Oh lord so hot. I had insomnia last night and woke up before 7am so felt tired enough to have a little nap in the mid-morning. Nauseated on and off all day. I blame the heat.
I just read chapter seven of Project Hail Mary to Dave. Our hero Ryland has spotted an alien ship! So pretty soon Dave will get to know Rocky *heart eyes*
Gonna try to get to sleep now, because I need to get up early for endocrinology appt.
I sewed a little A-line dress today:
So cute!
Dave wandered past while I was watching the third episode of Gentleman Jack and got hooked. We watched the entire first season. :D
Hot, hot, hot. So hot. Can’t even think.
I helped Dave rebandage his foot woumds and read the entire 5th chapter of Project Hail Mary to him before bed.
Hot. This can’t last much longer. The weekend will be bad but next week should be lovely. Just gotta survive and not melt till Monday.
Woke up feeling good, so I ran a bunch of errands before the midday heat hit. UPS place to ship back my bad medication pumps, Ace for bird food, Rigoberto’s to grab burritos for lunch, Goodwill to see if I could find some saucers to go under some house plants, post office for stamps, then home. Almost all of those places are on the main street a few blocks from our house so it wasn’t much driving.
I struck gold at the Goodwill! I got a stack of five cute china saucers, four spoons (we never have enough spoons), and a big stock pot, stainless steel with a glass lid, a steamer basket, and a pasta insert. Twenty bucks! SCORE!
In the afternoon I sat down in the cool basement and read my new book (The Other Guest by Helen Cooper), and then I finished sewing the tiny sundress. So cute.
It’s so hot tonight. Gotta go take a cold bath and then continue reading Project Hail Mary to Dave!
So freaking hot. Feet in ice water all day and several ice-cold baths (shallow, only an inch or so, not wasting water).
Appointment with Dr Robinson my excellent pulmonologist this afternoon, just a check-in, and I got labs done for my endocrinologist. The results are in — my thyroid hormone levels are edging closer to normal! I still don’t feel hungry and I’m still hovering around 100lbs, but the night sweats are gone thank goodness. Hoping to feel hungry again someday…
I decided that Lulu’s little birthday doll needs some modern clothes, since Lu is not yet obsessed with Laura Ingalls or Betsy Ray, so I made a sloper (which is like a very basic form-fitting pattern from which you can draft any kind of garments) by wrapping the doll’s torso with paper towels and tape, then slitting that mold, flattening it, and tracing it off onto cardstock. And then I drafted a sweet little sleeveless sundress and have been sewing it by hand while watching Gentleman Jack. I also drafted an A-line dress to make next. Who knew my teenage obsession with pattern drafting would pay off? (I don’t have the patience to make custom-drafted patterns for actual humans lol)
Hot, hot, hot. I kept a dishpan of ice water handy all day to soak my feet in.
I’ve figured out a formula for delicious single-serving lemonade! First, make simple syrup, which is one part sugar and one part water, heated until the sugar disolves. So make a batch of simple syrup and keep it in a clean jar or something. When you want lemonade, take your biggest tumbler and fill it halfway with ice. Juice a lemon. Measure the lemon juice as you add it to the ice — I use a tablespoon. Now, nearly fill the glass with cold water and then add simple syrup. The proportions are up to you, so taste as you go. I find that a 1:1.5 proportion is usually good, e.g. four tablespoons of lemon juice to six tablespoons of syrup but I always taste before I add the final spoon of syrup. Some lemons are sourer than others. Stir it up and enjoy!
103° today. I’ve been VERY careful not to get overheated. I soak my feet in cold water the minute they feel unpleasantly hot, and I have a wet cloth draped around my neck while I lie like a Victorian maiden on the couch in the breeze of the ceiling fan. All the shades are drawn, so although it’s hot in the house it’s still 15° cooler than outside.
This morning I went to my Pulmonary Rehab appointment with a lovely woman named Michelle. Turns out my insurance will cover an evaluation, but they won’t cover treatment (lulz). Michelle said that’s fine, there’s no reason for me to go to appointments for something I can easily do on my own. She showed me a few simple quick little exercises that I can do while seated, to warm up my heart, lungs, and muscles before I take a 2-minute easy walk. The thought of walking for twenty minutes is intimidating, but two minutes I can do (when it’s cooler)! I’m pleased that I can do something beneficial without straining myself. Very very pleased.
