Week in the Life: Monday, December 18
I was inspired by Stephany & Beckett to do a week in the life series! Tune in (or tune out!) for the mundane!
4:52 am – I slept fitfully and wake up before my 5:00 am alarm. Khali, Starbuck, and Apollo are in bed (on me) and when Khali sees me wake she immediately starts purring and wants to be petted. She does this every morning and I love it. Ned shows up and accompanies me to the bathroom and wants to cuddle (or “merge,” as Steven and I call it, since he wants to be RIGHT NEXT TO YOUR FACE). After I go to the bathroom I take my clothes off and weigh myself, change (I put my workout clothes in the bathroom the night before), brush my teeth, take my anxiety medication, put on deodorant, and am ready to go!
5:14 am – I feed Snow Jr (outside) and Tywin (inside) and cuddle with Tywin a tiny bit.
5:20 am – The indoor cats’ feeders goes off. Almost every morning Starbuck sits there and watches everyone eat until I pick up her bowl and put it somewhere private for her, usually on the stairs. She is such a diva. She has trained us (me?) very well.
5:24 am – I make myself the same first breakfast I have every morning – peanut butter and banana open face sandwich. Surprisingly, it never gets old and I look forward to it every morning.
I will only subject you to this photo once!
5:33 am – I drive to class, and listen to my audiobook, Winter Street.
5:45 am – Upper Body Class at WWM. I just did the Saturday Upper Body Class since I missed Monday last week and wonder if I will be horribly sore and am thankfully not. What’s sore is my butt when I sit on a bench from riding my bike Sunday! Surprise surprise!
I’m pleased that the assisted pullups feel easier. Progress! And I’m pleased to see Bobbi in class!
6:50 am – I drive home, listening to my audiobook, and have my protein shake.
7:00 am – I arrive home and feed the cats their wet food and start work. I had taken Friday off and am pleased to see I only have 27 emails and no surprise 7:30 am meetings (like last Monday). In fact, it’s a magical day with no scheduled meetings, and I have the afternoon off for an appointment with my vascular doctor, so I am feeling pretty good about this Monday! I take a quick shower (upstairs). And I let Tywin out into the office with me, because he was crying in the (downstairs) bathroom. Aww.
8:20 am – Chai time! I basically worked and listened to Tywin meow all morning. I wonder if the wind had him worked up.
10:30 am – I make lunch and eat it (a little on the early side!) since I have plans for lunch break. I have a salad and leftover taco from Saturday night. Tywin kept jumping on my desk to try to eat my lunch!.9,<– he even added that message for you – “.9,” must be code for something.
11:00 am – I use my lunch break to post a Fake Meats reel, then I put Tywin back in the bathroom, and go on a 3 mile run on our street. It’s so cold and windy but I’m glad to get some miles in – I hadn’t run since Friday. I listen to more of Winter Street.
11:58 am – I drive to Steven’s warehouse to go to my appointment together, and yep, more audiobook time.
12:24 pm – Steven drives us to my appointment. When I checked the time that morning it said it would take 40 minutes but we get there in under 35, so we’re a bit early.
1:00 pm – I check in and they call me back around 1:10. Steven comes with me to the exam room. My blood pressure seems high, again (it was at the dentist last week too). It’s 135/93. I’m usually around 120/80.
1:20 pm – I go to a different room to have my INR tested. 2.8! In range! The pharmacist recommends I test my blood for Factor II and Factor X, explaining that when you test these three together, you get a good picture of how my body is handling blood clotting. I got back to the exam room and hang with Steven until my vascular doctor arrives.
1:50~ pm – The vascular doctor arrives and asks how I’m doing – I feel great! He says I’m doing well and staying stable, and don’t need to see him for another year unless the Factor II and Factor X results look bad (they won’t) or if my INR ranges start to get wonky. We talk about:
- How my left leg (the leg the clots were in) is larger. He says that’s normal in the clotting leg but it’s possible I have May-Thurner Syndrome if I want to do a CT scan to check. I pass. It’s a cosmetic thing.
- I ask if my high blood pressure is related to being on Warfarin. He says no, but he does not want his patients to have high blood pressure, and mine is likely high from situational stress. He says trust what it measures at at home (120/80)
- I ask about traveling to Europe. He says to get my INR tested before and after I go, and to follow whatever medication the pharmacists recommend while I am there. And to wear my compression socks, drink a lot of water, and move as much as possible on the plane.
