Another Booster on Tuesday

 

Gaura
A candidate for the SPSH (10. A White Flower(s))

Thank you, everyone, for your kind comments about acquiring a bookcase as well as other bits and pieces when I am supposed to be decluttering!  

Today, I was able to schedule and receive my latest Covid-19 booster shot!  I called the pharmacy in the morning and I was given a different number to call to schedule the appointment.  But, I went online, instead, and scheduled it.  The pharmacy closest to my house, where I had received some of the previous booster shots, had several openings available for today, starting from 2:00 p.m. and I took the 2:00 p.m. appointment.  

I was at the pharmacy with 10 minutes to spare before my appointed time, but, there was a short wait before the pharmacist called me in.  I looked through a couple of magazines while I waited.  One was about houseplants and the other was about decorating with flea market/thrift store finds!  There weren't many people wearing masks in the pharmacy, not even the pharmacist or the other pharmacy staff, although the signs about the mask requirements were still up!  

The vaccination, itself, went well.  I waited in the store for about 10 minutes, afterwards, looking at things and debating if I wanted to buy any snacks.  Before I went, I thought I might buy a bag of potato chips and maybe a bar of chocolate.  Well, the smallest bag of potato chips was $2.59 and the chocolates were $3.99 and up!  The bigger bags of potato chips were $5.99.  I looked at their boxes of microwave popcorn and they were $5.99 for 6 bags (for an off-brand; $6.50 for a name brand).  I didn't buy anything from the pharmacy.  

After I left the pharmacy, I decided to take my chances and went into the dollar store next door!  It's the first time I've been to a dollar store or any other store besides the pharmacy and the convenience store at the gas station when I'd go in to pay for gas, since the first Covid lockdown!  I didn't spend much time looking around, but, rather, went to the snacks section.  Potato chips were still priced over $4.00 and I didn't look for chocolates.  Instead, I bought two boxes of microwave popcorn (3 bags per box) for $1.49 per box and two packets of thin spaghetti for $.99 per 24 oz. package.  I spent $5 at the dollar store!  It comes out of the June grocery budget. 

After I came home, I microwaved one of the packets of popcorn and ate that for brunch!  Yes, I ate the whole bag!  It was the first time I've had popcorn in over a year!

I picked more blueberries, today, and brought in the trash cans.  I had ordered a box of hanging file folders along with some other items (a roll of parchment paper, a role of clingwrap, some small trash can liners, some cupcake/muffin liners, a six-pack of new undies, and four cans of Dancer's favorite tuna) over the weekend and they arrived today.  I am now able to start on the new filing cabinet!

I relaxed during the rest of the afternoon and evening, replied to blog comments and watched the news on TV.  

I browned a package of ground turkey I had in the freezer and added a can of spaghetti sauce to it and boiled some spaghetti for dinner.  There are leftovers for tomorrow.  I had a piece of chocolate cake for dessert.

It has been a rather cool day, today, and it rained a little bit in the night.  I am all bundled up and later, I put the main heater on for a little bit, just to get the chill off.  So far, I am feeling OK after the booster; just a little tired.  I'll have a relatively early night, I think, and start on the filing, tomorrow.

Today, I am grateful for:

- The availability of vaccines and boosters
- Medical insurance
- A safe drive to the pharmacy and back
- More blueberries!
- Working appliances

Today's joyful activity was venturing into a store to do some shopping in person!  I will still continue to order my groceries for pick up, however!  

Plans for tomorrow (Wednesday) include tending to the garden with M and paying the water/electricity and gas bills.

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

Adding to Subtract on Monday

Free Bookcase

On Sunday, neighbor T's son R, daughter K, and K's friend who had come down from Seattle, Washington to help out at the yard sale continued to hold the yard sale.  I took them some of the cake I had baked and took another look at the items for sale, as they had put out items that had been inside the house on Saturday.  I managed to resist an unopened box of Christmas cards, but, picked up a board game.  I don't have many board games and often, when my daughter is home and her friends come over, they like to play board games and my daughter would usually tell them to bring their own board games because we don't have many.  When I asked K how much she wanted for the board game, she said I could just have it as she was not going to charge me after bringing them cake!  LOL.  