Ate a whole burrito over the course of the day, and a little dish of the nectarine crumble that I made yesterday. It is out of this world, omg. I’ll be making it again asap! And I don’t usually eat the things I bake. Not really into sweets except ice cream sometimes. But oh man. Nectarine crumble. Dude. It has very little added sugar so you mostly just taste nectarine, with a little oaty texture from the crumble. (Crimble-crumble, for you Friday Night Dinner fans :D)
Hoo buddy it was a scorcher, and tomorrow will be worse. I took a long cold bath in the middle of the day, which really helped me cope. Every night before bed I soak my feet in ice cold water. Can’t sleep with hot feet.
I baked a nectarine crumble with a pile of nectarines that were getting old. Haven’t tried it yet but Dave said it was good, though a little underdone. I forgot that our oven runs cool. I’ll pop it back in and bake it a while longer tomorrow (cause it’s a great idea to bake in 103° heat lol)
I still have almost no appetite and am about 25lbs underweight, but I just realized that I’ve recently been interested in cooking again. I’ve gone probably six months without being able to even think about food, so this is a nice change. I made mashed potatoes for dinner last night, and with the leftovers today I made a couple of cottage pies, one for the freezer and one for today. And I ate a small helping, too! I also decided to make a big batch of Kayray’s World-Famous pasta salad so I have lots of ready-made cold food for the upcoming heatwave, and I ate a small helping of that, too. (Recipe is here somewhere, just search for “pasta salad”)
And then Dave had a bowl of pears and cream for pudding (dessert) and I had a little bit too. That’s three things I ate today! Yay me! Maybe the tweaked thyroid meds are finally starting to work?
Housework this morning! I cleaned the roomba’s brushes (so much long red hair) and set him to work on the floors. Did all the washing-up and wiped down the counters. Dumped the compost. Watered the garden and planted bean seeds. Repotted the two houseplants I bought at Birds and Bees. (Ficus benjamina and a “satin” pothos)
Much cooler today. Woke up feeling pretty good so I went to the pharmacy to buy antiseptic for Dave’s toe. He managed to scrape a huge piece of skin off and it bled and bled. (This is the big toe on his “good” foot, poor guy!) He showed it to his podiatrist yesterday and she was quite concerned. He’s back on antibiotics and now must wear a protective boot on each foot. Ugh!
And then I went to a different nursery, a sweet little mom-and-pop one, and bought some seeds, compost, and a couple of houseplants.
I harvested a big handful of green beans and steamed them for lunch! And then I was exhausted an$ did nothing for the rest of the day. I would have played a little WoW but can’t find my bluetooth mouse.
I made cauliflower-cheese today, yay! And I even ate a bit. I was going to make a salad, too, but I ran out of steam.
Can’t find my kara-size boyshorts pattern (isn’t that always how it is?) so i traced off another copy. There are rainbow undies in my future.
Damn this fatigue. There is so much I want to do, but when the fatigue hits I can only lie around all day.
Every morning and evening I check on my garden. I’m amazed at how well it’s doing, what with my black thumb! There are lots of baby zukes and cukes, and tiny tomatoes like little green pearls. There will be enough green beans to harvest in a few days. The potato and strawberries seem inches bigger every day, and the sunflowers are way taller than me and beginning to bloom!
Hot. I sewed Mikey’s little shorties! It’s funny — the most time-consuming part of sewing is pattern prep and fabric cutting. The actual sewing is fast, at least on garments I’ve made a million times and don’t need to think about.
And then I was exhausted and just lay around till dinner time, when I made us a beautiful green salad to share. So crunchy and juicy and delicious.
I cut out all the pieces for Mikey‘s rainbow outfit! Still fatigued from yesterday so that’s about all I did.
