Monday, March 27, 2017

Feeling Better

Thank you for all your comments and concerns about my post, yesterday.  My arm is feeling much better, today.  There is still a little soreness, especially when I extend my arm, but not the pain I felt, yesterday.  I feel that I made the right decision yesterday, to rest my arm.

I spent the day relaxing and resting, today, too.

It has been a day of phone calls!  First, my daughter called to say she was going with a co-worker to a stable attached to a race tract to feed the cats there.  Apparently, some of the stable hands have pet cats that they leave behind when they go to other places and there are also some stray cats who hang around the stables; daughter's co-worker volunteers there and feeds the cats.  Daughter has gone with her a couple of times before, too.  Afterwards, they were going grocery shopping together.

After that, one of my aunts (not the one I was to give a ride to the prayer meeting) called to check on me and I told her about my arm.  She was concerned enough to call me back in the evening, too, to ask how I was.  I told her I was feeling much better.  On Friday, her daughter had called to say she and aunt were planning to visit me tomorrow (Monday), but today, aunt said that my cousin was having a cold and they will visit when she's feeling better. 

Then, I called my half-sister to wish her for her birthday.  After that, I called my neighbor for our weekly Sunday morning chat. 

In the afternoon, my cousin (whose daughter drove them to the prayer gathering last night) called to check on me.  I said my arm was feeling better today and apologized again for not being able to drive them.  She said not to worry about it.  

I spent the rest of the afternoon reading my library book.  I am almost at the end of it, which is good, because it is due on Tuesday!   Daughter called me when she came back to her apartment to tell me about the good deals she got at the grocery store and what she bought, etc. 

In the evening, the aunt I was to give a ride to the prayer gathering called to check on me.  As I said, it was a day of phone calls!

Later in the evening, I video chatted with my daughter.  She said her office friend had remarked on the close relationship we have.

Today, while I was chatting with my daughter, I had an urge to bake a cake!  So, at 10:30 p.m., I took out a box of yellow cake mix I had in the cupboard and half an hour later, I had a freshly baked cake:


Plain, Yellow Cake

I had to cut myself a slice:

Slice of Yellow Cake
 
I tried it and it tasted slightly bitter, but not too bad.  Tomorrow, I might make a glaze for it and see if that improves the taste.  It's not that the cake itself is bitter.  It's just that it tastes bitter to me. 

Today, I am grateful for:
- My arm feels better
- Everyone's care and concern
- Another restful day
- Phone calls with daughter, family, neighbor, etc.
- Freshly baked cake, still warm from the oven.

I have the day off from work, tomorrow.  I have made myself a very small to do list of mostly essential things I need to do.

Monday's To Do List:
- Do the dishes
- Clean the litter box
- Water the indoor plants
- Empty the trash cans
- Take the big trash cans to the curb
- Water the garden, front (by hand) and back (sprinklers)

There's a ton of other things that ought to be done, but it all depends on how my arm feels and how well I feel.  They include dusting, vacuuming, laundry, changing my bed sheets, tidying, etc.

How was your Sunday?  Did you have a day of rest?

20 comments:

  1. Every once in a while, I bake something before I go to bed, so I can have a sweet. I see that I'm not the only one. Glad your arm continues to improve.

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    1. Thank you, Live and Learn; the arm is almost back to normal, this morning. No, you are not the only one to bake at night! My daughter, too, has picked up the habit!

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  2. I am glad your arm is feeling better. You still need to rest it though so don't start doing all of the things on your list just yet. Sit down and enjoy your cake. X

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    1. Thanks, Jules! LOL! I'll try! But the dishes really need to be done and the trash must be taken out.

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  3. I'm so glad that your arm is feeling better! And I hope you enjoy your day off today. :)

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    1. Thank you, Laura. Yes, the arm feels so much better, today. I am having a relaxed day, so far. Makes me think I'm ready for retirement!

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  4. Pleased to hear that your arm is much better. Good for you reading your book that is due this Tuesday.

    Unless your relatives/friends have been thru or very close to someone who has had a serious illness they really do not understand and think you are back to 100% which is not true. Glad so many of them were kind enough to call and check on you.

    Oh I love that you have those weekly Sunday chats with your neighbor. Did you start this as soon as you moved in or ?

    Baking a cake at 10:30 pm confirms you are a night owl! It might be rather nice with a little vanilla ice cream, if that tastes o.k. to you.

    As usual went to Sunday worship service, coffee and chat with friends following. Someone once said attending church on a regular basis is simply a good habit but I know I come away refreshed and stronger. I am giving some thoughts as to what to serve for a late Easter lunch. Takes a little more planning now that my hubby is on a low salt diet.

    Sandy

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    1. Thank you, Sandy, my arm feels almost back to normal, today.

      The Sunday weekly chats with my neighbor started after my diagnosis. Before that, I'd speak with her on Tuesdays, mostly, because her husband would bring in my trash cans for me and I'd call her to thank her and her husband. We also used to go to the doughnut shop at the top of our street, once a month or so, to have a doughnut and a chat - haven't done that in a while. There are a lot of things I haven't done in a while, it seems!

