milk if it’s too thick. Don’t let it boil!! Just heat it to melt those cheeses.
Season with dill, salt, and pepper. Devour!
P.s. I don’t peel the potatoes, but you can if you prefer.
Dave came over! He had lots of Zoom meetings, and between them we napped and talked and snuggled. I just cannot get over how amazing he is. It is exceedingly rare for me to find a person whose company doesn’t exhaust me. There are only a very few — and Dave is now one of them.
I envy his ability to sleep anywhere, anytime. We’ll be watching something on my laptop in the middle of the afternoon and then I hear snoring, ha!
Sleep and I are not such good friends. I need to lure it, to trick it, to trap it. I need elaborate bedtime preparations and careful timing. To simply be able to FALL ASLEEP is a trait I’ve never had.
But once I do fall asleep at night I have been sleeping quite well lately, on the whole. I think my anxiety is at an all-time low.
This morning I returned some mushy organic apples to Trader Joe’s and swapped them for crisp ordinary ones. Sorry, organic apples.
And then it was mammogram time. Fun. And worse than usual because my heart beats so hard that it was really difficult for my tech to get good images on the left side. And then they spotted some microcalcifications and wanted even more images. I was there for nearly two hours, getting squashed and smashed.
I need to go back in 6 months for more images because those microcalcifications can be completely benign or can indicate future trouble. Not worried, though. PROBABLY harmless, and if not they’re catching it very early.
Errands this morning: shipped a bundle of stuff to Henry (spit-up cloths for Freyja, new floppy hat for Lu, socks for the big people) and then went to Trader Joe’s.
I slept until 10, then got up and finished sewing my new linen shorts! They’re loose and cool and comfy. So thrilled that I had enough energy for a project!
Had a lovely afternoon with Dave the Best Boyfriend Ever *heart eyes*
Little Miss Freyja was allowed to go home this morning and meet her big sister and her great-grandma. She’s healthy and round and squishy and beautiful *heart eyes*
Today I started sewing a pair of shorts with some leftover green linen. Got them all seamed, and tomorrow I’ll hem them and finish the waistband with a drawstring. I used the Jogginghose pattern from Klimpergross, men’s size medium because I used woven instead of jersey.
Mama and baby are just fine and can go home tomorrow to meet her big sister! Freyja is round and pink and squishy and, in my humble opinion, much more beautiful than the average baby. :D
Very tired day. Fixed Em‘s bathing suit and sewed a little doll sleeping bag with her. Then for the rest of the day I played Garden Story (Switch) and Merge Dragons (iPad) and watched In Treatment (HBO).
