White, White Birthday

 We got about 6 inches of heavy wet snow yesterday. Today a fine light snow has fallen a few times.

Today is my birthday. My twin sister and I were born about 6 weeks premature. While an earlier birthday didn't mean harsh winter weather in Southern California, waiting until March would have made a big difference in Indiana. The certificate with my inked footprints and an embossed seal (which nobody accepts as legal, I had to get a different kind from the county when I wanted to marry) stated I was born on a Thursday. "Thursday's child has far to go." I have seen interpretations that the Thursday child will go far, be a success. Or that such a child will have a long life. To me, it means having a long laborious journey. Thursday's child will not have an easy time travelling through this world. After all, it rhymes with Wednesday's child of woe. 

When we were at Costco a month or so ago, I bought some filet mignon and froze it. Tonight I will broil that beef and serve with Bearnaise sauce.

I will saute a vegetable mix from Trader Joe's and microwave some left-over wild rice.

For dessert there must be chocolate. The cake is thawing in the refrigerator to be ready to eat with ice cream tonight.

Speaking of Trader Joe's, we bought some grapefruit for my husband. These are gigantic. He usually only eats half at a time.

One of the problems with such short notice for surgery is that I have some things I need to eat up before my diet restrictions start. Spaghetti sauce (half a jar in the fridge), nuts, sausages. For 2-3 months I will not be able to eat the candy I received for Christmas. I don't think See's Toffee-ettes with the crunch and the nuts will last until I can eat them again. I am busily trying to finish them before February 2nd. I thought my surgery would be toward the second half of February. I didn't start on these right away because I had several boxes of Moose Munch to eat. The See's candy is too good to let grow stale. 

I sort of see this next week as a countdown time to eat what I will miss post-surgery. I even went thru the garage freezer looking for what might work post-op; I found the zucchini bread (with walnuts) I had frozen, and it is thawing on the kitchen counter. I know I have to take each day after February 1st day by day and not think too much about all those weeks of careful eating.

A Smile On My Face

 Even though I didn't go somewhere warmer this winter, I have some blooms to cheer me up.

I bought this calandiva (a variant of Kalanchoe) at Meijer about a week ago. I needed some printer paper and decided to shop in-person after many weeks of not being in a store. Meijer often has interesting potted plants.

I have had my amaryllis over 9 weeks. It finally looks like it might bloom in another week. Oddly enough, I noticed another flower stalk this week; not sure how long it has been growing. It certainly will not bloom until long after the first stalk has bloomed.

Starting to bulge open. A flower next week maybe?

Second stalk near the bottom.

Grace Village still has no monthly birthday party, but it continues to send over a birthday carnation and a muffin (two muffins for us so I guess the activity director thinks my husband needs one). It arrived today via a volunteer messenger.

The thing that really put a smile on my face this week is what I saw when the snow melted away and the sun came out yesterday. Daffodils! I know it won't be until at least March when their sunny little faces appear, but now I feel winter is waning and spring will come before too long.

Icy, Snowy Birthday

We had freezing rain overnight. This morning we woke to an icy glaze on the streets and driveway. Mid-morning we saw some snow. It may snow a bit this afternoon. No sun expected.

I had an office visit with my spine surgeon at 10:15 this morning in Warsaw. He comes to Warsaw twice a month; it was good that I did not have to drive to Fort Wayne. Actually Highway 30 had been salted and cleared and was not in too bad a shape. Grace Village was out salting my street and driveway around 9 a.m. To be even more careful, my husband drove me to my appointment in his all-wheel-drive pickup truck.

The x-ray of my cervical spine showed the new titanium plate securely in place and the fusions (cages with bone bits) showing some early "maturation", meaning there is some bone growth starting. All lifting/bending restrictions have been lifted. I thought I would have to wait until week 6 per the discharge instructions, but I guess things look fine so restrictions have been lifted at week 5. My next appointment is in 6 weeks. I do still have some trouble swallowing, especially large med/supplement capsules and tablets. The swallowing is expected to resolve in the coming weeks.

At breakfast there was a big gift bag that had snowflakes and said "Let it snow". 

Inside was a panda toy from my husband. He is very soft and huggable (the panda, but I guess that pertains to my hubby, too).

I have received some birthday cash from two people. This weekend I will look at Zappos and read the reviews for walking shoes. My old Nike pair badly need to be replaced. The nice thing about Zappos is the free returns. I may order 2 or 3 pairs of shoes, then return all but the one I choose to keep. 

While washing some of my placemats, I noticed that several stains are not coming out anymore even with treatment. I love the Lenox on Blue ones. I see they sometimes come up for sale on ebay. Replacements company has them but so expensive. Anyway, I decided to order 4 Pioneer Woman mats. My Walmart only had 1 in stock; I was pleasantly surprised to find them on sale at Amazon with free shipping (even though less than $25 order). They supposedly would arrive between January 28th and February 2nd, but they showed up via FedEx today! They are washable and reversible. They are kind of big from top to bottom, but I like them and will keep them. Bright and cheery.

I had originally planned to have my husband pick up carryout dinners from Texas Roadhouse for tonight. Instead I pulled out of the freezer this morning one of the large Costco steaks. He surprised me by going to the grocery store while I was at the doctor's office and buying a small chocolate cake for my birthday dessert. We will have to make up for the missed restaurant food meals by doing it another time. This is not my first birthday in Indiana where the weather caused us to change plans. 

I get my first Moderna vaccination next Tuesday (Feb. 2nd). My husband already had his first one since he fit in the 80+ cohort. His second one will be February 8th. 

I think I will go put away the last of my Christmas stuff; I was waiting until I had permission to bend over to get into my lower cupboards. I may still need help putting things on the shelf above my husband's clothes in his closet since that will require a step stool or step ladder. Not a good idea to fall.