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Sunday, December 31, 2023

GOOD FOOD AND HOBART SUNDAY CHRISTMAS EDITION

 This is from Christmas...our dinner and of course, some Hobart.


2nd Man is in a whole new cooking mode, we're getting all sorts of good stuff and he's taking our favorites and remaking them with no salt and using heart healthy ingredients.  For Christmas dinner we had pan seared salmon over a salad of wild greens and arugula, homemade multigrain wheat bread croutons and drizzled with a balsamic reduction...


...and for dessert, it was dark fruits (plums and purple grapes, dark fruits are heart healthy) drizzled with a bit of agave nectar.  SO GOOD.


Hobart had a good Christmas of course, with his own present to open.


Leave me alone, I have new toys.
Because I'm...

#notspoiled

HAPPY NEW YEAR'S EVE!

Saturday, December 30, 2023

HOBART KNOWS

Three weeks ago today, I was in ICU recovering from two heart attacks and two stents.  I was supposed to have my first cardiologist followup a few days ago, but the doctor is stuck out of town due to weather so they rescheduled me for next Wednesday.

Well, just extra days to get even better for my numbers, right?


I'm still not cleared to drive (though I'm sure I can, but doctor said not until he sees me) so 2nd Man is driving Miss Daisy, I mean, me, to our favorite grocery store so we can stock up.

We've been using a grocery store by the apartment and delivery from Walmart and a few other places but with delivery, tipping, etc, it gets expensive when added on to the batch of groceries.

We cleaned out our pantry and freezer to make space.  We've got a big shopping list (all healthy stuff!) and need to stock up.  Plus we need to replace some things we have (like tomato sauce and diced tomatoes) with "NO SALT" versions.  Lots of veggies and fruits.  Whole wheat and whole grain items.  Nuts.  Ground turkey, ground chicken, skinless chicken, turkey bacon, etc.

Here is a cute pic for your Saturday viewing pleasure:

This was a few days after I got home from the hospital.  I was laying on my left side and thought "what is that behind me?" Of course, it was Hobart.  I had to grab my phone and get an over the shoulder photo.  He so RARELY sleeps fur to bare skin with us, but...he knows something is wrong and he's sticking close to me.

We're here for it!

So anyway, I need to get out and move. I've been working from home the last two weeks but it's time to take my first steps back into society, ha. 2nd Man will of course handle all the heavy stuff but I'm excited to get out into the world.

Hope you all have a great start to the weekend!

Wednesday, December 27, 2023

KINDNESS

Random acts of kindness are always well received when you are feeling under the weather.


The first flowers arrived in the ICU.  Fun fact, ICU doesn't like to have fresh flowers and these were sent thinking I'd be in a private room when they arrived.  Oops!  But the nurses allowed me to put them in the corner until I could be discharged.  Something about allergens and the air filtration systems.  


Who doesn't love fresh pears and apples?  These are from Harry and David.  I told 2nd Man the one wrapped in gold foil was the special one just for me.


A balloon...they always bring a smile to the face no matter what your age, am I right?


Flowers are so pretty and these colors really pop!


OMG fruit bouquets are always great.  We ate on this for days.  Nice to have fresh cut fruit in the fridge.  The chocolate was also dark chocolate which is heart healthy, though I let 2nd Man have two of the three.


Love the sunflowers in this one that came from my office coworkers.


Also enjoyed flowers that have a Christmas holiday theme.  SO pretty and perfect to last the rest of the year as decoration too!
.

And of course, countless cards, some gift cards, and of course the email well wishes and the concern on the comments of this blog (from all over the world).

It means the world to us both.

Thank you everyone everywhere from the bottom of my (now healing) heart!


Monday, December 25, 2023

CHRISTMAS 2023


Definitely a Christmas to be grateful to be here.

A second chance is the greatest gift of all.

Love to all of you from the three of us.

#spoiled

Sunday, December 24, 2023

MORE CHRISTMAS DECOR 2023

With everything that's gone on, we didn't get much Christmas decorating done.  


Got our vintage Santa and Rudolph put out.  We love these.  We had a post on these last year and their history in my family.  You can read that HERE if you are so inclined.  Oh and our artificial poinsettias that we love the look of.


Put out the dining room table decor (you can see the nutcrackers on the hutch) so at least this is a nice focal point when you look at the room.


Found these last year on "after Christmas clearance".  Really nice jingle bells made to hang over your doorknob and very time we open the door, they jingle.  The was an easy decoration to put up, ha.


