I love the big pumpkin we grew! I stacked it up with a bunch of smaller squash and pumpkins to decorate for fall.
This week, I was able to get some cleaning done. It felt really good to have a day where I scrubbed a window, and cleaned up some clutter that had gathered. A LOT of clutter, I’m ashamed to report! I also wiped up a lot of dust. I got out some fall decorations and put them out. It felt good to have time to do a little more serious cleaning for the first time in a few weeks.
I noticed our spider plant is getting ready to make little spider plants. Patsy started this plant several years ago in a 4H class, and is excited that it is multiplying.
I can hardly believe that I found more cherry tomatoes. I am having to grab them quickly from branches that are dying on the few bushes remaining, but we had them in our salad for lunch today. The bigger tomatoes were picked green before our trip and are ripening slowly.
There are a few little cherry tomatoes left on the bushes. Time will tell if they ripen or freeze.
My aunt and I went on a quilt shop hop. She has been wanting to go on one ever since she heard about how much fun it was. We had a blast! The fall leaves were in full color and we got to go meandering through the countryside and thoroughly enjoy them. We packed a lunch and got to sit in a pleasant spot to eat it. In 3 of the towns we visited, we saw lots of little kids dressed up in their Halloween costumes, as those towns were having some kind of Trick-or-Treat event in their downtown areas. I am not a super big fan of Halloween, per say, but I always enjoy seeing how much fun kids have when they dress up. My favorite was a marshmallow. The kid was dressed in a white sweatshirt and sweat pants and had a little hat/cover over his head that looked just like a marshmallow. There were cut-outs for his eyes so he could see. It was adorable.
I worked on 2 projects this week. Neither is finished, but both are further along than they were. One was the quilt in progress, the other an old project. I have a goal of finishing up some things that have been around for a long, long time.
I still have a few flowers blooming, although almost every day they promise a killing frost.
Rob had doctors’ visits this week. He is within 2 pounds of his goal weight for surgery. The cardiologist has cleared him, and will send the proper paperwork, as will the primary care dr. But…the orthopedic doctor is changing hospitals, so the first available appointment for pre-surgery is in January. Then they will schedule the actual day for surgery. But, at least it’s coming closer.
My sister took Patsy to Disney on Ice, along with Jake and Michaela and some friends. They had so much fun!
I bought groceries for 2 weeks when I returned from Hawaii. I only picked up some milk and 2 packages of tortillas for 99c/each today. One day this week, there will be loaves of bread for 50c/loaf (limit 2), so I will get those. That will do it, hopefully, until next week. I am having to be careful to not stock up too much these days. With Rob dieting all the time, and less people in the house, we just aren’t going through the food like we used to do. So, it’s a savings as long as I don’t buy too much and end up throwing it away!
I will use a little more in the next couple of weeks, as Lovana will be flying home in the morning, and staying with us for a little while until we get her things moved into the place she and a girlfriend have rented. Busy times ahead for me!
Yahoo for Rob! I hate that he has to wait until January though but at least there is light at the end of the tunnel.
Jeannie@GetMeToTheCountry
Yes. He is quite cheerful considering the answer he got was “I’m glad you worked so hard to lose that weight–now you can wait longer”:). He can lose a little more if his body cooperates.
Safe travels for Lovana! I’m sure she has enjoyed her time in Hawaii, but I know it will be nice having her closer to home.
Congratulations to Rob on his weight loss!! That is wonderful that he is so close to having the surgery. I’m sorry that he will have to wait until Jan though.
The quilt hop sounds like fun, and I’m glad you were able to have a fun day. Your flowers are lovely, and how yummy to still have garden tomatoes. Enjoy every last one of them. Have a great week.
She’s home safe and sound. We took off at 4:30 am to go get her, and she flew all night, so you can only imagine (from a safe distance) what tired people we were today! Actually, we did ok. We rested in-between things that needed doing, and when I went over to get Jake off the bus, he was surprisingly mellow and wanted me to read extra time and even picked up his room with a minimum of fuss. What a great day for him to be cheerful!
Good morning, Becky! I may not comment often, but I really do enjoy reading your posts. Thanks for sharing!
I’m glad you enjoy reading!
Congratulations to Rob on meeting his weight loss goal. That’s fabulous. And to you too and the rest of the family for being such a great support to him.
I grew pie pumpkins here for the first time. I took over an extra raised bed that was being used at one of my community gardens. I ended up with 7 pumpkins, an 8th was eaten by something. What space hogs though! Good thing the raised bed was at the end of a row so the vines could just take off. I still have beets and two kinds of chard growing. The rest of the garden space is mostly put to bed. I say mostly because I could weed a little bit but haven’t yet.
It’s been a tough month for me. The puppy I brought home in August was such a behavior problem that I returned him to the breeder. I really think he had some neurological problems, breaks my heart still but I know I made the right decision.
I’m so sorry about the puppy. That must have been super hard. I hope you can find the right dog for you before too long.
