WEEKLY HAPPENINGS - MONDAY 2/10/25 TO SUNDAY, 2-16/25

Hello Family and Friends,

Here is last week's daily journal. Thank you for all the nice comments and emails you send me about these, and for the usual encouragement to continue.  I will keep putting them together for as long as they are requested and enjoyed. 

Local weather forecast for week starting 2-17-25.

Monday, February 10th, 2025: Gregg took our car in to get its annual state inspection. It was done really fast and he was only gone for an hour. He dropped the car off, walked around the corner to McDonalds for breakfast, came back and they were done. 

Breakfast for me was Weetabix with a couple of dates and pumpkin seeds. Almond milk which I heat in the microwave for 2 minutes and poured on top of my Weetabix.

Lunch: wheat bread, toasted, scooped out small avocado mashed with a fork and spread on the toast, topped with a poached egg. Another favorite that I eat at lunch or dinner also.

Dinner: spinach salad and main ??? can’t remember. I am writing this a few days after. I can remember things from my childhood so vividly, but as I have heard many times before, “What did I go into the next room for?”

Tuesday, February 11th, 2025 at 1.40 p.m: it’s snowing!

I cancelled my physiotherapy appointment due to weather. There are lots of salt trucks on the road Gregg says, and he didn’t like the idea of driving in the snow, or getting stuck in it. They would probably have called to cancel anyway, like the last time the weather was bad. We beat them to it.

It started snowing just after 1:00 p.m., (and it was still snowing when we went to bed.)  

I am not going anywhere today. The forecasters said about 8 inches.  Looked very pretty outside.

Breakfast: Weetabix for me and another McDonald’s breakfast for Gregg. The adventurous one was out and about again (before snow) and car’s nose pointed itself through their drive-thru, one nearer home this time.  

We didn’t have lunch but later he got into the kitchen and put a beef noodle casserole together. I didn’t even have to cut up any vegetables at the kitchen table. I looked for a recipe online and showed it to him. He liked the look of it and got stuck in. We already had all the ingredients. We had another spinach salad on the side. All I did was find a recipe that I knew we would both enjoy. It will be another one I will put on the blog eventually. Definitely want this recipe handy as we enjoyed it very much.

Wednesday, February 12th, 2025 at 10:51 p.m: in bed and I am yawning. 

Breakfast: No breakfast today but I had a cup of black coffee.

Lunch: the rest of the noodle casserole and another simple spinach salad.

Dinner: we had breakfast for dinner, poached eggs on wheat toast.  

Snacks: a bowl of Skinny Popcorn and earlier a Kit-Kat Bar. It’s a conundrum. 

The same young high schooler rang the bell this morning and asked if we would like him to clear the snow up to the front door and the driveway. We happily said yes. He was driving a car today and had a big smile on his face when he told Gregg he had recently passed his driving test. 

Thanks to this young man, Gregg got out without any difficulty as he did a great job. The neighborhood roads were a bit trickier but the road crews, bless them, had done a great job on the main roads. Gregg did a grocery run as you can see above. We are making a new recipe sometime in the next couple of days and he saw I had added ingredients to our shared online shopping list.

He is having fun with a new app on his phone called Yuka, and may be taking a little longer to shop as he scans a lot of items, just for the fun of it and the fact we are trying to watch what food we eat, MickeyD's aside! It is also a free app. You just point your phone at the product’s barcode. 

I told him he should have scanned his breakfast at McDonalds. It would have probably combusted, if they had barcodes, which they don't. I have copied and pasted the following information I got on Google.

“Yuka is a mobile app that allows users to scan barcodes of food and cosmetic products, providing a health score based on the ingredients listed, essentially giving you a quick way to assess how healthy a product is by using a color-coded system, with green indicating good and red indicating poor, and providing detailed information about the ingredients within the product; it is considered an independent app, meaning no brands can influence its ratings or recommendations.

Key points about Yuka: 

Function: Scans product barcodes to analyze ingredients and provide a health score. 

Assessment criteria: Evaluates products based on nutritional value, additives, and organic aspects. 

Color-coded system: Uses a green, yellow, and red color scheme to quickly indicate a product's health rating. 

Transparency: Claims to be independent, with no influence from brands or manufacturers on product evaluations. 

Applicability: Can be used to scan both food and cosmetic products”

And there you go, Yuka!

I texted with my brother-in-law in Germany and he saw we were under a blanket of snow and wanted to make sure we were okay. I sent him some snow photos. He’s a sweet guy! I assured him all was well. We will be chatting on FaceTime this weekend. 

A bit dreary and are off to my appointment on the freeway. 

Thursday, February 13th, 2025 at 11:34 a.m: 

I am back from physiotherapy. Everyone, from the staff to their clients were very quiet today, including me, all six of us. I started just before 8.00 a.m. We left the house a half-hour earlier. I literally found myself, between knee massage and waiting for the first exercise, about three minutes, dropping off. Snoozing, not dropping off the table, (though there was one precarious moment when I got myself up from lying down too quickly and the table shifted). When the young man came up to me and said something, I didn't hear him the first time. I heard him say to Gregg a bit surprised, "Is she asleep?” I was in that half-way world and woke up with a start. 

We are on the hospital grounds here. The building I go in is on the right. The car in the distance is where we turn to get to the entrance. The multi-story parking lot is on the left where Gregg parks our car.

I twisted my knee a little while stepping down from the house to the garage. There are two steps. We have it on our list to build a third to make less-steep steps and put rails on each side. They always give me the heebie-jeebies even before I had this knee problem. He has added it to his list. A few years ago I rolled my ankle on them when stepping down to the concrete flooring, and had a very painful sprain that lasted for weeks. I have had my issues. Now husband goes first and helps me down but I was born awkward and gave my knee an extra twinge today.

