AND THEN IT WAS MONDAY...

IN WHICH THE NOTRE DAME WOMEN'S BASKETBALL TEAM WINS THE NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIP

Very nice job, girls, but you just about gave this portly spinster alumna a heart attack!

HMMMMMMMM...

This is the Coldwell Banker "Hoops" ad.  The idea is that a family is looking for a house and the realtor tells the little kid that if he puts up a basketball hoop he'll make lots of new friends.

Mission accomplished, from the looks of it, right?

BUT ARE MY JERSEY BOY AND I THE ONLY TWO PEOPLE ON THE PLANET WHO NOTICED THAT THE BLOODY BASKETBALL HOOP IS DIRECTLY IN FRONT OF A FREAKIN WINDOW?!??

So my questions are...

1. Is the kid's hockey net in front of the big ass dining room window to the far right?

2. Does the realtor's brother in law own a window repair company?

I swear you can't make this stuff up.  And, to make matters much much worse, I suspect that Coldwell Banker paid an advertising agency about a bazillion dollars to make this stupid thing, and that (given its placement during the NCAA tournament) it's the equavalent of a Super Bowl ad tor them.

Oey...

SNICKERDOODLE SCONES RECIPE

I found the recipe for the scones on the Pinterest, but the original can be found at CrunchyCreamySweet.com. When I made mine, I cut them into six pieces and baked them individually. I also just patted the dough into a big rectangle rather than the log and disc thing in the directions. (What can I say? I like really big scones.)  I also made a drizzle with confectioner's sugar and a little milk because I felt a little drizzly today.

Author: Anna@CrunchyCreamySweet

Ingredients

• 2 cups all-purpose flour
• 1/4 cup granulated sugar
• 2 teaspoons baking powder
• 1/4 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 1/2 cup unsalted butter , chilled (see note)
• 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 1 large egg beaten
• 1/2 cup buttermilk
• 1/2 cup cinnamon chips (I used Hershey'OR 2 to 3 teaspoons ground cinnamon

!for the topping:

• 1/4 cup granulated sugar
• 1 Tablespoon ground cinnamon

Instructions

1. Preheat the oven to 400 degrees.
2. Line two baking sheets with parchment paper. Set aside.
3. Make the topping mixture by mixing cinnamon with sugar in a small bowl. Set aside.
4. In a large mixing bowl, whisk together the dry ingredients (flour, sugar, baking powder, soda, salt and if using, cinnamon).
5. Using a large eye side of a cheese grater, grate the chilled butter straight into the bowl with dry ingredients. Cut in with a pastry cutter, until the mixture has coarse crumbs. Add cinnamon chips and stir in.
6. In a small mixing bowl, whisk together buttermilk, egg and vanilla. Add to the dry ingredients and stir in well. Do not overmix.
7. Place the dough onto a lightly floured surface. Shape into a log and divide in half.
8. Working with one half at a time, flatten the dough into a thick disk. Fold in half and then in half again. Flatten into a disk again. Fold twice again. Flatten into a 3/4 inch thick disk.
9. Transfer the dough disk onto one of the prepared sheets.
10. Cut into 8 triangles. Gently, separate the scones, leaving about 1/2" space between them.
11. Sprinkle with the topping mixture.
12. Bake the scones for 20 to 22 minutes. The scones will come together during baking. That's okay.
13. Remove from the oven. Let sit on the sheet for 10 minutes.
14. Place the parchment paper sheet with scones on a cutting board and run the knife through the same seams in the dough to separate the scones.
15. Cool completely before serving.

SATURDAY SPINSTER BLISS

We started a new routine here at CS2 on Saturday mornings.  Rich gets up at the crack of dawn (5:30!) and reads his papers and watches all of the shows that he tapes on the DVR thingie during the week. (It's basically the equivalent of a little kid getting up to watch Saturday morning cartoons...which I find quite endearing.)

I stumble out sometime around 9:00 and after two big cups of damn good, I venture into the kitchen to make something.  Today it was Snickerdoodle Scones:

Then Rich leaves for pickleball and I am back in the Happy Chair with the Food Network and the paper:

And then a little stitching:

If I can, I will eventually pull on my shoes and socks and go for a long walk before coming home to grab a hot scrubby shower, clean jams, and either a movie or two on the TeeVee, or a nap in the big girl sleigh bed.

This isn't for amateurs, kids, I promise you.  You really do need years and years of training in the art of quiet slothitude.  I've been practicing for years, so am adept at the sitting down for hours on end thing, so don't try to get to this level all at once.