A gift from last year.
Because Hobart is #notspoiled


We got our stockings hung on the cabinet with care, ha.  We skipped the big ones on the hutch this year.  


And lastly, we certainly couldn't get the big 9' tree up here (it takes two to carry it up and a ladder to reach up high to decorate) but we made do.  This is the corner where we normally put the tree so we decided to use the large plant that's there the rest of the year as the "tree", ha.  Lest you worry about the poinsettia and Hobart, it too is artificial.

It's Christmas Eve but hey, looks like Santa has already visited! 

Saturday, December 23, 2023

A NEW CHRISTMAS TRADITION

You may remember that earlier this year (post Christmas), I found a white artificial tree.

You can read about that HERE:

We've always wanted a white tree as an extra tree in another room and wondered what we could decorate it with.  That started us on a new tradition, or maybe we should say, a new thing to search for:

Farm themed ornaments!

These are all we have so far, ha.  Not enough to fill that white tree just yet.  A few were from dear friends (including some of you out there who are so kind) and the others we have found.  The little one is a red barn too.  Oh, the pig was connected to our farm naming when we sponsored an FFA pig and was hand carried back from overseas by a very sweet friend. 

For this year, in late November, I found some more red barns in the back and the smaller farm truck with tree.  We thought it would be so fun to do these because a they would pop on a white tree.

So, the white tree will officially become our farm tree.

We'd like to find more red barn ornaments, old white trucks, and maybe things that we have done at the farm...like a beehive?  Or maybe gardening themed?  Or maybe future things we'll have like chickens or a chicken coop? 

We know that cooking and baking is something we do but we could cover a whole tree in those alone, ha.  In fact, we have another smaller tree that we used to put in the kitchen at the house and that was/is for food and cooking ornaments and already have some of those.  That's why we thought this one would be neat being white and covered in red barns and gardening and chickens and beekeeping, things like that.  

Anyone else do a "theme tree" maybe in a different room?

Thursday, December 21, 2023

WHATABURGER NUTCRACKER 2023

Haven't posted much about Christmas decor, because, well, other matters came up, ha.  Took these pics yesterday of part of what we did (more to come).

Whataburger nutcracker 2019, 2021, 2022, 2023

Just a few days before 'the event', we got our newest member to our Whataburger Nutcracker family.

Glad I did because now they are sold out!

Whataburger is an institution here and a few years ago they came out with their first one in 2019.  Then in 2020, they didn't have one due to pandemic and shipping issues.  In 2021, they had one and again last year for 2022 and now this year for 2023 (he's the one in the foreground).

Whataburger nutcracker collection

They are whimsical and oh so Texas so they have become our tradition.  We're sure at some point they'll stop making them but hey, we'll keep going until they don't.  We still have room for a few more, ha.


Though, alas, I won't be indulging anytime soon...

Whataburger

Ahh...the memories.

Tuesday, December 19, 2023

THE LITTLE THINGS

This time of year it's usually fun stuff coming in the mail and behold...


...my new pill organizer and pill cutter!  OK so not exactly the stuff of Christmas gift legend, ha.  Two of the pills I have to take need to be cut in half and I'll be honest, this does make it easier.  This one has AM and PM since my pills are divided like that and it helps me stay organized.  They have so many styles and colors, but I kept it simple, one week, day and night.   Bonus points, it kind of matches my computer and phone, ha.  

I noticed the last couple of days I've almost forgotten to take pills, just because it's not something that's been a part of my normal routine, but now it will be. I even set up a reminder on my iPhone health app to take them, but this definitely makes it easier.

Well I made it almost 60 years without needing a pill organizer, ha, but here we are.  It's the little things in life, right? 😁

Saturday, December 16, 2023

THE STORY

So...

ONE WEEK AGO I was almost not going to make it back.  I'm going to give a moment by moment so that I can preserve it and share it as it was pretty traumatic enough to go through.  I'll open with dogs and end with Hobart should you prefer to skip to the end.

We've had so many ask us if any warning signs happened.  These are my experiences but don't use any of this as a medical diagnosis.  Bottom line, if you feel something is wrong, call the doctor or emergency services.

Well, first up, we're guys, you know we don't go to doctors like we should (though THAT is changing, ha).  In retrospect, for the last few months, I had congestion when I woke up in the morning.  Usually enough to cough up phlegm. I'd also have to squirt my nose with some nasal spray a few times a night.  I chalked it up to seasonal allergies.  A quick Google search indicates that's can be a symptom of congestive heart failure.  Indeed, since my procedure, I sleep great and no coughing or phlegm in the morning and no congestion.  