Later, when they were done with the sale, I saw them putting several items by the curb for bulky item pick up, including a bookcase and a small table.  I went over to talk to them and asked if I could have the bookcase, I'd give them $5 for it.  Once again, I was told I could just have it and R brought it over and carried it into the house for me.  What a blessing!  Plus, I was keeping things out of the landfill!  I picked up the small table, too:

Little Table

The little table is about 14 inches square and 14 inches high and very light.  I guess it would be called an occasional table?  My first thought when I saw it was that I could keep a houseplant on it.  The legs were a bit wobbly and I tightened the screws and it is fine, now.  It's a bit scuffed, as you can see in the photo, but, it fits in with the rest of my scuffed up furniture.  I have set up the electric space heater on it for now.

What about the bookcase?  It measures 28 inches wide, 36 inches high, and 12 inches deep (14 inches at the middle of the top, as it curves a bit); the height of the shelves are adjustable.  Did I need another bookcase?  Probably not!  Did I want another bookcase?  Oh, yes!  I had been wanting another bookcase for a long time, but, I thought I should declutter my possessions to fit the storage space I already had rather than buy yet another storage unit.  However, when there is a free bookcase and claiming it would keep it out of the landfill, I was more than happy to take advantage of it!  I cleaned it up and made room for it in the family room:

New Home for the Bookcase

All I did was pull out the small dining table away from the wall and center it under the hanging light fixture which is where we used to have the table for the longest time.  That left a space under the mirror for the new bookcase.

But, wait a minute, Bless!  Weren't you supposed to be decluttering this month?  Instead, here you are, adding more stuff to your house!

Yes!  My plan is to use the bookcase to store various overflow items that are currently scattered around because they don't have an assigned home.  I am hoping that adding more storage will help me with subtracting some of the clutter by keeping the various flat surfaces cleared.  Covered storage would have been better, but, the price was right on the bookcase.  If I can get some covered containers, that would keep the visual clutter to a minimum.    

I am keeping track of all the new items I am adding to the house and hopefully, I'll be able to declutter as many items as well and it will all work out! 

Today, I walked for 15 minutes without experiencing any pain and I was happy I was able to do that.  I also chatted with neighbor T's son and daughter (they were putting more stuff out, including a lovely old trunk and a smaller bookcase, but, I have absolutely no more room for any other furniture!) and said hello to neighbor S and another neighbor.  Later, I dusted and vacuumed the living room, dining area, and family room.  Then, rearranged the furniture a bit to make room for the new bookcase.  Finally, I took the trash cans to the curb for pick up in the morning.

Brunch was pancakes with mackerel curry (had one pancake with syrup, as well); dinner was leftover pancakes and mackerel curry!  Snacks included chocolate cake and peaches.

Today, I am grateful for:

- More free furniture!
- A productive day
- Chats with neighbors
- The space heaters
- A working vacuum cleaner

Today's joyful activity was rearranging the family room furniture to fit in the new bookcase.

Plans for Tuesday include continuing to tidy and sort out the family room, which, by the way, is the room of the week on the cleaning cycle.

How was your Monday?  What are your plans for Tuesday?

 

Balanced Life Monthly Goals: May Review and June Goals

I'm behind with my review, this time around!

My overall goal is to live a life that feels well balanced to me.  To that end, I have created several areas of importance to me to focus on.  I try to evaluate each area, rating my satisfaction in that area of my life from 1 to 10, with 1 being most dissatisfied and 10 being most satisfied.  Ideally, all the areas get equal rating, but, lower satisfaction ratings indicate that these areas need more work.  My ratings for each area are shown within the parentheses, with the beginning of the month ratings in (black) and the end of the month ratings shown in (blue). 