(Unless, of course, you are rendered ill will the flu or something.  Then, by all means, go for it.)

New meds are making me a bit green about the gills, but if it subsides we might try to go out this evening.  There is a blues bar that Rich is anxious to see, and I am determined to get him out into the fresh air to prevent him from going stir crazy.

Nothing else to report.  I hope that your very own Saturday is exactly what you want it to be. Do something fun and come tell me all about it!

MYSTERY SOLVED

The marks on the linen aren't from the magnets...they're from the photocopy of my chart. I had it folded over, and it appears that the ink rubbed off onto the fabric.

No worries, though. I will just stitch over all of it and consider it a lesson learned.

A little more progress. I had hoped to finish that entire bottom section yesterday, but as always, overestimated my abilities. So instead of this being a March finish it might continue on into April.

That's the report tor a Friday, Dearies. I am gathering my wits and fuzzy socks and will head out for the chair in a little bit. Hope your day is everything you want it to be.  We're hurtling headlong into the weekend!

IT'S LIKE MY MOTHER ALWAYS SAID...

My treatment was relatively OK, so I looked forward to a night of stitching and celebrating.

Guess who decided to have back spasms and leg cramps all night long instead?  Bad enough that I tried (unsuccessfully, I might add) to sleep on the floor, in the Happy Chair, and on the sectional. I finally gave in, took a muscle relaxer and two Tylenol, and sat at the kitchen table.

Oey...it's not easy being me.

THANKFUL CORNER

So here I am in the chair, and so far (knock wood) things are running smoothly...

I managed to ruffle a few feathers, but I spoke up (respectfully), advocated for myself, and put my big fat fanny in the chair.  Instead of trying to remove FOUR kilos of fluid, we're going to remove TWO. I know the exact weight at which I crash, so we're going to stop trying to go below that just because the number on the chart says differently.

And as for Buzzy...he and the tech both behaved beautifully today, and I think he did so because I said "Let's stay away from this area and go here and here." I suspect that the stent was the issue, and that they were trying to put a square peg in a round hole so to speak, but with a little noodging...we seem to be in a much better place.  I know that he's very deep, so I just need to remind them to keep that in mind.

One thing I do want to mention though, is that my issues with dialysis are just that...mine.  I look back over some of my posts and I cringe that I told the brutal truth.  Dialysis is no joke, and I don't want anybody out there to minimize its horror...but I don't want to scare anybody facing it either.  So if you are a kidney patient and you are headed in the dialysis direction, please don't think my experience will be yours.  You can do this, I promise, but you really do have to put your warrior underpants on.

The other thing I don't want to do is minimize my complete awe and respect for my techs and nurses here.  Yes...some are better than others, and some seem to just get me better than others, but every single one of them is a blessing in my life that I thank God for every day.

As are you, my friends.  I looked at my Jersey Boy this morning and kissed his face and said "I don't have a clue how I would survive this without you here", and that goes for all of you too.  On days when I can't get out of bed (or worse...out of my head), you are there to pick me up, slap some lipstick on me, and get me moving.

Thank you for that.

It's been almost a year since Miss Susan started the YouCaring Fund for me, and I wanted you all to know that my transplant list of things to do is complete because of it.  There were tests and appointments and paperwork up the ying yang, but there was also the warning/requirement to gather as much money as I could to cover the cost of travel, housing, and medication.  Thanks to you...that is done and has allowed me to concentrate on all of the other stuff.  There just aren't any words or poems or gestures or songs or prayers that will ever be able to pay that back.

OK...time to go for now.  The team is here for a monthly check-in, so I want to gather my notes.

Happy Futzingday, Dearies!

HMMMMM.....

It's either a vase...or a headless curvy woman with her hands on her hips:

IN WHICH WE DECIDE TO HAVE A TUESDAY...

I am up and semi-caffeinated and ready to start the day.

Wanna know what that is going to consist of?

After a second cup of damn good, a little yogurt, and some Vitamin water, I'm going to sit at the kitchen table and pay some bills and do some paperwork.  Then I'm going to take a shower and put on some clean jams, and I'm going to get in the Happy Chair and stitch while the laundry sploshes around in the clothes washing contraption.  Jersey Boy is going to do a little work here, go to the gym for a walk on the treadmill, and then come home to decide what we're having tor dinner.

But I'm going to stay put and try to gather my wits about me.

I didn't stitch last night, but this is the progress I made on Sunday during "On The Waterfront". I can't watch the teevee and stitch at the same time anymore because I've been taking my glasses off and stitching with naked eyeballs (my contacts and cheaters stopped working a few months ago), but I can listen and enjoy the film just the same.