They checked my blood (over and over and over, as they do, ha) and I have no diabetes.  Also my LDL cholesterol was borderline high but nothing that might have indicated heart issues and blood pressure is in the normal range most of the time.  Probably an annual physical would have detected anomalies...bottom line, visit your doctor!

Office dogs
So last Thursday at work, I was fine.  These are our office dogs, the boss brings them up and we love it.  Definitely a stress reliever, ha.  It was a normal day.  No issues, ran errands at lunch.  Now on Wednesday, our building did have its elevators down so we had to walk up and down five flights of stairs.  I was VERY winded and exhausted but it passed.  

I came home, 2nd Man made dinner, fettuccine Alfredo with chicken and salad.  It was, of course, wonderful.  And I did, of course, overeat.  That's our biggest issue (changing that).  I ate two and a half bowls because it's one of my favorites.  No dessert.  I was still fine, other than feeling OVERFULL.

2nd Man went to bed about 11:30.  I started getting a headache about midnight and grabbed a couple of aspirin (in hindsight, good choice).  I went downstairs on a 'trash to treasure' search, ha, and on the way back up, my chest started hurting.  By now it's about 12:30am.  I sat on the couch and thought "meh, indigestion, I ate way too much".  I went to bed and laid there and it just kept getting worse.  When they say it's a crushing chest pain, it is.  I was also getting out of breath.  I laid in bed for about an hour thinking it has to be indigestion or heartburn and I could wait until morning but I sat up and reached for my phone to check the symptoms of a heart attack. Just then, my left arm starting hurting, like radiating pains from my chest down my left arm.  Also my Apple Watch recorded a heart rate of 143.  As I was looking up the symptoms, headache, chest pain, arm pain, rapid pulse, the next on the list was profuse sweating and it was like someone flipped a switch and I was just wringing wet.  I realized, this is serious.

I woke up 2nd man (not the thing you want to be awakened to from a deep sleep) and by this time it's about 2:30am. 

I changed into clean clothes (Moms always know best, ha) while he called 911.  They asked me to get on the phone so they could ask questions.  Pain on a scale of 1-10 (7ish, 8).  Heart rate (140s).  They said the ambulance was en-route.  

It took about 5 minutes, though as anyone who has waited for an ambulance can attest, it seems an eternity.  I got my license and insurance information together and we locked Hobart in the bedroom.  Soon, they were knocking on the door.  Now here in Houston, they send a regular ambulance and a cardiac ambulance.  That's to free up the cardiac in case it tunes out to be a non heart issue.  The first batch of EMTs came in and pricked my finger (blood sugar was 176 but they said that was probably the dinner I had).  I took off my shirt and he put on the initial monitors.  He got on his walkie talkie and told the other group to come up.  They hooked me up to a bigger machine that was sitting on the dining table and I could see them all make silent eye contact.

Not Christmas decorations
The guy goes "we need to get you to the hospital asap, you are having a heart attack.  The other guy adds "actually, it looks like you are having two at the same time".  I got on the stretcher, they took me down and out to the cardiac ambulance.  The hospital is only about 5 minutes from our apartment.  2nd Man had to drive separately. 

The EMT started an IV.  In the close confines of the ambulance, his leg was touching my arm and I said "I hate needles, I might have to grab your leg!". He laughed and said "grab whatever you need to make it better".  Nice attitude.  He got the IV started (didn't hurt like I thought it might, but it could also been the intense chest pain by now closing in on 9).  He hooked up the monitor and banged on the wall of the ambulance and said "pick up the pace". He lubed up the paddles for the heart machine and said "we might need this".  Not what you want to hear.

Thankfully they didn't.  They wheeled me into the ER and it was literally just like the TV shows.  You look up at a light and you just seen all sorts of faces leaning in and coming at you from every direction.  They put portable defibrillator paddles on me "just in case".  One person is saying we are starting another IV on the other side, someone else says they are removing my clothing and someone else says they are shaving my groin.  Then I hear 30cc's of this and 20ml's of that and then I hear "has someone texted the surgeon?"  "yes, the OR is on standby".  I asked "am I going to have to have open heart surgery?"  The ER doc said "not if I can help it but we have about 90 minutes to save your heart and you are already about 45 minutes into it, you are having a major heart attack we are getting you up to the Cath Lab now". 