We got our weekly delivery from MilkRun — such beautiful fruits and veggies. A huge head of lettuce, a giant bunch of spring onions, potatoes, radishes (straight into the compost bin yuck) beets (I’ve already boiled and pickled them), three big green peppers, blueberries, apples, oranges, lemons, peaches. Also milk for the Englishman’s tea :D
Met the young ones in a park and hung out for a while, and then we got ice cream cones at the Neighborhood Creamery. Got home exhausted from sun and family but had to assist Dave with a plumbing emergency so I’m wiped out tonight. Hope i can sew tomorrow.
Had a bit of a rough night last night but felt ok today anyway. That’s… six days in a row of not feeling horrible! Also I think it has been at least six days without night-sweats, so maybe my new thyroid regime is starting to work. Fingers crossed.
The rainbow striped fabric arrived! Since I had to pre-wash it in hot, I decided to strip the beds and wash the sheets at the same time, which means I also made the beds with the other set of nice clean sheets, which meant I took a shower and washed my hair so I could really enjoy those nice clean sheets tonight. Chain reaction of cleanliness. :D
I also washed a load of Dave’s clothes and made two more pairs of boyshorts undies for Lulu – two sizes bigger than the test pair!
This morning Henry texted that Freyja had woken him up by patting his back and saying her first real word: uh’nana! So he got up and gave her what she’d requested, a banana. Darling little person!
Oh my god the weather has been absolutely PERFECT all week. High 70s to low 80s, blue skies, warm gentle breezes, a pleasant level of humidity. I’ve been spending hours just sitting on the deck in the shade near my garden and enjoying the warm air on my skin and listening to the birds and bugs. I saw a couple of bumblebees busily visiting the blossoms on my tomatoes and cucumbers. Good job bees!
I’ve been feeling pretty good all week too. In the morning I did the washing-up, dosed my garden with bone meal and composted manure, and then spent a few hours tracing off patterns so I can sew for the littles when my fabric arrives. And now I’m sitting outside again, listening to Mom playing Bach over FaceTime.
My garden is doing so well that I’m itching to start more veggies for an autumn harvest. Maybe I’ll go to a nursery this weekend and buy some more seeds and soil for my containers.
Finally got to the end of a really terrible audiobook… I don’t want to name the author and title in case she goes ego-surfing and finds me — if you can’t say something nice, don’t say anything (in public). Oh my god it was tedious. I had to finish in case it magically improved toward the end; it did not. It got dumber and sillier and more boring! Author’s initials are L. U. and title is L. G. G. This was the second thriller of hers that I’ve read (both terrible) so I give up on her.
Went to Safeway this morning for a few dinner ingredients. Dave had bought some ground lamb and wanted to make lamb burgers with onions and mushrooms with a tossed salad so I bought mushrooms and salad ingredients and we had a great dinner! Two bites of meat for me and half the salad. :D
I still weigh 98lbs. No improvement in my appetite yet.
Feeling good again! Dave took Sal to the airport this morning because I had a conflicting doctor appointment — just a pcp check-in, no big deal. on the way home I went to a fabric store to try to find cute animal print cotton jersey for kid clothes but it was all awful murky colors. Then I tried to find some online and ran into the same problem — either awful or $20/yard. So I chose some cute rainbow stripes instead, on sale at knitfabric.com. Got five yards for a wee discount — plenty of fabric to make lots of little things.
And i also stopped at the garden center for bone meal and composted manure to keep my garden healthy.
Then home to rest.
Mom and I drove over to Henry’s in the morning to pick up her iPad that she’d left behind, and stopped at New Seasons for ratatouille ingredients on the way home.
I actually felt well enough today to chop and cook all those lovely veggies! Ratatouille is a Commitment. So much chopping, and then I partly cook each type of veggie separately before mixing them all together to simmer in a big pot. That way the onion is soft and caramelized, the eggplant is thoroughly cooked, and the peppers and zucchini still have texture. Big job.
Now I’m just sitting on the sofa under the ceiling fan and staying cool. My garden loves this summer weather! My tomatoes are starting to blossom, my pole beans are COVERED with tiny baby beans, the strawberries are starting to blossom, the sunflowers are getting tall and budding, the zucchini grows bigger every day, and I even have a couple of cucumber blossoms! My garden isn’t a FailBoat! (Knock on wood…)
