Starting March

Jasmine Flowers

March 1st!  The start of a new month!  As is my custom, I made milkrice for brunch and went out to the garden to pick some flowers to offer at the home altar, along with a small bowl of milkrice. The jasmine vine was flowering and I picked two sprigs of jasmine flowers, one for the altar and one to place on the mantlepiece next to the photograph of my mother.

Jasmine Vine

I've written about this jasmine vine, several times before and I am repeating myself here.  But, the original jasmine vine was one my mother bought and planted in the front garden, under the living room window.  She had M build a trellis for it out of PVC pipes and wire mesh and the idea was we'd be able to see the flowers and get their fragrance when we'd open the windows.  The vine grew well, but, a few years later, we had to remove the whole plant and trellis because I had to replace the water pipes and the main pipe conncting the house to the water mains ran directly under the jasmine vine.  My mother was not happy, but, we moved the plant and the trellis to the back garden and it continued to grow well there.  Then, during one drought summer, the jasmine vine died.  I was most upset, but, a lot of my garden plants died that year.  

A few years later, however, I noticed a small tendril growing behind the garden shed area and it turned out to be a jasmine plant!  Apparently, the roots of the original jasmine plant had sent up another plant!  M and I carefully dug it up and planted it in a pot and after a couple of years, we planted it in the front garden.  It has continued to flower each year, since then and I am always happy to see it flower.  

I also took pictures of a few other things that are happening in my garden on the first day of March:

Sparaxis a.k.a. Harlequin Flowers

Iris

Freesia

Calla Lilies

Rain Lilies

Nasturtium

Yes, the one nasturtium plant that I was able to grow last year and which got uprooted when the garden cats had a fight, had dropped enough seeds that I've at least five nasturtium plants growing and some of them are flowering.

Aloe Flowers

The First Sugar Snap Pea Fower

And, of course, after all our recent rain, there are quite a few of these, too:

Dandelion Seed Heads

Today, I woke up feeling well, but, daughter woke up with a migraine headache.  So, it was my turn to take care of her.   

Today, I am grateful for:

- A new month
- Feeling better after the dental work
- My daughter being home with me
- Garden flowers
- Lovely, warm weather 

Today's joyful activities have included spending time in the garden.

Plans for tomorrow include following up with the dental office to find out what happened to the prescription for the mouthwash I was supposed use.

Other plans for the week include a doctor's appointment on Thursday and the follow-up appointment with the oral surgeon on Friday.

How was your weekend?  What are your plans for the week?

Jaw Bra, Really?

 

Jaw Bra

Yes, really!  That is what this item is called and that's what the label says!  I might have called it a chin strap or a jaw sling, myself.  It goes under your chin and fastenes on top of the head and behind your head and there are pockets on either side to accommodate ice packs.  I was instructed to wear this for 36 hours after my oral surgery to minimize the swelling, including at night when I am sleeping!  The ice pack which was also given to me must be worn for 20 minutes at a time, then, kept in the freezer for 20 minutes, and worn again for another 20 minutes, alternating the wearing and the freezing as long as I am awake.  I have the timer on for 20 minutes and I am amazed at how quickly 20 minutes seem to pass!

My appointment with the oral surgeon was at 8:30 a.m. on Friday.  In order to accommodate moing commute traffic (I took surface streets, but, they are main roads leading to two main freeways and always congested) we left the house just after 7:15 a.m.  However, traffic was moving fairly quickly and we got to the dental office just after 8:00 a.m.  I was glad because I hate rushing and I got to sit and relax a bit, working on a crossword puzzle until I was called in.

Of course, first there were papers to sign and payments to be made (I am using an out-of-network oral surgeon) prior to any work being done.  Some of those forms I had to sign to give consent for treatment were scary!  Then, I was given some preemptive antibiotics, provided with a tooth brush, a small tube of toothpaste, and a small cup with mouthwash and told to brush my teeth and rinse my mouth.  Then, I was taken into the treatment room.

The oral surgeon checked my blood pressure, drew some blood, kept the catheter in, in case I needed some intravenous treatment during the procedure, I suppose, and gave me the local anesthesia prior to the surgery.  However, when he started the procedure, I still felt pain and so, I needed to have more anesthesia, after which, the procedure went smoothly.  I had a very impacted tooth that needed to be extracted, which required cutting into the jaw bone.  I was also given some kind of pain medication that was supposed to remain in my system for 96 hours and was fitted with a wrist band with that information on it.  If I need to be seen by any medical personnel before those 96 hours, I am to show that wrist band so they are aware of it.

