October 17, 2022 Monday--10am

Good morning!

I am finding out more about Allie as she is more comfortable, I guess.  She's a toilet cat.  I haven't had one fascinated with the flushing toilet for a long, long time.

Allie also loves to lick water off the walls after you get out of the shower.  I have had cats like that before...but not one that tries to climb into the shower while you are still in it! LOL!  I have had cats who are so snoopy they have to watch as you transfer clothes into the dryer...but not one who has jumped right into the damp clothes!  Silly girl!  I tossed some on top of her and she changed her mind about how interesting a spot that was--hehe!

Leah and the boys popped in briefly a couple times on Monday.  Once to drop off a bag of Origin cat food from the Natural Pet Store and again to bring Leah's crock pot back over.

My big project for the week was to pull all the plants from the planter boxes.  

The cold caused them to start dying en masse...and we were expecting more frost.  [And we actually did have snow 2 or 3 times at the end of the week that didn't accumulate on the ground...just flakes in the air.  One time was almost like sleet.]

Took me a while with a back screaming at me for breaks...

...but I got them all cleaned out.

I only seem to manage one bigger project (or a good chunk of a project) a week these days.  That and laundry were the bigger ones this past week.

The trees across the way are changing color right to left, as usual.

Dagan came over after work on Thursday.  He hauled all the trash to the dumpster, brought the patio furniture & hose to the garage...

....brought in some more bird seed for me from the garage, and even swept all the dead coleus leaves off the patio  for me.

 

Then he stayed for a while.  They had gotten a company out that day to put in the heat & AC unit in the garage and add the humidity thingie to the furnace!  Nice!  

Dagan is as enthusiastic about the move as Leah is!  He was measuring furniture and taking notes on his phone.  He thought I should have something with better storage under the living room window than the little four-cube bookcase I got from Target.  Something matching the rest of the living room from IKEA...but then I needed to know how high the window is off the floor.  

It was really fun doing this with Dagan, too.  I was looking up the furniture I wanted from IKEA and he was taking notes as to the width of everything.  When he got home he and Leah made measurements downstairs now that it is almost empty.  Still are just approximate because there are no walls up...but Leah then made a sketch she sent me...

...and also how far the window is off the floor.

And I did find another IKEA dresser that will fit under that big window!  Nice!

Meanwhile, I was scheduled for my annual checkup with Dr. Kessler on Friday--but Leah and the boys were all sick.  ;(  Sore throats & bad colds & generally miserable.  Ian had it first, then Leah, and now Liam was the latest.  Starts with a fever, too, so Liam had a fever.

  Seems to kind of rebound and linger a bit.  Don't think it was covid but not sure.  Dagan and I haven't gotten it.  Liam's temp broke yesterday.

Anyways, I cancelled my appointment and got it rescheduled.  I knew it would be a while as she is quite popular and busy.  January 6th.

Myself--I didn't have a great week--but I didn't have what they had.  With me it is various Keytruda stuff: diarrhea, insomnia or sleeping a lot, head really stuffed up (has been for months), eye light shows...and aching all over--but that could be fibro and/or arthritis.  All the stuff I live with all the time but a bit worse a few days.  So I was happy to get the patio done!  :)

Since I have not been as busy the past couple years I decided to try a change with my bullet journal.  I ordered a regular monthly/weekly planner insert.

Spent ages on Amazon finding a simple one with a layout I thought might work for me. 

Monthly...

...and weekly.

The only things I still needed were my monthly tracker and my correspondence list.  So I asked Leah if she thought she could adapt the forms she made that we've been using for several years to make a single page I can insert into the planner with a tracker on one side and correspondence list on the other?  Yes, she thought she could.  

So now (if this works and doesn't drive me bonkers) we only have to print off 12 pages for the entire year!  Yes, I will have to put it right smack in-between the page spread for the first week of the month (and that is what I am wondering if my OCD side will go bonkers dealing with--LOL!), but it would save both of us soooo much time!  Until I feel a lot better and need more space to write things down because I can do more...this might work okay.  

I even splurged on a new binder cover, too.    

Been using the same red one for 2 or 3 years.  Wanted to try something with a firm cover.  Anyways, we think it will work.  Leah will come over one day (before December hopefully) to work on the inserts--easy peasy.  :)

We've had some pretty days...

...but too cold to have the patio door open more than a crack for a little while--which I do for Allie mostly so she can stick her nose up to the screen.  