That yellow sign says it all doesn't it?

When I met my Physiotherapist, I told her about it, hoping she would go gently, and she did for the most part, but I noticed I had a few extra exercises. Won't go into it as I said enough last week. I'm still happy with them all, good people, very caring and I am thankful. But guess what? That was my last session! I am on my own now and will continue the exercises I was given at home. I have been staring at this little note on their exit door for weeks. I guess a lot of people forget.

Next will be an appointment with my doctor to see what’s what. 

It was very foggy this morning but rush hour wasn't so bad. Drizzly too, a wintry-mix day for sure. Now the sun looks like it is trying to peek through, but the cloud cover was totally socked in when we were out.

The Yuka app totally yelled at us after our trips to our usual treat places on our way back home. We promised we would do better tomorrow. 

Onto something else, if you click on this link, it will take you to an AMA YouTube video where you can see updated news on various health issues in the US, including bird flu.

So sorry my little buddies!

Gregg is at our car dealership again. We heard some intermittent scratching sounds in the back of the car near the wheels (when we were driving home this morning). He thought we may have picked up something off the road. There was nothing stuck underneath when he checked. He thought we might have to have our brake pads replaced. He took the car in shortly after we got home. (Added note: the man who looked at our car couldn't find anything wrong. This is the same man who found the hundreds of sunflower seeds tucked away under the hood a few months back. I wrote about it in this post towards the end of the page.) This latest noise he thought it might be because we had picked up rock salt from the road and by the time he drove the car to the dealership, they were probably dislodged. Keeping fingers crossed.

Had a short chat with son who called up to find out how my appointment went. Not a long chat as he was busy. Later he went out to lunch and sent us photos. (We send photos back and forth during the week. I sent him the crows on the sign.) This one was from a bagel shop that is new to the area. I love the name of it. 

The sandwich he ordered looked yummy. It was called The Mountain View - mashed avocado, bodega-style eggs and latke. American and Cheddar cheese on a plain bagel. 

He also sent the menu. Mother wants details. I am preparing a folder of places, eateries, etc., to take our company to in April. Just a reminder, you can enlarge all photos by clicking on them if you would like a better look.

At 3:35 p.m., it is 54 degrees F.  The snow has melted a lot off our deck already. Next Thursday we are going to have more snow. That may change between now and then, here’s hoping. 

Friday, February 14th, 2025 at 9.07 p.m: Valentine’s Day! I have Ann’s lovely card on the mantle, have looked at it every day since it arrived and still I forgot it was Valentine’s Day, we both did. Thanks again Ann, your card is beautiful!  We, however, did nothing special in the way of celebrating. It was just a regular day. Nothing special to eat either. What a couple of fuddy-duddy’s we are getting but at least we have Ann's pretty card to remember. I will do better next year.

Next I have added a funny picture for you. I texted it to Gregg as he was on his sofa kitty corner to the one I was on. Yes I could have walked over but I wanted to see his expression when he received it. I don’t think Christine will mind me using it as I found it on her blog here. Thanks Christine! Gregg asked me what I had sent as he heard the ping and saw my name pop up on his iPad. I wanted to give him a chuckle when he opened it. I told him it was his Valentine Card from me. A few seconds later he laughed out loud. This is so us and like I said, Fuddy-Duddies! 

Saturday, February 15th, 2025 at 8:30 p.m: husband just left. He and son are off on a trip into Maryland today and will be gone for a good part of the day. I will keep myself well occupied.

I have already found an interesting artist and you may have seen him before. Lito Leaf Art and the article is an interview with the artist, which is very interesting. His art is extraordinary and fascinating, done on leaves. You can go to this website to see him. Delicate, incredible, beautiful! 

I am off to fix breakfast and you know what that will be. It begins with a ‘W’.

For lunch I had a jacket potato topped with half a cup of baked beans.

Dinner was one of the scallion pancakes topped with half a cup of mashed sweet potato, and then a poached egg on top of that.

Snack was a bowl of Skinny Popcorn.

All through the day I drink water and an occasional glass of juice with breakfast, sometimes orange, sometimes pineapple. In the morning there is a cup of black coffee. Afternoon is green tea and evening is Chamomile with honey and vanilla.  

Gregg came home around six and as they had eaten a late lunch, he wasn’t hungry. They had a great time but drove home in rush hour and heavy rain. Son does all the driving until they reach his place.

Sunday, February 15th, 2025 at 6.20 p.m: son came over and we got so busy no one thought of breakfast. We also wanted to call my brother-in-law while he was here. It's been a while since they chatted. They get on really well together which is very heartwarming for me. The conversation lasted for over an hour, until it was time for son to pick up our dear daughter-in-law.

So what did we have for a late lunch/early dinner? A simple BLT (bacon, lettuce and tomato sandwich on toasted wheat bread). The chef once again put this together. We had a small avocado each somewhere in between and the bowl of skinny popcorn just now. I think that will do us for today. I will be going in and fixing my cup of chamomile in a bit.

I drew a Blue Jay from a photo I took. The proportions are a bit off but I am working on that. I still have to look at some YouTubes on sketching. It was fun to do. (This was actually done on Monday, 17th February, so I should have included it in next week's happenings, but I had forgotten to do a sketch in the last, so here it is.)

I think that's about it for this week. Thanks for reading my epistle of the mundane, and have a wonderful day. Hopefully you have plenty of sunshine in your part of the world.