Dec 10, 2018

MONDAY UGHDAY


I'm channeling my inner Stewey today and burrowing under the blankets and staying here for the duration.  I grabbed an open chair time tomorrow at noon, so I'll have a Tuesday, Wednesday, Friday  treatment schedule this week because the thought of having to go to dialysis today was more than my poor little brain could handle.

My appointment with the surgeon this morninig went about as well as it could have. He took one look at Buzzy and scheduled me for revision surgery on January 15. The problems I've been having with him (Buzzy, that is) are the result of a huge aneurysm that has developed, as well as complications from the stents and coils and angioplasty that have been done to maintain good access. It feels very much like a Sharks and Jets kind of thing between the surgeon and the interventional radiologists and my dialysis team, but I trust that the advice I got to have revision surgery is sound...so off I will go.

I spent about five minutes on the car ride home bawling my eyes out over this turn of events, but now I think a little time in the cube room studio and Happy Chair today will make it all better.  I suppose that I am being overly dramatinc, but every now and then the wave of crap coming my way is bigger than normal, so I need a minute to re-group, hitch up my socks, and ride it out.

Today is a day for that.

I did go to bed at a decent hour last night, but ended up awake and pondering the damn Greek cookie situation. I watched a couple of YouTube videos with various and sundry YaYas (Greek for Grandmother) making them, and I think I have concluded that it is the mixing method that I'm using that's the problem, as well as a flour issue. Stitchy friend Amanda alerted me to the fact that the nice people at Swan's Down have changed the amount of flour that they put into a box (can you believe that she was nice enough to research that for me?!), and in all the videos I watched, there wasn't a Kitchenaid stand mixer in sight. Just a big huge bowl and a sturdy YaYa mixing the ingredients by hand.

Come to think of it, I never actually saw my mom MAKE these damn cookies. I only saw her enjoying one or two with her cup of coffee in the morning at Christmas and Easter time.

Wait a minute.

You don't think that somebody else made the damn Greek cookies and sent them to her, do you?

(Pause for pondering...)

With my stupid luck, my Aunt Mary actually made these damn cookies each year and sent them to my mom. For all I know, the handwritten recipe that I have used and cherished all these years was not, in fact, a treasured family secret, but rather something Mom found on the back of a box of Swan's Freaking Down cake flour.

(More pausing to question everything in life...)

My Dad's cookies will be made on Thursday, and there should be no drama with these whatsoever. There is no treasured family secret handwritten recipe for these because they were sent to him by Minnie Vacario...a neighborlady from Bellefontaine, Ohio. Mrs. Vacrio would shape them into our initials and send them in a big tin, and Dad would try to hide them on top of the fridge or tell us that they had "booze" in them so we didn't scarf them down in one sitting.

(OK, by "we", I mean me.)

(And there isn't any booze in them, and I'm pretty sure that once I reached a certain ago that would not have been a deterrent anyway.)

So on Thursday I will happily and calmly make cuccidatti...Italian fig cookies. The inside filling is nuts and orange peel and chocolate, and the outside dough is buttery and lovely. I don't think I will shape them into initils, but rather cut them small enough that one or two doesn't tip the scale any higher than it is now.

On the stitchy front, I am organizing myself for next year already. I have this bright idea that I am going to go back to the beginning of this here blog and write down what I was stitching each month every year and if it's not finished...finish it. So in January, I will make a list of all of the stuff I was stitching in Januarys from 2009 to 2018 and that will be my January basket for 2019. If I stitched it but put it in the box, maybe I'll dig it out and finally get it finish-finished or framed.

We'll see.

Well, Dearies...I've blathered on long enough. Time to get on with my TLC day. Methinks three or four hours of Outlander or a nice long nap (or both) should do the trick quite nicely, followed by a good healthy dinner and some peppermint ice cream for dessert.

(Provided, of course, that I can haul myself over to the Martin's for the ice cream!)

Happy Ughday! I hope your week ahead is swell and that you'll come tell me all about it!


19 comments:

  1. Sending a prayer and kind wishes your way. I so enjoy your blog and projects and ideas.

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  2. God bless the YaYas of the world. Our local Greek Church holds a Christmas Bakefest and had it earlier than usual, so
    I missed out on those homemade diples...You will conquer the
    cookies yet. So sorry about the complications with Buzzy.
    Praying that it is resolved in January. Until then, give yourself over to Christmastide joy and knock it out of the ballpark with your Cuccidatti...