After the procedure, which took a little over an hour, I was taken to a small recovery area and my daughter was allowed to rejoin me while the nurse put the jaw bra on me and went over the after care and diet, etc.  They were very thorough and explained possible side effects and what was normal (a slight fever) and when to be concerned (if the fever went up to 101F) with a number to call 24 hours a day, etc.  I have a follow up appointment for next Friday.

They were going to prescribe a antibiotic mouthwash to be used in addition to rinsing my mouth with warm salt water, however, the pharmacy says they didn't receive that prescription. I have called and left messages for the oral surgeon to see what happened to that prescription.  But, in the meantime, I am rinsing with warm salt water, every 4 hours and after meals.  So far, I have been on a clear liquid diet.  Today, I might have some soft food like a scrambled egg for dinner.  

I was told to sleep sitting upright, in a recliner or propped up on pillows.  Since we don't have a recliner, I propped myself up on pillows and slept on one of the family room sofas with daughter sleeping on the other sofa.  I did tell her she could sleep in her bedroom, but, she wanted to be on hand if I needed anything in the night.  Fortunately, I didn't need to call on her, although she woke up when I got up to take my Tylenol (I was told to take 2 regular strength Tylenol every 4-6 hours; for pain management; I'm taking them every 5 hours).

I drove us to the dental clinic in the morning and daughter drove us back.  Afterwards, she went to the pharmacy to pick up the Tylenol and to inquire about the mouthwash that was supposed to have been prescribed.  

In the evening, gardener friend M came and brought us four more rescued potted plants, two of which he rescued from the yard waste bin of one of his other clients!  One is a variegated fountain grass (just a tiny plug), one is a small potted Christmas tree type conifer (which might be too far gone), one is a small ficus benjamina (mostly dried up, but, there is one small green branch), and an aspidistra. with just two leaves.  They are all sitting out on the back steps and we will see if they revive and do well.

Today, Saturday, I'm taking it easy and recovering from yesterday's procedure.  M stopped by in the late afternoon to pick up an item he had forgotten and left behind, yesterday.  

I am grateful for:

- Access to dental care
- Being able to pay for the treatment
- Daughter being there to drive me home and to take care of me during recovery
- Pain management medications
- My friend's prayers for me

My joyful activities include reading and playing sudoku.

February Monthly Photo Challenge - Food

Eileen at A Bracelet of Days hosts a monthly photo challenge; the theme for February was Food, which was suggested by Joy at Forty Three the final front door.  I thought it was an excellent theme.  Here are my selctions for February's photo challenge:

Milkrice and Seeni Sambol

 
As most of you know, I make milkrice on the first of the month for brunch as it is considered an auspicious food.  Seeni sambol is a spicy cooked onion relish.

Bagel and Chicken Cold Cuts Sandwich 

Sauteed Chicken Breast and Salad

Homegrown Kale

Homegorwn Lemons

Paratha and Chicken Curry

Kare Pan (Curry Bread) From a Bakery

Curry Bread: Curry Filling Inside

Homemade Curry Puff

Zuppa Toscana Made by Daughter

Pancakes with Sugar and Lemon Juice

Fresh Fruit - Pineapple Grown by M
(the pear was a gift from him, but not grown by him)

Beef Curry

Slightly Overbaked No-Knead Bread

Almond Flavored Sugar Cookies

French Toast
(My mother always called them Bombay Toast)

Rice and Curries
(Beef curry, Sauteed cabbage, Peach chutney)

More Rice and Curry
(Rice, Cucumber salad, Sauteed, curried, hot dogs)

Indiappa (Stringhoppers) with 
Chicken Curry and Seeni Sambol

Hope you enjoyed the February Photo Challenge and hope it didn't make you too hungry!

Thank you Eileen for hosting the monthly photo challenges and thank you, Joy for suggesting such a great topic!  I enjoyed participating.  

Log Cabin Quilt - Repairs

Log Cabin Quilt - Before

I had written about this Log Cabin quilt earlier, when I first started to mend it, in August 2023!  Above is the photo I posted of the quilt, then, before I started mending it.  Below is the photo I took today, after I mended or patched over the majority of the torn pieces.  I say, "the majority" because, when I spread it out, I noticed that there was one blue square that needed to be mended!  LOL.  