      Oh, I am definitely a night owl! I was up till 4:30 a.m., this morning! As a result, I couldn't get up when my alarm went off at 9:30 a.m.! I turned it off and slept for another hour!

      Sounds like you had a nice Sunday. I am glad that you find attending regular church service to be more than a good habit. There was a time when I would go to the temple every Sunday evening, because, I got a similar sense of strength and refreshment from it.

      Well, ham would be out of the question for Easter lunch, with a low salt diet, wouldn't it? But maybe any other kind of meat, seasoned with lemon, herbs, black pepper, etc. in place of salt?

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  5. Glad to hear your arm is feeling better. That may be due to not over-using it so you should still take it easy.

    I quite often marvel at how many phone calls you take/make on a day, sometimes it seems like one after the other :) When my sister rings or if I ring her it's always nearly 2 hours of a job catching up with everything as we tend to save our news and have a good chat once a month. It's a good job we can talk as much as we want for 'free'.

    Your cake looks delicious and I love the tin you've used to bake it in. Amy did work experience at the local cattery and really enjoyed it. It's very good of your daughter's friend to keep an eye on all the cats while people are away.

    Have a lovely week and I hope your arm improves. xx

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    1. Thank you, Suzanne, yes, the rest cure worked! My arm feels almost back to normal, today. But still taking it easy! LOL, one or two phone calls a day is usual - my daughter always calls me in the evening, when she returns home from work to tell me she's back and to share her day with me. And then, either someone will call to check on me or I will call someone. But yesterday, there were a lot of phone calls!

      They call that a Bundt cake pan, here. I have another tin in which I can bake 6 mini Bundt cakes. I used to do a lot of baking; any time anyone had a birthday party, I used to make the cakes. Another thing I've started saying "no" to. ;) I took several pieces of the cake over to my neighbor today. I'll keep the rest of the cake to take to the office.

      Hope you have a good week, too, Suzanne, and all will be well with you and your family.

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  6. Pleased your arm is better! I love restful Sundays with phone calls from family. Most of my family are in Australia and Sunday is a day when we call and catch up. Is the bitterness from your chemo? My sister in law says food still tastes odd and it is a year since she had chemo. She still cant eat chocolate! The cake looks good. have a lovely day.

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    1. Thank you, Sharon. I've several cousins in Australia! In fact, I spoke with one of them, over the weekend - she had asked for a recipe for apple chutney and jam from me as she had a lot of apples from her daughter's tree!

      Yes, the bitterness is from the chemo. My taste buds were affected and still haven't quite recovered yet. It's been about 9 months since my last chemo and chocolate is another thing that doesn't taste right, yet. It's a good thing, though, I guess, because otherwise, I'd be wanting to eat chocolate, as I love chocolate!

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  7. I'm glad your arm is feeling better! Sounds like you had a busy day even though you rested. It sounds like you have some really wonderful people in your life checking on you.

    Take care

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    1. Thank you, Sharon. Yes, I do have some lovely people in my life, which is why I don't like to complain too much about things. Yes, there are times when they expect me to do things for them, but, at the same time, they do try to be there for me to the best of their abilities. I do try to recognize that. :)

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  8. Hmmmm. I see on your list "Take the big trash cans to the curb". I hope this is not going to be a problem with your arm. Do you have a little dolly that you can slip the base under each one and roll it out on? I hope your arm soon recovers fully.

    I like the idea of spontaneously making a cake and I am sorry that it tasted bitter even now. It's time your taste buds forgot about their past and got organized! I hope that a glaze will help to make it taste delicious.

    We had a little freezing rain overnight and now the temperature is above freezing and we have had some rain this morning and everything is icy underfoot so I'm not in a hurry to walk anywhere, although I do have walking poles. On the good side, we seem to have lost that 10 inch increase of snow height that we got the other day, so there is hope that it will all go away before fall!!

    Bushlady

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    1. LOL, Bushlady, you are too funny! I, too, hope that the snow and ice goes away before next fall! :D

      The big trash cans are a type of "rolling bin" - they have wheels on one side; one just has to tilt them and they are easy to roll along. I can manage them quite well as long as they are not too heavy. There's barely any trash in the black bin, so that's not heavy, and I don't think there's much in the yard waste bin, either (I had asked my gardener to leave the grass clippings in place when he mowed the front "lawn").

      I gave several pieces of the cake to my next-door neighbor, today. I am thinking of taking the rest of the cake to the office. I shall make a cake from scratch, next, and see if that makes a difference. :)

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  9. Glad your arm is better. I have often baked late at night just because my mouth needed something. Bad habit that tastes great!

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    1. Late night bakers, unite! :D My mother used to be someone with very regular habits, who always went to bed by 9:00 p.m. But she would always join me, very happily, if I woke her up to have a slice of freshly baked cake in the middle of the night! Midnight supper, she used to call it! :)

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  10. It's a good thing that you seem to enjoy talking on the phone :) I'm glad your arm is feeling better. Continue to try avoiding using it for a few days. The cake looks delicious :)

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    1. As long as it is not an angry person shouting at me at the other end of the phone, I like talking on the phone! :D Thanks, the cake came out well, but I found it a bit bitter.

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