I am glad you got to grow the pumpkins this year. At my old house, I had all the room in the world for squash and pumpkin vines. At this place, not so much. The garden looks so huge when it’s time to weed, but much smaller when trying to find places for vining crops! I did grow a few Butternut squash in a flowerbed I dug up. There is still more yard/garden to weed around here than I have time for, but I just keep on digging:)
When the orthopedic doctor was explaining that he couldn’t do the surgery right now, even though that goal weight had been reached, he casually said, “Go ahead, Rob. Just keep on losing. It will just help you afterwards.” Like it was that easy:). We wish! But, it is true that even though Rob has reached the weight where they will do surgery, he still has a few more to lose….such is life. The doctor is really nice and seems like a good doctor, so Rob wants to stick with him. So we wait.
That is wonderful news about Rob. What a way to start off the year. You do have so many things happening. The kids must have had a great time at the Disney on Ice. I love those types of shows. That was nice of your sister to take Patsy too. I am still picking a few tomatoes here and there. The peppers are still going strong. Just herbs otherwise. have a wonderful week.
Thanks! It was nice of Patsy to be included. It was the first time she had seen a show like that and she really loved it.
Congrats to Rob! My SO has lost almost 60 pounds which helps the arthritis. Now it is an issue of having clothes that fit! I am an okay seamstress but taking in shirts, shorts and pants is beyond my skills. And they charge so much at the cleaners to do alterations that it really isn’t worth it.
I sure thought of you this summer when we were living in our 5th wheel. In some ways it was so much easier and in some ways a lot more challenging. It took at least 6 weeks (we were up in the mts. for 4 months) for me to get my cooking back on track. Having just the little freezer at the top of the fridge turned out to be a big adjustment. The local grocery stores were at least 15-20% higher in costs, meat especially so. So we’ve decided to take the little chest freezer we have in the mudroom with us. It will be in the “dining area” where we took out the awful table and chairs. I can use it for our coffee/tea/beverage bar by putting a big tray on it with everything. And our food interests were different – maybe being at 8600′ changed what we wanted. I did grill more.
Right now we are in the second phase of a major storm so have cold (down below 0 tonight), snow and wind. We haven’t really had a lot of winter for the past few years – it could get cold but not really feel or look like winter. We’re enjoying it by being inside although my youngest cat is convinced that maybe the “other door” from the one we just checked might not have winter.
I found my mother’s recipe for apple cake – brought a lump to my throat to see her writing. I found some granny smith apples and I have my cuisinart to do the shredding. Days are gone when I could shred cups and cups of apples or zucchini!
Mary
I’m glad you had a great experience in your 5th wheel. I got just what I prayed for—good, happy thoughts when I think of my experience in mine that summer we lived in it:)
Tell your SO congratulations. I know how much work losing weight is and 60 lbs is a huge accomplishment.
Congrats to Rob. Almost there. Life will be looking so much better soon.
Yes. He is upbeat and saying that a couple more months isn’t so long in the scheme of his life. Still, it will be such a good day when the surgery is successfully behind us.
Kudos to Rob for a job well done! Since you have some time to plan, you might want to think ahead to after the surgery. When my husband had his hip replaced we needed to acquire a walker, a raised toilet seat, and a shower chair right away. We found a local non-profit organization that would loan these items out and only asked for them to be returned when done. They had a location where you could go to see what equipment fit your needs the best, as it can be difficult to order items such as these from a vendor without trying them out first.
Also he will not be able to drive for awhile. We had home visits for physical therapy for several weeks, followed by physical therapy several times a week at a local clinic. You may want to see which PT groups are both in-network and conveniently located, as you will be driving him there for about a month.
We are about 4 years out, and although the surgery was a major life disruption for a few months, my husband went from having daily pain and difficulty sitting, walking, and driving to being able to ride his bicycle again!
Thank you for all the information! I’m going to refer back to this comment a few times before the whole process is finished, I’m sure:)
Diane and Becky, Your posts are helping me with a decision about hip replacement. I’ve known for awhile it was a matter of when, not if but have moved from achy discomfort to downright pain. I had knee replacement 9 years ago and have had no problems but we now live 14 miles from town which makes a difference in what type of help we get. Living in a large urban area meant that services were readily available and close by – just a matter of which one. We actually kept the toilet seat with bars, a walker and a cane from that surgery and have loaned them to friends and used them here for my SO’s knee replacements. But PT will be a different animal for me this time! Mary
I don’t pretend to understand the pain involved, but I can speak for Rob:He’s not looking forward to the pain of the surgery, but the constant, unremitting, severe pain he is in all the time will hopefully become a memory after a few days, once he’s had the surgery. So, he’s excited to get it. He figures it can’t get much worse than it is right now. I hope and pray he’s right.
Hip replacement surgery has evolved considerably and there are now several options which may be used. My husband was able to have anterior surgery, which is less invasive with a shorter recovery time. However, this is a newer technique, requiring surgeons to have special training and a HANA table. It may not be applicable depending upon an individual’s situation. My husband’s brother had the traditional method and did just fine, albeit with a somewhat longer recovery period.
The waiting period before surgery is difficult for sure. Using that time to research the methods and surgeons (looking for experience here!) made us feel more in control. It can be scary to take that leap into the internet, but knowing what to ask and expect worked best for us.
It’s good to hear about success stories!