2:03 pm – I make an appointment with him for December 19th next year. I think, surely I won’t have any work meetings on my calendar for a date in 2024 – yet, there are four.
2:19 pm – They draw my blood to test for Factor II and X. Then Steven and I drive to Starbucks for a treat!
2:33 pm – We order a Peppermint Mocha and Salted Almond Chocolate Bites (him) and Gingerbread Oatmilk Chai (me). We sit and chat for a while, which is a treat and feels so indulgent in the middle of the day!
3:06 pm – We leave and I do my rock hide for the day, then we drive back to the warehouse. We chat and I have a banana at some point.
This rock is by @meka.rox from California
3:46 pm – I drive back home and finish Winter Street. I arrive just after 4:00 and feed Snow Jr (the indoor cats’ feeder went off at 3:50 pm), feed Tywin and let him out, then come over to my computer to work on this post.
4:30 pm – Remembering to write that I had a banana makes me realize I’m hungry so I get some pretzels, then finish my book recap and publish it.
4:48 pm – I do some Fake Meats work – trying to figure out why an Illustrator file is RGB and not CMYK. It’s easy to switch the color profile to CMYK but then I need to re-embed images and make text paths in the file, then organize how the files are on the drive blah blah blah. It takes some time!
5:28 pm – I go over to Meta to see if I have anything I want to respond to on Instagram (comments or DMs).
5:38 pm – Ten minutes was enough of that and I leave the office to play with our cats that have been neglected and shut out of the office most of the day. I bring in a package, feed the cats their wet food (Steven comes home while I am), put away all the clean dishes, cut up a pineapple, and heat up leftovers for dinner (leftover homemade mac n cheese, add broccoli, and vegan chicken nuggets).
6:30 pm – We sit down to eat and finish watching The Family Plan (bad, but entertaining enough). Apollo keeps me company. We have pineapple for dessert.
7:30 pm – Steven and I work on Fake Meats blog post and social media ideas (I have an Ocho mini on the way to the office).
8:40 pm – I clean up after dinner (note, I’m usually in bed by this time, ahhhhhh!!!!!!!!!!), take out some trash, and make my shake for the morning
9:01 pm – I take my warfarin, go to the bathroom, brush and floss my teeth and wash my face, put my gym clothes in the bathroom, then change into PJs and read a bit of The Nanny while doing KST (Khali Special Time). I fall asleep between 9:45-10:00 pm.
Reading Update (2023 #68-70)
[68] Tom Lake by Ann Patchett
Fiction / Coming of Age, recommendation from Val, audiobook
Synopsis: Lara’s three daughters are living with her again because of the pandemic, and as they pick cherries from their Michigan farm and go about their slowed down lives, Lara tells them the story of a famous actor she had a brief relationship with in her youth.
Review: I tend to love Ann Patchett and her slow meandering character driven stories. And that’s what this is – just a slow story about a woman and her youth and her relationships and what her family means to her. Meryl Streep was perfect for narrating this.
Recommend? Yes, if slow meandering character driven stories narrated by amazing actresses are your thing (I wonder how it would be in written form?)
[69] The Honeymoon Crashers by Christina Lauren
Fiction / Romance / Romantic Comedy, part 1.5 of The Unhoneymooners, audiobook
Synopsis: (warning: spoiler from first book, but not really because it’s a romance) Ami’s twin sister Olive is eloping in Maui, and told their large close family not to come but Ami knows better, and organizes for everyone to fly down and for herself to plan the wedding. Olive and her fiancé Ethan insist that Ethan’s childhood friend Brody help Ami, but she is determined to do it all on her own, until she realizes how fun (and well connected on the island!) Brody is.
Review: This is a novella, and was a very short listen – maybe around 5 hours? So we aren’t getting deep with these characters and I don’t really understand why they fell for each other, other than physical attraction and how fun Brody is. All that being said, I still enjoyed it. It was a fun listen. I was surprised by the narration style – it had a lot of narrators and even had background noise at times (phones ringing, music, the ocean, birds, drinks clinking).