Thank you, as always, for your love, support, encouragement, prayers, and happy thoughts.  I am still completely gobsmacked by the generosity of this family of ours.

Dreams of Stewey last night...and he was able to talk!  At one point I said "Oh, Stewey!  I can't believe I get to see you again and that you can talk to me!" and he said "That's what heaven is all about, Mo-ther!" And he snuggled up next to me and patted my hand with his little paw and I noticed that he still smelled like baby shampoo and that his leg was all better.

Oey...they really should make pills for this!

So Happy Tuesday, Dearies! We're off like a herd of turtles around here...hope you are much the same!

AFTERMATH...WITH A BONUS

Normally, I come home from the chair with two boo boos.  Today, though, thanks to an uncooperative Buzzy and a nervous tech...I got three.  

Oey.

In another hour I will remove the eighteen rolls of tape, grab an ice pack, and just try to forget today happened.  

OWW OWW OWW

OK...so maybe that wasn't such a hot idea.  Yesterday was swell, in that I got an awful lot of stuff done, but today?  Today I feel like a bus hit me, backed up and over me, and then hit me again.

I know, I know...MOD-ER-A-TION...but in the almost ten years that you've known me when have I ever understood that particular concept?

So today will be a recovery day.  Rich has already suggested that I make the brisket tomorrow and we'll just have leftovers today.

I could kiss him right on the face for that one.

Dinner was a smashing success, and the cheese dip better that I remembered it.  I wish I could take credit for creating it, but that honor must go to Miss Trisha Yearwood Her Very Self:

Charleston Cheese Dip

* 1/2 cup mayonnaise


* One 8-ounce package cream cheese, softened


* 1 cup grated sharp Cheddar cheese


* 1/2 cup grated Monterey Jack cheese


* 2 green onions, finely chopped


* 1 dash cayenne pepper


Preheat oven to 350.  Combine the above ingredients in a shallow dish and heat in oven for 15-30 minutes or until bubbly.

*  8 butter crackers, crushed, such as Ritz


Add crackers to top and brown...another three or four minutes.

* 8 slices bacon, cooked and crumbled


Add bacon on top of the crackers and heat for just a minute or two.

Serve with chips, crackers, pretzels...anything that will hold up to a hearty dip. (I like Fritos scoops).

I'm going to do laundry and stitch all day.  At least I hope so.  If I make any good progress I'll have pics for you tomorrow!  Happy Sunday, Dearies!  Hope the sun is shining and the birds are tweeting sweetly wherever you are!

CLEAN AND TIDY AND TIDY AND CLEAN!

I woke up early today, read the paper, made baked cinnamon donuts, and then...cleaned the entire apartment!  Can I confess something to you, Dearies?  One of my favorite things on the planet (in my former life) was having a Saturday morning in which I played Happy Housewife and did things like bake and clean and putz about the house organizing and tidying.

But I have not done that in years!

Between me getting sicker, Stewey getting sick, moving, playing with my Guild Sisters, and then the arrival of Jersey Boy and the start of dialysis, I've gotten completely out of the habit of Saturdaying. I relied on Cottage Care to keep me from being featured on reality teevee, but I always felt so guilty for having "help", and I had a hard time justifying the expense for such a small place. Today, though,I was determined to give it a go, and despite a major treatment hangover, I hitched up my britches and went for it.

I'm happy to report that I survived...kind of, but it might be a minute before I have the ability to do it again.  I'm wiped out, but it's a good kind of wiped out and I have something to show for it. Rich is happy that I got some exercise and seem to be less "on the ceiling" with angst over the dust bunnies, so...Good Show, Tubby!  Way to sweat up your jammies and get a little work out in at the same time!

Tomorrow, if I can raise my arms or get our of the big girl sleigh bed, I am going to tackle that cube room studio/Jersey Boy empire headquarters once and for all.  It has become a glorified closet and catch-all space, and I am in desperate need of some order with respects to my stitchy stash.

Charleston cheese dip and chicken fajitas for dinner tonight and tomorrow I am going to make a Smitten Kitchen brisket with mashed potatoes and roasted brussel sprouts with shallots.

Thank you for your prayers and happy thoughts for good sessions this week.  They were still rough, but I really do feel like I'm going to get the hang of it eventually....just in time for transplant, I hope!

Happy, happy Saturday to you and yours! I hope you do everything that makes your heart sing! Come tell me all about it!

LITTLE MORE...