My brother-in-law arrived safely yesterday afternoon on his way back from the west coast to his home in West Virginia. Snow in the heartland lengthened his trip considerably since he had to detour down through Texas to miss the inclement weather. I made him a good oldfashioned homemade dinner to offset the road food he's been subsisting on since he left Seattle last week.
He also arrived hacking and coughing, and has been sick for weeks, he says. Sounds like bronchitis to me. He has a doctor's appointment back home two weeks from now, but we were afraid by then whatever he has would progress to pneumonia, so we packed him off to the local urgent care clinic. Contagion has been on my mind. Surely by now he isn't, but as things are, if he has any germs to spread they have been proliferating in my house for 24 hours.
This might not end well.
Showing posts with label houseguests. Show all posts
Showing posts with label houseguests. Show all posts
Monday, November 2, 2009
Monday, July 6, 2009
It truly IS "always something"
Well, we packed off our fourth of July guests (sister-in-law, her husband and her two teen aged sons) on Saturday night after 3 days of visiting and near-constant eating on the teenagers' part. I don't have much experience with teenage boys, but good heavens, can they pack the food away. I don't think we could afford to have them around much. The grocery trip stocking up to feed them for 3 days cost twice my normal weekly bill. It became quite fascinating to watch the food disappear. And, there appears to be an abnormal attachment to catsup going on. They ate it on everything. Don't know what to think about that.
Sunday was abnormally quiet with just the two of us in the house again. I spent a large part of it in a semi-recumbent position, recuperating. It's exhausting to entertain people, even relatives you want to see.
Then, we both had eye appointments today with the ophthalmologist. His was a scheduled checkup, nothing out of the ordinary, but mine was an examination because I realized I wasn't seeing at a distance very well with my current glasses. Since I've only had them 20 months, and since I kept the last pair for four years before my vision changed enough to warrant new glasses (to be honest, I was tired of the frames, my prescription hadn't changed all that much), I was concerned enough to schedule an appointment before the fall, when I was going to anyway.
Well. Turns out I am developing cataracts in both eyes, but the right one was enough to affect my vision. They can still correct my vision to 20/20 now, but when they can't I will be facing cataract surgery. We have no idea when or if that will happen, but the thought has spooked me. I knew something was up when, during the eye check, they show you the letters in a box flanked by two bright light bars at the top and bottom. She kept adjusting the size of the letters but the glare from the lights washed out the text box so that I couldn't read them with my right eye. I could read them with my left eye after some adjustment to the text, but it was hard.
This was one of those situations where I knew too much. I realized that meant I might have cataracts forming, since difficulty seeing in glare from bright lights is a symptom of cataracts. I had to mentally stew on that fact while they stuck the phoropter lens thing-y on my face to determine my glasses prescription (yep, changes in both eyes, but more in the right) and while I waited for the drops to dilate my pupils. Then the doc looked me over and pronounced what I already dreaded.
So now I'm a bit freaked. I need to keep a close check on my vision, and tell her if it deteriorates any more, and take the vitamins and supplements she recommended which may help. (This last item surprised me, because I never have run into an MD before that suggested taking vitamins or supplements of any kind, or actually seemed to have much knowledge about nutrition.) I consulted medical websites, such as Johns-Hopkins, after I got home and found out that a medication that I take may contribute to the formation of cataracts. Something else to discuss with the prescribing doctor next month.
On to brighter topics. On the quilting front, I haven't touched the sewing machine since I got back from Mom's house, but I intend to complete "In Lucinda's Garden" soon. I posted a photo of the Double Delight quilt on Quiltville's Yahoo group and got two comments. I wasn't really expecting a gush of compliments - but was glad two people noticed! And I have two designs burning a hole in EQ waiting for me to start them, as well as five, count 'em - five, tops to quilt for Project Linus. If I wasn't spending so much time watering the flowers and tomato plants, maybe I could get some more sewing done.
Sunday was abnormally quiet with just the two of us in the house again. I spent a large part of it in a semi-recumbent position, recuperating. It's exhausting to entertain people, even relatives you want to see.
Then, we both had eye appointments today with the ophthalmologist. His was a scheduled checkup, nothing out of the ordinary, but mine was an examination because I realized I wasn't seeing at a distance very well with my current glasses. Since I've only had them 20 months, and since I kept the last pair for four years before my vision changed enough to warrant new glasses (to be honest, I was tired of the frames, my prescription hadn't changed all that much), I was concerned enough to schedule an appointment before the fall, when I was going to anyway.
Well. Turns out I am developing cataracts in both eyes, but the right one was enough to affect my vision. They can still correct my vision to 20/20 now, but when they can't I will be facing cataract surgery. We have no idea when or if that will happen, but the thought has spooked me. I knew something was up when, during the eye check, they show you the letters in a box flanked by two bright light bars at the top and bottom. She kept adjusting the size of the letters but the glare from the lights washed out the text box so that I couldn't read them with my right eye. I could read them with my left eye after some adjustment to the text, but it was hard.