The whole time, I'm telling them to look for my husband and I'm texting him while all this is going on.  The last thing I texted him was "I'm scared" and then "I love you always".

They wheeled me up to the lab and were pushing the gurney fast.  I got up there, they started explaining what they were going to do and the catheter goes through the femoral artery in my leg.  "I'm still conscious and asking and I said "is it going to hurt?" and he said "it's going to be uncomfortable but we're going to give you something that might make you feel a little loopy but you'll be awake throughout".

Sure enough, I think I might have drifted off a couple of times but the whole procedure took about 35 minutes and I remember most of it.  When it was done, they wheel over a video to show you the blockage and the stent and the new blood flow.  It's like watching a satellite image of a dry river bed after a rain, how it spreads and opens up.  I kind of didn't really understand most of it but he said within the last few years I had another heart attack, a mild one, and some people's bodies are able to have arteries reroute themselves and mine did that.  It was just the rerouted ones that had an issue.  Don't remember that a few years ago for sure!


I don't really remember sleeping much.  The pain from the insertion site was the worst.  The incision for the the cath line was just a quick sting but then apparently someone leans on you with all of their weight to keep your artery from bleeding out.  Here a week later, it's STILL sore.  Like a deep, deep bruise.  

2nd Man was there in the ICU room when I came back.  It was crazy.  We texted office coworkers, family, friends, etc to let everyone know.  The cardiologist came around and said "yep, they texted me at 3am to get up here, you woke me up from a deep sleep" and then he started laughing.  He said "if you had waited another hour or two, you would be gone".  That's a wake up call for sure.

I never had to be resuscitated.  I never had to be intubated.  So those were blessings. I now have two stents, one in the left circumflex artery and one in the right coronary artery.  I think I dozed on an off for a bit, but in a hospital do you ever rest?

They should decorate hospital ceilings
I had to lay flat for 6 hours minimum, ended up being longer.  About 16 hours later, they came in and said the doctor gave me the OK to lay on my side.  That was the first actual sleep I got.

Above was my view as they kept me in the ICU the whole weekend.  Finally got to go home Sunday evening and that was THE best night's sleep ever.  I think I slept for 14 hours straight.

Hospital food
Oh, this was the breakfast I got when I woke up after the first "sort of" nights sleep in ICU.  Boy that's appealing huh?  HA!  Turkey sausage (which was pretty good), oatmeal, scrambled eggs, some weird pancake like thing, and orange juice and 2% milk.


Here are my two blockages, or I guess you can say, the two heart attacks.  Not sure if you can read it, but there is writing on there that says "door to balloon 59 minutes".  They worked their magic and I'm here.

2nd Man says my skin feels different, it's more moist and warmer.  Another sign perhaps?

We're adapting to a new way of living.  We're downsizing portions and making healthier choices.  2nd Man has been ordering salmon and ground turkey and lots of chicken, etc.  I have my first cardiologist followup in a couple of weeks.  No driving for a couple of weeks.  No stairs.  No straining.  No heavy lifting, but he does want me walking and I've been doing that.  Next week I start working from home for the rest of the year.  Have to do cardiac rehab too.

Ignore the IV bruising

But let's be honest, feline cardiac rehab is THE best. 

And from now on, I will also celebrate 12/08...as a new sort of 'rebirthday'.  

Thursday, December 14, 2023

CHECKING IN

 Hello everyone!

I'm still ticking!

Here is my new normal...


Lite breakfast, homemade whole wheat toast and scrambled eggs with a side medley of "pills de Provence" LOL!  The good thing is, we have never used a lot of salt in general but we have SO many great seasoning blends (we checked them for salt) and herbs, 2nd Man can make them wonderful without any salt.  My blood pressure has been great, 111/74 this morning.  Heart rate gets a little elevated as I move about, but 103ish instead of 80 while resting.  Beats the 142 it was last week!  I take a pill to get that down.

The checked me for diabetes and I don't have that so that's good.  No high blood pressure either.  My cholesterol was a bit elevated but within a reasonable range.  They gave me Lipitor for that, said I might be able to be off that in a month or two so that's good.  A couple of the other pills are temporary as well.

I'll write more this weekend, including a blow by blow of the events of a week ago tonight.

Thanks for all the comments, emails, cards, and well wishes.  I'm here for 'phase 2' of my life, whatever that may end up being.