Log Cabin Quilt - After

As I had mentioned in the earlier post, this was the second quilt I had ever made and it was done in 1977, when my mother, step-father, and I lived in Florida.  The individual blocks were hand pieced, using fabric I had on hand, including two of my blouses, two of my step-father's shirts, and a black floral print blouse (which has since faded to grey) I bought from a thrift store for a dollar or two because I wanted more dark fabric.  At the time I made this quilt, I had no spare money to buy new fabric, especially for a quilt.  When I ran out of blue for the light furrows, I used some pink fabric that we had.  After hand stitching all the individual blocks, I persuaded my mother to sew the blocks together in her sewing machine for me and she machine sewed the top to an old bedsheet which became the foundation for the quilt top, because, by that time, I had found out that traditionally, log cabin blocks were pieced onto a foundation fabric!  Oops!  It was a bit too late to do that, but, I tried to rectify it by attaching the foundation piece afterwards! 

I used a wool blanket we had bought in Hong Kong, in 1973 as the batting and one of my mother's cotton saris for the backing fabric, which also formed a border.  The sari fabric tore and I removed it several years ago, leaving just a very narrow binding.  I removed the blanket, too, as it, too, had torn, after many years of use.

True to my patchwork piecing "traditions" I used scrap fabric I had on hand for the new patches.  Most of the red fabric I had were Christmas themed fabric, leftover from some of my daughter's childhood Christmas dresses and/or what I had bought to make Christmas crafts and gifts.

I plan to put some new batting and a backing to this old quilt top, eventually.  But, that's another project for another day.

Today, I am grateful for:

- Old quilts made with fabric from old clothes
- My mother's help with putting the quilt together
- Memories of those old days - I won't call them the good old days because, in many ways, they weren't so good.  They were, actually, hard, difficult days, but, we got through them.  
- Being able to mend my old quilt
- Piecing new memories to the old quilt with each new patch

I'll post more pictures of the quilt once I've put a new backing.

On Wednesday

 

Osteospermum

The osteospermums are flowering.  They've sort of taken over this part of the planting bed where we planted some succulents!  The succulents are still there and you can see one or two of them under all the osteospermum!  

Once again, I've got my days and nights completely mixed up!  I went to bed at 6:00 a.m. on Wednesday, so slept most of the morning, waking up once at 10:00 a.m. to take my morning medication and sleeping for another hour to wake up at 11:00 a.m. when my alarm went off.

Gardener friend M was here in the early afternoon to tend to the garden.  He had germinated some blue morning glory seeds which he shared with me, planting them in various places in the garden.  We are hoping that some of them will grow!  We had tried growing them a couple of years ago with very limited success.  

I skimmed the fat off the turkey broth and added a diced carrot, a small piece of tomato, a bay leaf (picked from the newly planted bay tree), some seasonings (garlic and onion powder, black pepper, half a green chili, and some lemon juice) and simmered everything and then, blended it smooth.  It's in the fridge waiting for when I might want to have some broth instead of ice cream after the oral surgery.  

I also continued to mend my quilt and I watched some online videos while I sewed.  

Brunch was a slice of bread with peanut butter, followed by grapes.  Dinner was chicken curry and indiappa (stringhoppers), with seeni sambol.  I had yogurt for dessert.  Daughter had banana bread for brunch and a banana.  For dinner, she had zuppa Toscana, followed by rice, chicken curry, and sauteed cabbage (and peach chutney).  She had another banana with peanut butter for dessert.  

On Wednesday, I was grateful for:

- All my blog friends who leave such lovely, kind comments 
- A warm, sunny day (high of 79F)
- M's help with the garden and sharing the morning glory seeds
- Water for the garden
- Online videos

My joyful activities included spending time in the garden, sewing, and watching videos.

Plans for Thursday include a fasting blood test in the morning.

How was your Wednesday?  What are your plans for Thursday?

February Grocery Shopping Part 4

I ordered and picked up groceries, today.  I double and triple checked to see if the correct pick up store address showed, both when ordering and when I replied to the order ready for pick up text to let them know that I was on my way!  Each time, the correct store address showed up and there was no issue! 

I wanted to get milk and half and half, some fruit, bread, the flavored sparkling water my daughter and I like (which keeps us both from drinking soda), and ice cream and gelatin for after oral surgery.

I also considered (very briefly) buying some unsalted chicken stock or broth for after the surgery.  But, the only unsalted stock/broth came in 32 fl. oz. cartons and the stock was priced at $4.65 and the broth was $4.99.  No, thank you!  Not going to pay that!  Instead, I pulled out a turkey carcass I had in the freezer, covered it with water, and kept it to simmer.  I will strain the liquid and keep it overnight in the fridge to separate any fat and use it to make myself some free broth!