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  3. Sending gentile hugs and prayers your way. I'm sorry to hear it's a rough time. I do like your stitching plans for 2019.
    Elizabeth Little

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  4. Very sorry about the problems with Buzzy. Hugs to you and good luck with the cookies.

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  5. Coni dear I'm praying and praying for you buzzy & the cookies. They looked yummy to me did they taste bad? If your Auntie is still with us ask her about the cookies. Would anyone else know anything about them? God bless Amanfa for googling the SD info. Size does matter (in cooking anyway) LOL
    Here's a tissue, now dry your eyes sweet one & pass the icecream.
    Blessings Baa

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    1. Amanda I'm sorry I misspelled your name my thumb is too phat for the phone keyboard

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  6. I think you may be my kindred spirit. Your reactions sometimes are so similar to mine. Forge on! Sounds like good counsel as far as Buzzy work.

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  7. Oh, Coni - I'm so sorry you have to go through more surgery for Buzzy. You try so hard to keep your blog light and you have such a great attitude, but you are going through such a difficult time. Be upset, be disappointed - be whatever you darn well want to feel ❤ One thing I've learned in the last year is that keeping up a happy face when you're anything but just wastes all the energy you could use to get on with things. I really hope the surgery goes well and your complications are sorted with a minimum of pain, inconvenience and fuss. Wishing you a Very Merry Christmas filled with perfectly, easily baked, simply deliciously wonderful cookies 🎄

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  8. Spinster, you've had quite the day even without the dialysis! I'm glad that you realized that, every once in a while, Enough is Enough and stayed home to take care of yourself. You will get back to living the hard life tomorrow. Today is (apparently) for thinking Deep Thoughts about cookies and their origins...

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  9. I agree with 'the ark' - every now and then, it's perfectly fine and appropriate to go back to bed and let the world carry on without you for a while. Hope you're feeling more like your usual self tomorrow.
    Interesting line of thought about those cookies - your mum enjoying them without the hassle of having to make them! What a hoot.
    The stitchy plan for 2019 sounds very very grand - and very very ambitious! Good luck with it.

    Megan
    Sydney, Australia

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  10. Oh my, I am so sorry Buzzy needs an overhaul. Not fair. Thank you for explaining about dialysis. I work at a nursing home and now understand more about what these folks go through three times a week.
    A sweet friend at church told me her twin sister needed a kidney. She and I were at brunch during this conversation, and I was drinking more champagne than I realized. I immediately volunteered to give her sister a kidney. Yikes, I was under the influence, but after I sobered up, I did call University of Cali at Davis to start the process. I talked with the Social Worker who told me I was not a candidate due to my history of having major depression on and off through the years. I was surprised to
    hear this.
    Praying for a happy, healthy kidney for you

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  11. You are my inspiration, Coni. I hope they sort out Buzzy's problem lickety-split.

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  12. You rock, Miss Connie!!!!Couldn't figure out who Buzzy was until today! Way to plan out your quilting for 2019. Get Buzzy all patched up and those piles of unfinished quilts cleaned out this upcoming year!

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  13. Hopefully yesterday was restorative enough for you to face today's chair time, and beyond. No doubt Stewey would have approved and joined you. Now change the course of history and add the dang booze to your Dad's cookies!!

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  14. Praying that the corrective revision with Buzzy in January provides relief to you on chair days. Thinking of you!

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  15. I'm so sorry to hear you'll have to have more surgery to fix Buzzy. I do hope it will make a real difference for you and all will go more smoothly. I like your idea of going back to see what you were working on and try to get things finished, but I hope you can just work on what you enjoy and not feel pressured. Enjoy your cookie baking this week!

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  16. Oh dear. Poor Buzzy! And I love your idea of looking up what you were stitching in past January's! Can't wait to see what goodies come out of that search :)

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  17. Good luck on your WIP search! But go easy...perhaps finishing just half of them next year is in order. After all, you must leave time for all the other wonderful pieces that need started! And praying that Buzzy’s revision is highly successful!

    Debbie in Kansas

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