These are the individual areas of my life and their ratings for April:

Spiritual (10)(10):   The goal is to live a spiritually meaningful life:
I continued with daily prayers, meditation, etc.  I feel that I am living a spiritually meaningful life in accordance with the teachings of my religion.  I am happy with this area of my life.

My goal in June is to continue to live a spiritually meaningful life.

Daughter (10)(10):  The goal is to continue to have a close relationship with her:

Daughter and I continued to keep in touch by phone, texts, and video chats in May.

She isn't planning to come for a visit in June, either, but that is OK.  My goal in June is to continue to have a close, if long distance, relationship with her!

Leisure/Crafts/Hobbies (10)(10):  The goal is to relax doing something I enjoy doing for the pleasure of it.

In May, I continued to repair the second quilt and I knitted myself a pair of socks with wool leftover from the sweater I knitted in April.  

I will continue to repair the quilt in June and maybe knit another pair of socks!  

Finances (9.5)(9.5):  The goal is financial security:

I continued to budget and spend mindfully, with purpose, in May.  I came well under budget for groceries in May because I only did one grocery order!

I will continue to budget and spend mindfully in June, too.

Garden (8.5)(9.0):  The goal is a garden that is productive, yet drought tolerant:

- Maintaining (water, fertilize, and weed); M will continue to visit twice a week

- Focus on the winter vegetable and fruit plants

The garden continues to thrive!  The snow pea harvest has been great, I'm picking plenty of blueberries, too, and the peach tree is laden with fruit!  It's been too cool to plant okra and I think we'll skip planting zucchini this year as I still have zucchini in the freezer!  

June garden goals include tending to the fruit trees and keeping the plants watered, etc.

Family/Friends/Community (8.0)(9.0):  The goal is to have a close connection with family and friends and be involved with my community:

- Regular phone calls and emails, etc., to keep in touch

- Participate in the blogging community and the online organizing community

There were regular phone calls, texts, emails, etc., with family, neighbors, and friends in May.  I received many gifts of food from neighbor S and I was able to help her by accepting some medical equipment that was delivered when no one was home at S's house to accept them and by making my driveway available to her visitors after her mother-in-law passed away as well as lending her my trash bins as needed.  I also visited neighbor T's house a couple of times when her daughter was there, clearing things out and took over some cake I had baked.  Other neighbors spilled oil on my new parkway pavers, but, M turned the paver over and at least they've kept their music down when they partied!  

I was also able to participate in the Postal Service's community food drive, even though I had to chase after the letter carrier to hand over the bag of donations!  

On the whole, it was a good month for keeping in touch with family, friends, and community.  

Goals for June will remain the same.  

Health, Self-Care & Well Being (8.5)(8.5):  The goal is good health:

- Focus on continuing to improve my health through diet, hydration, adequate sleep, etc.
- Attend my medical appointments
- Continue to take my medications as prescribed

- Continue to take necessary precautions against viral infections

As I've stated before, improving my health through diet, hydration, etc., is an on-going effort!  I had two doctor's appointments in May and lab work prior to both appointments.  I am happy with the results of both sets of lab work, although one result requires a follow up test.  Unfortunately, pain prevented me from walking as much as I had wanted to.  The nurse practitioner thought it was due to sciatica, but, the doctor thought it was muscle pain.  I need to confirm with my insurance that they will cover physical therapy.  

Health goals for June include scheduling the follow up blood test, getting my Covid booster, and looking into physical therapy.  In the meantime, I will gradually start walking again (I stopped for a while).   

Time Management (7.5)(7.5): The goal is to spend my time in a mindful manner:

- Spend time purposefully, mindfully

- Continue to focus on making my schedule work for me

- Procrastinate less

I have felt more relaxed about my time management in May!  It doesn't mean that I've improved my time management skills; it just means I don't stress about it quite as much!  Not sure if that is a good thing or not!  

The goal in June is to continue to improve my time management skills!  