She has decided she really likes that memory foam bed on the chair.  I can't push the chair under the table anymore--LOL!

This cat is not one I am going to be able to keep off the counters and tables.  She and Blink are a lot alike!

Dagan dropped off some premade food on Saturday and took Leah's cookbooks back.  Leah popped in to pick up my Cuisinart (sold!) on Sunday.  The week went by so fast!

Now that it is properly cold the birds are here almost constantly all day long.  Like right now--it is 29 degrees at 11:30am.  I am putting seed on the patio now--Allie is thrilled because she can see the birds even closer.  Next spring will be the last time I will be shoveling away sunflower seed shells--LOL!  

There are at least three, maybe four of us on the backside of this building who feed them.  They won't starve without me.  But they (and the bunnies) will miss the planter boxes, I think, to hide behind from the wind.

Leah gets more information because she is on facebook--and she texted Dagan and I this week that they had a false shooter scare in multiple places up here!  We are so glad Leah is homeschooling!!  They had lockdowns in Grand Forks, Bismark, Jamestown, Fargo, and West Fargo!  They made calls acting like they were inside the buildings and even singling out certain classrooms.  Some people are just crazy.

All the students have been doing practices and drills so they were prepared as they could be.  The police reacted quickly, it said.  I remember us hiding under our desks in a ball for nuclear bomb drills in the 50s.  Even as a kid I knew that was really stupid and wouldn't save us--but also it felt totally unreal.  The tornado drills, on the other hand, were very real.

The shooter drills must feel all too real.  They could happen!  By last Friday we had 531 mass shootings in this country.  It could happen here.  It could happen anywhere in the US these days--malls, churches, grocery stores, bars, at work...anywhere.  The vast majority of the people want laws changed and something done...but the government fights over it and in the end money stops them from doing anything significant about it. 

Upsetting.  I will vote.  Got my mail-in ballot to fill out.  Will anything change?

So depressing.

Well, on another subject...as far as whether to stay on Keytruda for another year...one of the options I have always had in the back of my mind is to go to Sanford for a second opinion and possibly switch over to their system.  I would lose Dr. Kessler as my doctor and osteopath--but Sanford is well known for its Roger Maris Cancer Center.  I go to the Essentia system.  Essentia has 5 people listed under oncology: 2 MDs (one full-time and one part-time I know from going there), 2 nurses, and one Physician's Assistant (that's Brittani I am seeing now).  Sanford has 44 people listed under oncology and 29 of them are MDs.  Most of them specialize in certain cancers...but that's a lot of oncologists!  Full or part-time! 

Anyways, that is an option for me--to see what Sanford cancer center has to say.  (I honestly wouldn't expect a different opinion, though, if that is what the Keytruda company suggests.)  Just thought I'd let you know I am thinking about options.  :)

This week---Keanna comes to clean on Tuesday and I have my first infusion without any bloodwork on Friday.  I am debating about going to get my covid booster shot after my infusion since I am at the clinic and don't have anything planned for the following week.  I do dread it--as I get so very sick from them...but I might want to get it over with.  If I do and get very sick it is possible I won't blog next Monday--just so you know.  I would pop in to let you know, though.

Meanwhile--we have had some sunny crisp days.  Winter is in the air, for sure.  I am hoping to tackle another bigger project this week--or at least a good chunk of one.  ;)  I've been watching Netflix DVDs of 1883 with Sam Elliott (still a hunk at 78 years old!).  Have the last DVD of season one to come in the mail this week.  I have always been fascinated about the pioneer days and this has been getting better as it goes along so far.

Also watched season two of Only Murders In The Building on Hulu.  Reminds me of a lot of British murder mysteries--both mystery and humor.  Speaking of--I'm on season three of Shakespeare and Hathaway on BritBox and on season two of My Life Is Murder on Acorn.  I do like having cozy mysteries going.  

I do have a darker mystery series going on Netflix streaming.  Icelandic with dubbing.  I watched Trapped and now this follow-up is called Entrapped.  Kind of strange because it has episodes and continues with the same main characters/actors but it wasn't called Trapped season two, you know?  Maybe it's an Icelandic thing?  

Allie has decided it is time for me to quit typing and give her some neck and chin scratches.  I guess I'll proofread this quickly and send it off to you.  Have a week of accomplishments and recharging!!  Till next time...