Strawberry Fields Forever and Rivers and Second Vaccine

 Dinner Tuesday night was sliced, baked chicken, sweet potato, cabbage. Getting two sweet potatoes into the oven was the hardest part. 

I finally got all the strawberries capped, washed, and sliced. Now, there is a huge bowl of strawberries ready to eat, freeze, or cook. 

Tuesday night, I did not get enough sleep but was happy I slept four hours. I wanted to get up and 8:30 and leave by 9 AM. But, unfortunately, I awoke at 7:30 and, left by 9 AM.

We had plans for Wednesday: 

*Get second Covid vaccine. 

*Pick up lunch at church.

*Eat in park at lake with friends.

Attend a lecture about rivers  under a pavilion. 

Well, as I left the house, I turned back to get  a sweater. It was frigid, cloudy and so blustery. When I got into the car, I told Tommy I was doing nothing outdoors, that if we could not hear the lecture from the car, we would just miss it. Or, he could get out and I would sit in the car. And, we were not sitting at the lake with friends. He had not even brought a light coat! 

We both now have the second vaccine. The woman pushed me right in to the table to get the vaccine. It was over in 45 seconds or less. I did not even feel the needle go in. Tommy had to walk the length of the building pushing his walker. When he finally arrived, it was time for me to leave, the end of my 15 minutes to wait for a reaction. 

We had plenty of time to get to the church as it is right near the hospital. So, we headed over to the site for the lecture--Peinhardt Living Heritage Farm. We were able to pull right to the pavilion. With both windows down and the guy using a handheld microphone, neither of us had trouble hearing. Lectures are right up my alley. Tommy like them, too. 

We both took our walkers out to walk in the pavilion and talk and browse. Tommy does not spend money on books, but bought one here--Alabama Rivers--A Celebration and Challenge. So did I.  Right now, he is reading. 

There was a table with items for sale. I chose a turtle that looks like it is carved from stone. Plants were on sale, 1/2 off. Now, I have the Hosta I want. Both items were a total of $3. I think this must have been the remains of a garage sale. 

The friends we were meeting had a pair of wooden birds for me. We picked up those and talked for a minute. By this time, the sun was coming out.

THEN, I asked to go to the farm to buy more strawberries. It is a long way, but he was okay with it. The sweet potato farmer directed me to go the strawberry field where they were picking. The farmer's kid got us a fresh basket, we paid and were on our way. This added another 20 miles to the trip home.

On the way back through town, we dropped off the papers for the attorney. 

The clouds were almost all gone and the sun shone brightly the rest of the trip. Of course, we ate strawberries on the way home. We are happy people. 

Others have complained about the cold, but we got it today. Today, a package was on the porch when we arrived. I got a new blanket as it was on sale 50% off. The trouble is the blanket is foam, sort of. It is Vellux. I can barely stand to touch it. Tommy was sort of surprised it was foam. It feels yucky, but maybe it will not touch me with the sheet between me and the blanket. 

After feeling ill, coughing, and running temp, I awoke feeling like I was okay with no fever or cough. But, I knew I had been sick. I went to get the second vaccine and eight hours later feel only a bit where the needle went in. I will get a test to see if I made antibodies after a few weeks, whenever my doctor says to do so.

Have you ever had a vellux blanket, with brushed nylon over foam? Are you as cold as I am? 

I Found a Penny!

So, take that Sluggy! It was right on the asphalt in front of the grocery store as I opened the car door on the passenger side to talk to Tommy as I drove him.

It is about 1 pm and it does not appear as if the rains predicted for today will not materialize or be very late in doing so. I am not complaining. It was so warm last night, Tommy turned on the ac and it is still on. I am not sorry to see bad weather not happen.

We had meatloaf from ground pork, very lean ground pork, last night with sweet potatoes and Brown and Serve Rolls and fruit. Tonight, I will use the rest of the ground pork For Swedish Meat balls...haven't decided vegetables yet. I need to go put chicken in the refrigerator from the freezer for tomorrow's and Wednesday's dinner.

Today, I went to Publix for bananas and cereal on sale. My cereal was NOT on sale, so I got bananas $.69/lb., two (bogo) cans of Campbell's Cream of Mushroom Soup @ $0.72 each, two glass storage containers (bogo) $7.49. These have snaplock lids. And, sadly, I bought 6 mini ice cream sandwiches.

Remember the blankets/throws we were given at Christmas? They insisted we take more and more. One is a quilt someone made by hand. It is an ugly quilt, but I picked it out as one of my choices. It is sewn by hand. All the pieces are triangles and sewn by hand. I don't think it was meant to be given to us. I think this was a quilt top someone finished but was never backed and quilted. It is a touching gesture. The inside of the quilt is a piece of flannel. I imagine someone who had little to give did this tedious handwork. The thread are all coming loose and some pieces of fabric are loose. This will be a project for sitting in front of the tv.

This is the second quilt I have had with flannel inside. The first was given to me as a baby gift for my first child, a boy.


My ankles and everything else is still swollen after the Lasix and potassium. I wonder how long this takes to return my ankles and everything to normal.
. ???

Oh, This Is Good

Friday afternoon, Tommy cut my hair an inch. He was adamant he would not, but softened. I wanted the length right, so I trusted him more than a beautician I did not know.

Friday night, I told Tommy to wake me when he woke on Saturday morning. He said he had to get things ready and then wake me since it was a long way down the hall. I tried to sleep, but daylight came before I could sleep. I cam to the living room when I saw his light go on. It was 6:15...ugh! I got on the computer for a few minutes after I turned the heat to 70 F.