House (7.0)(7.5):  The goal is a home that is pleasant, comfortable, and welcoming:

- Clean - Clean the house as needed 
- Organize - Continue to find a place for everything and keep everything in its place
- Well maintained - Keep "erasing the evidence"; implement daily and weekly cleaning schedules
- Decluttered - Continue with the decluttering process

My May goal in this area was to evaluate what I really wanted to achieve when it came to keeping the house maintained.  I did that and it's not so much cleaning (which I seem to do on a more or less regular basis) as keeping areas cleared!  I have started implementing a few small changes, such as making it a point to keep the dining table cleared, to have the living room coffee table somewhat cleared (I like to sit and sew there in the afternoons and I keep the sewing equipment on the coffee table, contained in a bowl once I've finished sewing for the day), and to keep the coffee table in the family room cleared, too.  Eventually, I will add other horizontal surfaces to keep cleared.  Keeping the main rooms cleared has helped me to feel much more satisfied about the state of the house and I am motivated to continue to clear the other rooms, too.

May decluttering included the old vacuum cleaner (new one replaced it), a non-working sewing machine that I held on to, thinking I could get it repaired, even after I bought a replacement, but, it costs more to repair it than it did to get the replacement, empty cardboard boxes I had been holding on to for one reason or another, a couple of containers given away with food, a doormat, a couple of plastic flower pots, etc.  

June goals include decluttering 50 items.  Except, I've added a few items during the first few days of June, including a file cabinet!  Someone seems to be a bit unclear on the concept of decluttering!  LOL.

Once again, certain areas continued to get a high satisfaction rating, three areas (the garden, the house, and family/friends/community) increased in satisfaction, and others remained the same.  None of the areas decreased in my satisfaction ratings, which is good.  I am looking forward to June!    

Saturday: Yard Sale Goodies

Yard Sale Buys:
 Two New Sets of Kitchen Towels and Box of Stationery

Neighbor T's daughter and son held their yard sale, on Saturday.  It started at 8:00 a.m., but, I waited until 11:00 a.m. to go over to have a look.  Before I went over, I decided I would look for any kitchen towels as I could always use some kitchen towels or share with my daughter (I tossed one of my old kitchen towels that had been used as a rag to clean the patio set, yesterday; it was already torn and wouldn't have withstood being washed another time) and maybe one or two other items if they were something I could actually use (no decorative items).  I took $5 with me and that was my budget for the day.

I am glad I had decided what I wanted to get, beforehand!  There were so many items to tempt me!  I found not one, but, two sets of kitchen towels, still in their original packaging and I picked up both.  I debated with myself over the box of stationery, but, in the end, I decided to get that, too, if only for the envelopes!  None of the items had any price tags on them and when I asked K how much she wanted for the kitchen towels and the box of stationery, she said $5 and I was happy because that was the amount I had planned to spend!  

K and her brother said that they've had a steady stream of people stopping by, which was good to hear.  I told them that if any of their customers needed additional parking, they could park in my driveway and they thanked me, but, no one parked in my driveway.  I guess they found adequate parking on the street.

In the afternoon, I sewed on the quilt I'm mending and watched some videos.  Later, I mended one of my old knitted socks; it's one that I had mended once, already, but, it had a gaping hole in the heel, again!  

On Friday, when M was here, we pulled up the snow pea vines as they have more or less finished their season.  But, there were some mature pods on the vines and they had formed peas.  I picked them all off the vines and shelled the peas, on Saturday.  There was about half a cup of peas and I boiled them to have as part of my dinner:

Freshly Picked and Boiled Peas

After dinner, I ran the dishwasher and tidied the kitchen.  I might have baked a cake, too!

Chocolate Cake

On Saturday, I was grateful for:

- A sunny and warmer day (the high was 73F)
- Finding two sets of kitchen towels at the yard sale
- Fresh peas from the garden
- Being able to video chat with my daughter
- Working appliances

Saturday's joyful activity was attending the yard sale!  