The store was low in stock on two of the items I ordered (including the half and half) and I specified the substitutes for both, but, both original items were included in my groceries, so that worked out just fine.

I decided not to get the salmon I was going to buy, after all, so that will mean that this week's meal plan options will have to be revised a bit.  But, that's OK, too.  I was getting it for daughter's birthday, which is next week, but, she wants to wait until I've recovered from my oral surgery so we could both enjoy her birthday meal.  

Here's the receipt:

Order Summary

Original Item Total$49.78

Item Coupons/Sales-$9.80

Fulfillment Fee+$0.00

Other Fees+$0.30

Sales Tax+$1.36

Order Total$41.64

---

Item Details

13 Items

CA Redem Val$0.60

1 x $0.60 each

CA Redem Val$0.60

1 x $0.60 each

Edy's/Dreyer's Vanilla, 1.5 Qt, 48 oz$2.99

1 x $2.99 $6.99 each

Item Coupon/Sale: -$3.00

Item Coupon/Sale: -$1.00

Fresh Bunch of Bananas – 5-7 Bananas, 1 bunch$1.86

2.7 lbs x $0.68 each (approx.)

Fresh Strawberries – 1 LB Clamshell, 1 lb$5.18

2 x $2.59 $4.99 each

Item Coupon/Sale: -$0.80

Item Coupon/Sale: -$2.00

Item Coupon/Sale: -$2.00

Kroger® Grade AA Large Cage Free White Eggs, 12 ct$1.99

1 x $1.99 $2.99 each

Item Coupon/Sale: -$1.00

Kroger® Half and Half Half Gallon, 1/2 gal$5.79

1 x $5.79 each

Kroger® Lime Gelatin Dessert Mix, 3 oz$1.00

1 x $1.00 each

Kroger® Strawberry Gelatin Dessert Mix, 3 oz$1.00

1 x $1.00 each

Kroger® White Sandwich Bread, 20 oz$1.99

1 x $1.99 each

Ralphs® Vitamin D Whole Milk Half Gallon, 1/2 gal$2.99

1 x $2.99 each

Sparkling Ice® Summer LTO Lemonade Variety Pack (Pack of 12), 12 ct / 17 fl oz$13.99

1 x $13.99 each

---

Other Fees

$0.30

Bag Fee$0.30

3 x $0.10 each

My total came to $41.64.

My February grocery budget is $250 plus $57.42 carried over from January = $307.42

Total spent to date = $99.37 + $0.49 + $42.29 + $49.99 + $41.64 = $233.78

Balance left in the budget = $307.42 - $233.78 = $73.64

I don't anticipate grocery shopping again this week.  So, the balance of $73.64 will be carried forward into March and I will use it to stock up on some items for the pantry and to splurge on salmon for daughter's birthday meal.  

I'm grateful for:

- Being able to order groceries online
- Having the items loaded into the car for me
- The availability of groceries and sales/coupons
- A safe drive to the store and back
- Daughter helping to bring the groceries in

What do you think?  How are you doing with your grocery budget?

February Week 4 Meal Plan Options

 

Pork Fried Rice

Fried rice is one of my favorite things to make with leftover rice.  Especially when there isn't enough rice for two portions.  Somehow, by the time I add some frozen green peas and frozen corn, a grated carrot, a little bit of onions, the last bits of leftover roast pork, a scrambled egg, and a handful of peanuts, there's enough to make two portions of fried rice for us to enjoy.

Last week's meal plan options worked out quite well.  I didn't keep track of exactly what we ate, but, we kept to the meal plan options for the most part.

It's a new week and it's time to make a new list of meal plan options.  I am scheduled to have oral surgery on Friday, so, I am anticipating needing some soup and other soft food for a couple of days.

February Week 4 Meal Plan Options:

Brunches:  Leftover French toast (Monday); bagels; tuna salad or egg salad sandwiches; soup; yogurt; milkrice (on Sunday, March 1)

Dinners: Pasta with chicken (Monday; me; daughter had leftovers from her dinner out with friends from Sunday); Soup; Chicken curry and rice; Salmon with vegetables and rice; Mashed potatoes; Leftovers

Snacks/Desserts:   Tuna salad on crackers (Monday); peanuts; yogurt; fresh fruit/smoothies; gelatin dessert; ice cream; sugar cookies

I plan to order and pick up groceries on Tuesday and I will buy a container of ice cream and a couple of boxes of gelatin to have after my dental work.  

What's on your meal plan for this week?