I washed a few dishes and happened to spy something under the little table in the kitchen and got it out. It was one of the glass sugar containers with the little flip lid that allows sugar to pour out when the container is tipped. It was pretty grungy and the sugar looked yellowish. The lid had a chunk of something on it. Yuck.

When I first talked to Tommy, he was either still groggy, hung over, or suffering low blood sugar...lol. His blood sugar was low. There was no use mentioning it since he was going to eat cereal with milk. I just went about what I had to do.

I bought the sugar container with two fingers and asked him, "What is this?" He muddled around, trying to talk. You know how someone who has had too much to drink talks and tries to hold their head right and gesticulates? Well, he sort of waved his hands around in a manner unnatural for him.

Oh, that is forty years old. What is it? "Oh, that sugar is forty years old. I tell you what--just throw away any of that crap you find in the kitchen. Just throw it out." He kept saying this over and over. "That sugar is over forty years old."

Okay, I have permission to throw out "all the crap I find in the kitchen." I will do it slowly in case he objects. Tonight, I asked him if he remembered what I brought in this morning. He has no clue. Happy Dance here.

So, Saturday morning I washed my hair after I washed dishes. Then, I boiled six eggs had banana, milk, and a boiled egg.

We left about 7:30 Saturday morning, headed to Cullman. My hair dried on the way as I fluffed it. He wanted sausage/biscuit and coffee from BK. I hate BK sausage. But, it was cheaper than Hardee' biscuit sausage. Then, he stopped and got me one from Hardees.

We drove north of Cullman to a food bank I had not been to since August, just after my house was destroyed. The woman jumped up and exclaimed, "You have lost weight! 30 pounds?" Wow, my clothes were not fitting, but it was good to hear this. I was on top of the world since showed. The weight loss showed. I got there too late for milk. We did get things I can use, including potatoes I was going to get this week.

Then, we went to PO--no mail. We drove to my house--so sad and happy to be there. He had to stop at a business that always has a clean bathroom so I could go. Then, we went south of town. I had gotten an invitation that seemed like a good idea.

On to an event held for "Homeless or Needy."

First, a free haircut for both of us. There was a volunteer beautician cutting hair. We had blood sugar and blood pressure taken. Both were high for both of us. Well, a stranger cut my hair, enough to put my blood pressure over the top. My blood sugar was barely elevated. Tommy's blood sugar and blood pressure were very high. Tommy really needed a haircut since he had it cut around the middle of September.

Then, we received a blanket, hat, and gloves. The gloves were the little short ones that look like a five-year-old would wear them. And, we got a hat. Tommy turned down hat and gloves. My hat that I chose was the kind with the pigtails/braids on each side. A friend wanted one, so I got two hats and gave back the hat and gloves with my blanket I chose. Atually, I chose a quilt and picked out a navy blue blanket for Tommy.

There was a clothes closet upstairs. They recognized Tommy could not go up there and volunteered to bring clothes to him. He got a windbreaker, pants, and sweatshirt. The pants were two inches too long. He told me he would wear them like they were.

They, they brought clothes to me after I told them my size. She suggested I might wear a smaller size since I had lost weight. Okay. I was given a brand new with tags still on it sweat pants, a cute blouse, and a coat. I still do not know if the coat fits, but it looks like it might.

During all this waiting for Thanksgiving lunch to be served, a little girl came and offered us two more blankets. I told her we had already gotten two and taken them to the car. She said, "Well, now you have two more." We thanked her and put them on a chair near us. We figured an adult would take them back since the little girl might not supposed to be giving us things. We ate the largest dinner I have ever received on Thanksgiving--lots of turkey, cranberry sauce, mashed potatoes, dressing with gravy, two deviled eggs, mixed vegetables, crowder peas, green beans, corn muffin, huge delicious roll. We had a choice of soft drinks, all diet. Tommy got some drink. I got water. We both had dessert--chocolate pie for me and coconut cake for him. We were stuffed!

He gave me a deviled egg and dropped the next, gave me his white turkey. I gave him the mixed vegetable, brown meat, and corn muffin. We always give to each other the food we don't care for. THEN, they brought out saucers with two rolls, corn muffin, and deviled eggs. Of course, I had a roll, deviled egg, and Tommy had another corn muffin.

As we got ready to leave, a guy who said he would come back and help us get things to the car. He insisted we get another blanket! His daughter came to me and said, "This one is Christmas blanket. I picked it just for you." Sweet little thing beamed. I smiled broadly, matching her charming smile. I love the little throw. Some of these blankets were full-sized.

There were gallon bags of goodies--water, crackers, wipes, Dove soap and body wash, toothbrush and toothpaste, candy, gum, things a homeless person might need. I cannot name all that was in the bags, but all was useful. There were two kinds of bags, one with food stuff and another with personal care and non-edible items. Oh, each had Vienna sausage. I am going to give all we will not eat or use to a place that gives these things to recovering drug addicts. Well, I may meet someone who needs it and give it to that person.

We ended up with six gallon bags of stuff, plus the clothing. The sanctuary was converted into a dining area. The room was almost filled. They asked volunteers to stand around the room, so guests could receive a plate first. I counted seventeen guests. there were at least 40 volunteers. That is why we were given three of everything. We did receive six blankets.

We got home in time for Tommy to watch a game he wanted to watch. I took a nap. Neither of us were really that hungry. So, when I got up from my nap, we had a hot dog for dinner. Later, we will have fruit.

All in all, it was a good day. Now, I need to get a piece of chocolate I received today.