No firm plans for Sunday.  I'll probably do a little tidying and decluttering.

How was your Saturday?  What are your plans for Sunday?  Do you like to go to yard sales?  

 

Friday's Happenings

Dancer's Medications

Dancer started on his medications today!  The three syringes are filled with his medications and they are supposed to last the month.  He is to receive 0.1 ml of the medication a day in two 0.05 doses, administered morning and evening.  I waited until he had eaten in the morning and was settling down for a nap to give him the first dose; he was in a mellow mood and tolerated having his ear cleaned and the gel applied and massaged in without any fuss!  Good boy, Dancer!

One of the Brocade Bedspreads

This is one of the two brocade bedspreads I was given by neighbor S and family.  I have it draped sideways over the loveseat, with the tassels on the two sides over the arms of the chair, but, you can see the design.  The colors are more vivid than shown in the photo - cream, gold, and grey (I don't know why I thought the grey was burgundy, yesterday).  

We had some morning clouds, but, the rest of the day was sunny with a high of 70F.  I opened the windows to let that warm air in!

In the afternoon, I noticed that neighbor T's daughter K's car and T's son's truck were parked in their driveway, so I called K and asked her if now would be a good time to bring over the money for the file cabinet and asked her about the patio set.  She said that there was only one chair, but, if I wanted it, I could have it, free of charge, and also, the filing cabinet was free, too!  I told her that was too generous, but, she said it was the least they could do as I had been such a helpful neighbor to her mother.  She said she and her brother will bring the items over and they did:

New To Me Patio Set

According to K, the patio table and chair came from one of T's long time friend's garden and that friend had passed away fairly recently.  K said T will be happy to know that I have the patio set, now.  It is metal, not resin.  In the evening, when he was here, M washed it for me and removed some bird droppings.  We set it up under the patio overhang and I will tidy that area a bit to make a nice area in which to sit.  I might paint the set, eventually, to spruce it up a bit.

New Filing Cabinet

It's a letter sized filing cabinet with two regular sized drawers and a shallower top drawer; the keys are taped inside the shallow drawer.  I asked T's son to place it here, in the family room, but, later, decided that I didn't want it in the family room, after all, and took it to the spare room to place next to the other filing cabinet.  It wasn't too heavy to move, but, rather than carry it to the spare room, I put it on one of the old sheets I use as dust covers on the sofas and dragged the sheet.  I now need to order some new hanging file folders to get started! 

I picked some fresh, almost ripe peaches and some blueberries and filled the bowl I had placed on the coffee table, yesterday, and gave that as a thank you gift to K and her brother.  It was the first time either of them had seen my back garden and they were so impressed to see all the fruit trees and other plants!  They were happy with the fresh fruits, too.  Dancer says he makes a better centerpiece than the bowl!

New Centerpiece for the Coffee Table!

I think I had better find another place for that crocheted doily!  

I called the vet's clinic and left a message to notify them that I started Dancer's medication, today.  He's had both doses for today and seems to be fine with it, so far.

I also did a load of laundry, mostly some bedsheets.

Brunch was leftover milkrice with mackerel curry and seeni sambol.  Dinner was mackerel on toast and a cheese burek.  

Today, I am grateful for:

- Generous neighbors
- A new (to me) patio set
- A new (to me) file cabinet
- Dancer is letting me put his medication without a fuss
- Fresh fruit from the garden

Today's joyful activity was receiving the patio set and the file cabinet!  

Plans for Saturday include checking out the yard sale, next door!  Both K and her brother asked me to attend the yard sale and I will, if only to see how things are going.  I love going to yard sales, but, had to stop doing so because I was buying stuff others were decluttering and adding to my clutter which then needed to be decluttered and donated!  I haven't gone to a yard sale in years, but, I will attend the one taking place next door.  I'm not planning to buy anything, but, I am still looking for an end table with storage space for the family room.  I thought the file cabinet could act as the end table, but, it didn't look right.  

