Best Of

Chris, I hope a new pillow will solve your headache problems. I do pray that your GERD related to your new med will have a solution when you see your pcp next week. I hope you get to enjoy your new strawberry dessert tonight and have some nice relaxing time on your deck.

Thank you for asking about Cammie. Here is a recent picture from last week when we came home from the vet. Her beautiful blue eyes you can't see as her eyes still looked wild from the anesthesia. They had to shave off many mats and her poor litttle chest got shaved a lot. This has been a very tough last week. I have been on an emotional roller coaster with a glimmer of hope to the opposite. I messaged the vet's office yesterday as Cammie developed awful liquid diarrhea and I thought it was the increased steroid she is one as her new protocol. The vet said it was not the meds but her pancreas. I didn't know what that meant but it made me see that she may be in pain and I didn't know it. I made the tough decision today that I will have her put down tomorrow at 1pm. I hate it that my vet will not be there as she is so good and spent so much time with me last Tues. discussing options. I am really struggling with this knowing everything today will be her last. She is still in her diehard routine as if everything is normal. I got up very early today and couldn't sleep as I was messaging my vet. So I went downstairs and Cammie came down and laid on my lap for a while but she knew this wasn't her normal routine so she is now sleeping in my bedroom. We will have some time tonight before the dreaded day. Her hind legs were so hard for her to maneuver once she got on my lap and I just couldn't see her dealing with that anymore. Trying to choose the end of her life day was pretty surreal. I would have probably waited until Thursday but my Bible study teacher invited me and two others from our Bible study to help her celebrate her Mom's 95 birthday at a fancy restaurant on Saturday and I didn't want to be a total basket case for this. Her Mom is a pistol. For her 90th birthday she sky dived!!!! Makes my balloon ride at 50 look a little tame. LOL I would appreciate your prayers. I really didn't anticipate this being as hard as it is. She is my family and we have an unusually close bond. God gave me a gift with her even though in her initial kitten stage I was so upset not knowing how to deal with her back then it would have been hard for me to imagine how close we would become. There are many life lessons in this long 17 yr journey of how God can turn something we think is a challenge into a blessing. So this will be my last picture of her. Thank you all for your prayers for her. She made it to 17 yrs and 3 mos. I will miss her terribly.

Love,

Nancy

One of the things that really helped me cut down on sodium was switching away from table salt to "kosher" salt (Diamond Crystal) like chefs use—flaky, larger surface area so you use less. No iodine, but we eat a lot of fish anyway (and snack on nori). I salt from way up high so it falls evenly; and if I salt anything after cooking I use Maldon flake salt or French "fleur de sel." Again, just a little goes a long way. I use kosher salt for pasta water (in a "Fasta Pasta" microwave cooker that uses much less water and is really fast) even though it's more expensive than table salt. But what really changed the game for me was when a client paid me for defending her traffic ticket with a huge gift box assortment from Penzey's. I love using herbs (fresh when in season), spices, extracts, oils and vinegars (especially the little bottle of 25-yr-old Aceto Balsamico "Tradizionale" I dole out in drops over strawberries and insalata Caprese).

Hit the farmer's market today—jackpot! Tart cherries, raspberries & blueberries from MI; strawberries, heirloom tomato, bell pepper from IL; and a sourdough from a local bakery. The empanada lady was sold out; I still have lots of coffee beans and haven't scooped any of the rhubarb sorbet so I skipped those stands as well as the Greek olive oil guys (I have a full set of Graza olive oils from Spain: Drizzle as a condiment, Sizzle for light sauteeing, Frizzle for higher heat—I use that instead of butter for fried eggs). And noticed that back at the house, some of our black raspberries are ripening!

Messaged the derm last night about the cyst, and her nurse called this morning to get me in today. Turns out she's not going to excise the cyst just yet—the plan is to calm it down and shrink it. So she switched me to a different antibiotic that has a little anti-inflammatory action, and injected a little steroid into the reddest part. Wouldn't you know it that tonight I happened to tune into "Dr. Pimple Popper" and the blobs-du-jour were epidermoid cysts! I now know more than I ever wanted to know about them (including what they look like beneath the skin, eeeuuwww).

We went to the wake for Bob's nurse's 22-yr-old son who was shot point-blank in the head. Turns out it was retaliation for dropping out of his gang. The funeral home was packed, and there were guards and police galore. Will be missing the funeral tomorrow (in our old neighborhood, Andersonville, where we lived before buying our house) because Bob has to work and I never met anyone there. Afterward, we went out for tapas. For dessert, I'd been jonesing for Oberweis' black forest chip ice cream, but when we got there it was out of season. Normally, I'd have chosen another flavor, but thanks to Zepbound I was able to turn around and go home. (I did indulge in some "Rebel" keto triple chocolate from the freezer—which we've started to clear out).

We were able to get a 1-month lease extension on the rental house—but from the landlord's housing agency, not State Farm which refuses to cover any more rent. I'm seething: swung by the house to get mail today and found nothing's been done in over a week. No way in hell could we have moved back in today—we'll be lucky to do so by 7/15, when our new bed will be delivered. I don't know who to be angrier at: the State Farm adjuster who suddenly decided to cheap out on us, or the contractor—who is directly responsible for costing us an extra $8500 (July's "rack rate" rent). I got the reconstruction check today, but am not endorsing any of it over till we are satisfied. Tomorrow they'll be doing the exterior painting on the rear wall (window frames & shingles), which is an "extra." (I paid, but according to the specs it was supposedly included, and the summary list said it was supposedly completed and billed to State Farm). Meanwhile, can't have the fridge moved back till we get the water line…which they can't do because they're busy painting (and having to remove much of the ivy to do it). Tomorrow I finish measuring the windows, take delivery of Bob's new radio/CD changer, and weed out the pile of junk on the master BR floor. Will postpone the window-treatments appointment till next week. Still have to order twin mattresses and at least 2 sets of linens for each bed—will see how much was salvaged by the textile-cleaners. Somewhere in that pile are a bunch of curtain rods and shades (though the latter are 40 years old and in rough shape). Will also call RCN to resume internet & cable (but not landlines)—can't make an appointment till we get the hardware & its furniture back from storage. On the fence about resuming satellite DirecTV, because we've gotten used to streaming it here, which avoids "storm fade" because the dish is not part of the system. Of course, we need to shop for a new TV and two large enough stands to accommodate it and the other one we're moving up front.

Probably have BFFs over to grill on the 4th—one last hurrah with the Weber kettle (unless there's a "no open flames" advisory, in which case we'll use the panini press instead). Not going to Skokie see the fireworks—we'll just watch them (DC, NYC) on TV. Will be too hot to spend much time outdoors.