Recommend? Only if you read the first book
[70] Winter Street by Elin Hilderbrand
Fiction Women, was looking for books by Hilderbrand I hadn’t read yet, audiobook
Synopsis: Kelley Quinn just wants a nice Christmas with his family at the bed and breakfast he owns in Nantucket, but on December 23rd he walks in on his wife making out with the man who plays Santa at their annual holiday party. She leaves him (with Santa!) and he immediately reaches out to his ex-wife (a famous news anchor), his oldest son (who is dealing with insider trading issues), his next oldest son (who has a secret of his own), and his daughter (who is NOT happy her boyfriend left for the holiday). Add the stress of his youngest being deployed to Afghanistan and Kelley is losing it.
Review: I really enjoyed this. It was entertaining and short (under 7 hours on the speed I had it on?) and I was pretty into every character’s story (okay, not so much the insider trader bro, wah wah). This is book 1 of 4 and I’m excited to listen to the rest.
Recommend? Yes
Ball-less and flawless
Yesterday was Tywin’s surgery – he is now ball-less and flawless (neutered)!
Tywin is an outdoor cat that lives on our street – I am not sure if someone dumped him, if he is a stray, or if he is someone’s indoor/outdoor cat. But he was NOT fixed and he needed to be (in my opinion). I am counting the cost ($600+) of getting him neutered as my Christmas gift to myself.
I was anxious about Friday. Not about the appointment itself, but about getting him in the carrier, driving him there, and how scared he would be. I wanted to minimize his fear as much as possible.
I gave him two Gabapentin (with the vet’s approval) with his small breakfast, and didn’t have any issues getting him in the carrier, and he was quiet the whole way to the vet. Because he was drugged the hell up.
Everything went well – the vet’s office called in the late morning to let me know the exam went great and they were proceeding with the surgery. Then the vet himself called me after and said “I have some good news and bad news.” Er… okay? He told me surgery went well and Tywin is ball-less, but that he has FIV – feline immunodeficiency virus, similar to HIV in humans. FIV attacks the immune system, leaving the cat vulnerable to infections. In our minds, this explains why Tywin sometimes gets so skinny, has a loss in appetite, and had a horrible scary cough last month.
There is no cure for FIV, but FIV cats can live normal life spans if they survive the infections and don’t get feline leukemia virus (he does not have that). It’s only transmitted to other cats via deep bites. Ideally FIV cats live in single-cat households.
Poor little dude.
Tywin is not going to live inside with us, but he will convalesce in the downstairs bathroom for 10 days (then go back outside). I was also nervous about him wanting to get the hell out of the bathroom, but he seems chill and happy in there with his food, water, litter box, toys, and towels.
We will go in many times a day to hang out with him!
He’s just such a happy little dude. I wish he had a permanent inside home.
Random Thoughts Thursday 434
- I saved RTT for Friday because I wanted to share that Steven was finally able to have his stage check flight yesterday and passed! And he did his first solo flight last night! I’m so proud of him! ALL THE EXCLAMATION POINTS!!!
- He did four landings with Josh (his instructor) and they weren’t going great and he wasn’t sure if he still wanted to solo that night, but decided to go for it. He felt really nervous sitting on the runway, but once he took off everything clicked – he realized whatever happened it was 100% on him to figure it out so there wasn’t room to feel anxious. He did two patterns and two landings at the airport. He’ll continue to fly with Josh (his instructor) and add solo time in now too. He’s aiming to have his pilot’s certificate (license) in the spring.
- It’s tradition to cut the tail off of the flight student’s shirt after their first solo flight and write the details of the student’s flight on it, so they did that after the flight. This tradition honors a time in flight history when they didn’t have communication systems like we do now and the instructor told the student what to do by tugging on the tail of their shirt. So I imagine cutting it off signifies the student no longer needs as much instruction? We’ll frame it and hang it somewhere!
- We celebrated by getting dinner with Jen and Troy!
- Here’s the mani I got last week with Lorena!
- The day after Thanksgiving I participated in a free class at my gym where we all had balls wrapped around our waists to stimulate working out while pregnant, since our instructor is pregnant. It was a riot, and she posted the reel from it this week:
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Stitch Fix #17
I’ll post Random Thoughts Thursday tomorrow (on Friday).