How was your Friday?  What are your plans for Saturday? 

 

Starting June

A Doily my Mother Crocheted

On the first day of June, I made milkrice and seeni sambol, picked three pink roses from the garden, lit a candle and a stick of incense, made an offering of the food, flowers, light, and perfumed smoke at the altar and said blessings for good health for us all.  And although it was another overcast and relatively cool day, I opened the doors and windows to air out the house.  I also turned over the page of the wall calendar in the hallway to June.  So far, there are no appointments on the calendar for this month, but, I wrote myself notes to set up three appointments, for myself, for Dancer, and for the car!

Then, after a brunch of milkrice and seeni sambol (veered off the meal plan a little bit as I chose not to have mackerel curry with my milkrice), I did a little bit of housekeeping.  I was inspired by the fact that the dining table has remained cleared for almost three weeks, which is perhaps the longest it has been kept clear!

The Dining Table on June 1

So, today, I cleared the coffee table in the family room (I had my basket of scrap fabric, self-healing cutting mat, and the ruler on the coffee table, as I was cutting out some pieces of fabric for the quilt I'm currently repairing), washed the glass top, put one of the doilies that my mother had crocheted, and placed a decorative bowl on top (sorry, the picture is not focused properly):

Family Room Coffee Table

Dancer likes to sleep on this coffee table and he approved of the fact that I had cleared the sewing stuff off the table!

A Clearer Photo of the Doily and Bowl

Now, hopefully, I can keep this table surface clear, too!  The rule is: I can place things on it, temporarily, but, I need to put those things away and clear it at the end of the day.

In the afternoon, I received a call from the pharmacy that the vet had called in Dancer's medication.  It is a compounding pharmacy and they were calling to give me the price of the medication ($68.00 for a month's supply) and to verify I still wanted them to go ahead and fill the prescription.  I said yes and I was told that the medication will be ready in one hour if I wanted to come and pick it up.  So, at the end of the hour, I drove over and collected the medication.  It is a small pharmacy and I was very pleased to see that they were still observing all the Covid protocols, including masking and social distancing!  They also do complimentary deliveries, too, but, I'm glad I went in person, today, because the pharmacy staff explained in great details how I am to administer the medication.  It is a dermal gel for hyperthyroidism, to be applied to his inner ear, twice a day, and it comes in pre-filled syringes.  I was provided with written instructions about the medication and how to administer it, too, but, sometimes, verbal instructions are helpful, too.  I am going to wait until tomorrow to start him on it because side effects include vomiting, loss of appetite, lethargy, fever, etc., and I want to be able to reach the vet's clinic if the side effects are severe.  Hopefully, there won't be any side effects!  

I continued to tidy the family room after I came home and I washed a couple of hand knitted wool garments by hand and lay them out flat to dry.  

In the evening, I watched news and the Scripps National Spelling Bee finals, chatted a bit with friend R, and video chatted with my daughter.

Dinner was the last of the bag of frozen gyoza (pot stickers) and a freshly picked peach.  

Today, I am grateful for:

- Dancer's medication was available and the prescription was filled
- A safe drive to the pharmacy and back
- Friendly, helpful pharmacy staff
- Fresh peaches
- Rites and rituals that keep me centered

Today's joyful activity was driving to the pharmacy and back - I really enjoyed driving there and back!  Maybe because it was a new to me place.  

By the way, Sharon at My NEW Uneventful Life is starting a decluttering challenge with the goal of decluttering 50 items in June.  I had told her I will join her (especially after acquiring several items in May!)  Is anyone else wanting to declutter in June?

Plans for tomorrow include tending to the garden with M and maybe baking a batch of blueberry muffins.  

How was your first day of June?  What are your plans for Friday?