Tuesday, December 12, 2023

HOME AND UPDATE


I knew you all might want to see sweet Hobart.  When I got home Sunday evening, he was glued to my side.  He would lay on the floor near me and then reach up with his foot hand and touch my leg.  Too cute.  I would say "I'm right here!".  Then he got up on the couch next to me and had to lay on my hand.  He got up on the bed for a bit in the night and laid next to my shoulder but he's never been a big nighttime bed sleeper so he stays for a while then leaves.  He shows up in the morning...for food, ha.

Cat therapy is the best therapy!  

I'm feeling better, little by little.  I slept SO good the last two nights.  Usually from 9pm to 10am with only getting up a couple of times for bathroom breaks.  I get winded if I overdo but the doctor said that was OK, just know when your body tells you to slow down.  I can't drive for two weeks.  I'll start working from home next week.  My job is insurance, it's all online and customer service,  I won't be on the phone but doing stuff on the computer is fine.  The doctor said if you can lay in bed on the laptop, that's the perfect job. Does sound kind of nice, ha.  He also said no stairs for a while and no heavy lifting.

So much love from you all, friends, family, coworkers.  That's just as important.

Baby steps, I'll get there!

Sunday, December 10, 2023

SURPRISE ITS ME

How dare 2nd Man post without photos lol!  That’s half the fun!  Well, you know we don’t often post face pics but I figured I owed you all a glimpse at this mug as proof of life ha. 


This is me, mere moments ago, not my best look, but hey, beats the alternative right? I’m still in my ICU room, waiting on 2nd Man to get to the hospital. They won’t discharge me until they see the Plavix prescription in my hand for safety reasons. I guess they wanna make sure I’m going home with it because she said I’m gonna have to take that for the rest of my life most likely, but otherwise I feel good.  I still get a little out of breath when I move a lot, but I’ve also been more or less in bed since Thursday. 

I can’t tell you how much all of your comments mean to us.  So many times we posts up on the blog and I know we don’t always get a lot of comments because not everybody feels the need to comment on every little thing, heck I’m the same way on other blogs myself, but I always look at them and it warms my heart to know that everyone still looks at the blog and still checks in regularly, and again, that means a lot.

My life will change a bit now, new diet, exercise more, careful what I do the next month or so, will be lite work and thank goodness it’s not Zen machine season. I’ll be off work this week and then the next week I’ll be working from home because he doesn’t want to clear me to drive for a couple of weeks.  So, I’ll be blog posting a bit here and there but might not be Farm related because I’m not out there to take pictures. It might be more just personal stuff to let you know how I’m feeling, so keep checking in. I’m still here, y’all aren’t getting rid of me that easily lol.

We love all of you so very much you mean the world to us thank you!

1ST MAN UPDATE

hijacking the blog again to edit with an update (see previous post for the original) he is still in ICU but feels much better. He gets out of breath easily but that’s to be expected with the stents until his heart adapts to the extra blood flow. He may be able to come home today in the best case, or they may keep them one more day in a regular room instead of ICU, but all of his numbers look good. His blood pressure is low. His heart rate is still elevated so they’re trying to work on that, but the stents seem to be doing their job and we are blessed.  The doctor told us again yesterday that he doesn’t know how he still alive. We know none of you really know us personally, you know us through the blog, but with first man what you read is what you get. He’s one of the kindest friendliest most generous people I’ve ever met and honestly.the world would be a slightly lesser place without him in it and we’re thankful we’ve got him for another 30 years at least.

Friday, December 8, 2023

Pray for 1st Man

This is 2nd Man everyone.

I’m not very good at this blogging so I won’t include pictures or anything but I just need to let you all know that 1st Man Suffered two heart attacks earlier this morning. We called 911 they got him to the hospital. They were able to go in quickly and put two stents in his arteries in his heartt.

And they saved him!

He’ll be in the hospital for at least a couple of days and then home for a few days to rest and recover. I’m sure he’ll post all about his, terrible no good adventures that day ha ha. But as the doctor told me this morning, if he hadn’t woken up and told me to call 911,he probably wouldn’t have been here in the morning. 

Send lots of love and prayers and light to us as we navigate this newest unexpected event.

Thursday, December 7, 2023

APPLIANCE GARAGE CLOSET

One of the questions we get asked is how we cook so much wonderful food and have a smaller apartment kitchen with limited space.  All of these items would take up a lot of room in cabinets and an apartment kitchen is mall to say the least, ha.  At the house we sold, we had plenty of room and a new house at the farm will have a kitchen of our dreams but at the apartment, we had to get creative.