This was one of those situations where I knew too much. I realized that meant I might have cataracts forming, since difficulty seeing in glare from bright lights is a symptom of cataracts. I had to mentally stew on that fact while they stuck the phoropter lens thing-y on my face to determine my glasses prescription (yep, changes in both eyes, but more in the right) and while I waited for the drops to dilate my pupils. Then the doc looked me over and pronounced what I already dreaded.
So now I'm a bit freaked. I need to keep a close check on my vision, and tell her if it deteriorates any more, and take the vitamins and supplements she recommended which may help. (This last item surprised me, because I never have run into an MD before that suggested taking vitamins or supplements of any kind, or actually seemed to have much knowledge about nutrition.) I consulted medical websites, such as Johns-Hopkins, after I got home and found out that a medication that I take may contribute to the formation of cataracts. Something else to discuss with the prescribing doctor next month.
On to brighter topics. On the quilting front, I haven't touched the sewing machine since I got back from Mom's house, but I intend to complete "In Lucinda's Garden" soon. I posted a photo of the Double Delight quilt on Quiltville's Yahoo group and got two comments. I wasn't really expecting a gush of compliments - but was glad two people noticed! And I have two designs burning a hole in EQ waiting for me to start them, as well as five, count 'em - five, tops to quilt for Project Linus. If I wasn't spending so much time watering the flowers and tomato plants, maybe I could get some more sewing done.
Sunday, May 11, 2008
The house is ours again
Our three house guests are gone and it seems very, very quiet around here. I thought I'd lie down for a little while this afternoon because I was worn out. I ended up sleeping for three hours!
My sister-in-law and her husband and my brother-in-law were visiting. It was her birthday Friday so we made her a cake and a pretty fancy dinner. The cake was the Hershey's "Chocolate Town Special Cake" from the recipe that used to be on the cocoa can. It is hands-down the best chocolate cake ever. The texture is more like a lighter brownie than a fluffy cake. It's dense and moist and deeply chocolate. The prefect frosting to complement this, and the one my mother-in-law always used, is boiled like making chocolate fudge. It hardens into a candy-like shell on the cake. Very delicious, very rich - and probably should only be eaten once a year!
Her birthday dinner was roast turkey with mashed potatoes and gravy and rolls and veggies (kind of like a mini Thanksgiving!). Five people are hard to feed with roast chicken. You have to make two of them, so I though, Why not a turkey? Well, I found out that turkeys are difficult to find in the grocery in May. I had to get a Butterball, which is not my favorite brand. We brined it overnight and it was much improved. If you're not brining poultry, look it up and try it. The meat is infused with the moisture and doesn't dry out while roasting, and the seasoning penetrates throughout the bird. It also works well for pork.
We also made stuffed pasta shells, which are delicious, but take a while to put together. And sauteed herbed green beans, another winner. I was basically in the kitchen the whole time, what with breakfast and dinners and washing-up and all. It gave my husband time to visit with his siblings.
When they visit, we don't go gallivanting all over town to the attractions and shopping. We sit in the living room and talk, watch movies, talk some more, walk around the yard, etc. Didn't even leave the property the entire time. When my other sister-in-law visits, we end up taking her and her family around to local places, like the aquarium or the Civil War battlefield parks or the state parks, and it seems like there is never time to just visit and catch up on our lives.
Tonight, I'm eating leftover turkey and gravy and relaxing. Tomorrow will be soon enough to put the house back together.
My sister-in-law and her husband and my brother-in-law were visiting. It was her birthday Friday so we made her a cake and a pretty fancy dinner. The cake was the Hershey's "Chocolate Town Special Cake" from the recipe that used to be on the cocoa can. It is hands-down the best chocolate cake ever. The texture is more like a lighter brownie than a fluffy cake. It's dense and moist and deeply chocolate. The prefect frosting to complement this, and the one my mother-in-law always used, is boiled like making chocolate fudge. It hardens into a candy-like shell on the cake. Very delicious, very rich - and probably should only be eaten once a year!
Her birthday dinner was roast turkey with mashed potatoes and gravy and rolls and veggies (kind of like a mini Thanksgiving!). Five people are hard to feed with roast chicken. You have to make two of them, so I though, Why not a turkey? Well, I found out that turkeys are difficult to find in the grocery in May. I had to get a Butterball, which is not my favorite brand. We brined it overnight and it was much improved. If you're not brining poultry, look it up and try it. The meat is infused with the moisture and doesn't dry out while roasting, and the seasoning penetrates throughout the bird. It also works well for pork.
We also made stuffed pasta shells, which are delicious, but take a while to put together. And sauteed herbed green beans, another winner. I was basically in the kitchen the whole time, what with breakfast and dinners and washing-up and all. It gave my husband time to visit with his siblings.
When they visit, we don't go gallivanting all over town to the attractions and shopping. We sit in the living room and talk, watch movies, talk some more, walk around the yard, etc. Didn't even leave the property the entire time. When my other sister-in-law visits, we end up taking her and her family around to local places, like the aquarium or the Civil War battlefield parks or the state parks, and it seems like there is never time to just visit and catch up on our lives.
Tonight, I'm eating leftover turkey and gravy and relaxing. Tomorrow will be soon enough to put the house back together.
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