Ending May

Blurry Orange Rose

On Tuesday, I went to my doctor's appointment.  Thank you for all the crossed fingers and good vibes and well wishes on the lab tests!  The majority of the results were good!  The doctor wants me to do one additional follow up blood test and she also recommended physical therapy for the pain I feel when I walk (she didn't think it was sciatica!).  I need to check with my insurance to see if it is covered.  Otherwise, she said to come back in 6 months unless I need to see her before that.  

I had a safe drive to the clinic and back.  After I came home, I had a scrambled egg with bacon and toast for brunch.  Dancer let me know that he likes bacon and enjoyed the small piece I gave him (and asked for more!)  In the evening, I cooked rice and a mackerel curry and made a cucumber salad for dinner, with some peach chutney, as well.  Went off the meal plan, of course, but, that's OK.  :)

Lettuce Flowers

The lettuce has bolted and flowered!  The bees seem to like them!

Today, Wednesday, was another cool, overcast day!  However, I had a productive day, tidying the house and cleaning the family room. 

Gardener M was here this morning and I gave him one of the ripening peaches from the tree (he has helped me so much with the peach tree that I told him that half the peaches were his!) 

He helped me bring in the four 30 lb. bags of kitty litter that had been delivered, two weeks ago (the delivery person stacked them by the front door and said he wasn't allowed to bring them inside; I persuaded him to push them just inside the door and I pushed them further into the living room and they stayed in the living room until today).  Today, M took them out of the boxes and stacked them in the bathroom for me and helped me to break down the boxes and put them in the recycling bin.  I also got rid of four smaller cardboard boxes in which smaller items had been delivered.  I have a tendency to hold onto small boxes, thinking I could reuse them for storage; instead, they just clutter up the room!  

In the afternoon, I tidied and vacuumed the family room and made room for the new filing cabinet.  I also called neighbor T to check on her and to let her know that I returned the back door key to her daughter and had chosen the file cabinet.  She already knew about the file cabinet!  I suppose her daughter told her.  T was happy I will be taking the file cabinet and urged me to take anything else I liked.  I told her I will attend the yard sale and check things out!

Later in the evening, neighbor S called to say that they were in the process of clearing out her mother-in-law's house (a separate dwelling unit at the back of their house) and invited me to come over to see if there was anything I wanted!  I really didn't want anything, but, it seemed rude to refuse.  Besides, S's sister-in-law was also there and I had not yet condoled with her over the death of her mother.  So, I picked a few peaches that were just starting to ripen and took them over, rather than going empty handed.  The peaches were very appreciated, as they knew they were from my tree; I told them they weren't fully ripe, yet, but they cut them and ate them, anyway.

They had spread all the kitchenware and dishes on tables in their carport and were calling friends and family to take what they wanted!  I picked a whisk (I have a whisk, but, sometimes, it's nice to have two), a set of four small bowls (I'm always looking for small bowls), and a flat bed sheet to use as a backing for my latest quilt.  I declined dinner sets, coffee mugs, crystal bowls, and a wall clock, but, one of S's nieces gave me two new burgundy and gold brocade table covers/bed spreads from Armenia, saying grandmother would have liked me to have them.  How could I refuse?  

I had a small peach and a slice of peanut butter toast for brunch, today.  I wasn't hungry for the second slice of toast, so I had that with some mackerel curry at tea time, along with a cup of tea.  Dinner was leftovers (rice, mackerel curry, cucumber salad, peach chutney, and broccoli leaf mallung):

Wednesday Dinner

Manderines for dessert.

I am grateful for:

- A relatively good doctor's appointment on Tuesday
- A safe drive there and back
- Dancer's vet called back and there are treatment options available
- M helping me with the garden and in the house as needed
- Neighbor S inviting me to pick what I want of her late MIL's household items
- Peaches to share with M and S
- Working appliances

- Emails and phone calls 

Joyful activities have included eating freshly picked peaches and sharing them with friends, video chatting with my daughter, knitting myself a new pair of socks with leftover yarn:

New Wool Socks

Plans for Thursday include making milkrice for brunch, cleaning the kitchen, and vacuuming my bedroom.

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