The unit we have now is a one bedroom but it has a "study" with a large pocket door off the kitchen.  To us, it seemed the perfect extension of the kitchen.  The room is small, but because it is a "study", it had a regular closet and that gave me an idea for storage.  

 There was only a top shelf and a second shelf for hanging clothes.  I had them remove the rod and put in four more shelves all the way down.  I measured them to make sure we had the space for our tallest appliances and told them how far apart to put them.

Behold!  The appliance garage!
Let's take a tour:


Starting at the top:

That very top shelf, since it's a little hard to reach,, holds the lightweight things like cake carriers, cupcake holders, pie carrier, etc up and out of the way until needed.  Below that is the first of the appliances and gadgets.  Sandwich griller, Crockpot, a coffee grinder that we bought to use only as our herb/spice grinder, and a knife sharpener.


Under that are two more shelves.  These had to be a certain distance apart to fit the tallest appliances.  We have a blender and a Vitamix.  We use the blender when we have something simple to mix up like sauces without needing the power of the Vitamix (which we use for soups, nut butters, etc).  Lastly, a four slice toaster and our juicer.  Hanging on the side of the shelf is a folding pasta drying rack.

Below that is our cookie dough mixer.  Yes, we have our Kitchenaid stand mixer as well (out on the baking table) but 2nd Man likes this one with its great design for making cookie doughs.  Then our food processor and a waffle maker.  Those two blender like containers are different types for the Vitamix above.


Below that is another shelf and then the floor of the closet.  On the shelf is the vacuum sealer and it's accessories, our pressure cooker (a hard to find oval which we LOVE) and our halogen infrared countertop oven (the OG air fryer, ha).

On the floor is mostly the canning supplies.  My large pot for the jars (all accessories such as lifter, rack etc are inside it), the "Jam Pan" for jelly/jam making, an induction burner so I can do all this on the counter or away from the kitchen, and then the dehydrator.


Close the doors, and everything is neat and tidy, just waiting to be used!

I did the entire room as a surprise for 2nd Man.  We had said we'd use it as a kitchen extension after we moved in, but he didn't have a clue I was going to finish it one day when he was at work.  I'll get some more before and after pictures when I did it (it's been a couple years now).

So we are creative in our storage and organizing solutions, which will come in handy!

Tuesday, December 5, 2023

FARM TRUCK HAS A VISITOR

When we go out to the farm, one thing I always do is take the truck for a spin, a few miles down the road and back, just to keep everything working well.

When I walked up this time a couple weeks ago, I didn't see it at first.

Then I saw it.  A large spider.

These have a variety of names.  Banana spider.  Golden Orb spider.  Garden spider. 

The web went from the edge of the window to the mirror and down to the bottom of the door.  As fearsome as they look, they are harmless and eat lots of bugs.  Of course, harmless or not, I don't want one flying into the truck when I lower the window while I'm driving, ha.

So I took a tree branch and relocated her to another spot in the yard.

This past weekend, we had to meet someone at the property to let them look at the site for an upcoming project.  The weather was drizzly and gray but hey...

...at least the yard still looked good from last week's mowing, ha.  The green is hanging in there but definitely not growing.  It will slowly fade until it comes back with a vengeance next Spring.


Sunday, December 3, 2023

GOOD FOOD TIMES TWO AND HOBART SUNDAY

It's another weekend and now we're in December!  Yesterday was a yucky weather day, but today is a bit nicer.  My office is moving its location starting tomorrow, so it's been busy.

Time for some good food and some Hobart (as if you haven't had enough of him after his birthday post, ha).


Woke up this morning to a wonderful breakfast, eggs scrambled with hashbrowns and cheese and some bacon on the side.  Life is good and so is breakfast, ha!

And for some bonus food, Friday was December 1st and that meant...


...it was time to break open our Bonne Maman Advent sampler calendar and, well, sample!


2nd Man made a couple loaves of wheat bread and we tried the first two.  The first was "white nectarine-peach-lemon verbena".  It was good, the lemon verbena added wonderful note to the peachy flavor.  Might have to remember that for future canning.  The other was "strawberry-linden blossom". We really tasted mostly strawberry, not sure what linden blossom would taste like anyway, ha. But it was good.


And here is Hobart, photo taken mere minutes ago, he is on the table on his quilt sleeping the day away.  I was taking pictures and he woke up briefly and looked at me, as you can see above.  He was not happy that I had interrupted his slumber so I stopped.  Because...

#notspoiled