I wasn’t feeling very excited for this fix when I saw my preview last week – it was 5 pairs of jeans and 5 sweaters. I did ask for jeans and sweaters, but didn’t like much of it, so I picked out two pairs of jeans and asked for cozy sweatshirts. I was thinking “this will probably be my last fix!” but then I really liked the tops I received. And the jeans are decent too (I just need to figure out what kind of shoes to wear with them). Anyway! Here is what I got:
STUDIO BLUE Kenova Mid Rise Skinny Roll Cuff Jean
Ha, ignore the sock look!
I usually avoid jeans that hit at the ankle but thought I would give them a try. What shoes do you think would work with them? The profile card shows them with a high heel mule – I definitely don’t have anything like that! I could do flats or sneakers, right? No? HELP ME.
STS BLUE Ellie High Rise Finished Hem Ankle Skinny Jean
Just a millennial, still wearing skinny jeans. I love skinny jeans but hate how my compression socks make them cling to my lower legs.
LETY & ME Alaia Long Sleeve Hooded Sweater
I love hoodies and stripes. Sold!
MARKET & SPRUCE Perine Pocket Hooded Knit Top
Another cozy hoodie? Yes, please. It has a fun detail on the back too.
STACCATO Carson Crew Neck Button Detail Sweater
Ignore the bad jeans pairing! I will wear these with a dark wash.
I just love button shoulder details. My last fix had one and one of my fave original sweaters from them did too!
So yeah, I was pleasantly surprised. I will do at least one more fix for our Europe trip in the spring.
The long way there (and back)
We were in Kansas City this past weekend for Steven’s friend’s visitation and funeral. I’m glad we could go, especially to hear everyone share stories. Steven has been friends with these folks since kindergarten, and they have a really special bond. I love being a periphery member of the group and getting to spend time with them.
And that’s all I am going to write about that! It feels crass and disrespectful to talk much about it.
INSTEAD, I am going to tell you all about getting to Kansas City and back home. Because it was an adventure!
We wanted to fly private (meaning Steven would fly us and we’d have an instructor with us). Commercial flights were stupid expensive and actually comparable in price (it didn’t end up that way but more on that later), then add in driving to the airport, parking cost, all the time you waste there, blah blah blah. I felt like this was the ONE time that flying private might be the same cost?!
Steven’s instructor Josh wasn’t available, but Josh asked around if anyone else wanted to go with us and another instructor said she would. Yay!
So then Steven was watching the weather all week to see how feasible it was for him to fly. We didn’t know we were flying ourselves there until the day we left! Not knowing how we were getting there was a really good exercise for me to learn to be more chill.
Gosh this is already too long. Yikes.
We got to the airport around noon on Friday and Steven checked the weather again (when I say he checked the weather I don’t mean he went to accuweather.com – he looks at a bunch of different reports and sites. Maybe when he reads this he will send me more details on what those are and I will update this section), then did preflight on the plane, then we did an hour long weather debrief with the instructor going with us. It was clear where we were in Chicago, but there was weather sitting over Kansas City that had the potential of creating storms. So we planned to head that way and reroute if need be. There was LOTS of contingency planning.
We left at 2:33 and I instantly had that dumb grin on my face I get when we fly. We had planned to go up to 6,000 feet but we had to stay below the clouds so we did most of the flight at 2,500 feet which meant I had my face plastered to the window for most of the flight.
Flying through a break in the clouds – only to come back down later
Crossing the Mississippi River
About an hour outside of Kanas City they checked the weather and saw clouds on the radar they did not want to try to fly between to get to Kansas City, so we diverted to an airport north of Kansas City in St. Joseph. Womp womp.
Landing in St. Joseph
I called the St. Joseph FBO (fixed-base operator) at 4:58 to see if they could get us a rental car and they said Enterprise closed at 5:00 but they would see what they could do! Eek! But they delivered. We landed at 5:26 and a rental car was there waiting for us. (I still think it’s so cool I can text and call from the plane at low altitudes.) So after we did all the post flight stuff we drove down to Kanas City – a 50 minute drive. Ugh. Ha.
When we flew in Friday the weather looked promising for leaving Sunday, but then it got iffy Sunday due to temperatures and a low cloud ceiling that created an icing risk on the plane.
We drove up to St. Joseph Sunday morning anyway – we wanted to fly from there to Kansas City (MKC) so Steven could see what landing there was like since he plans to in the future. And we brought his dad along for the ride! We left at 11:36 and landed around 12:05.
This flight was unique because the tower let us fly through the Bravo airspace around the Kansas City International (MCI) airport (not the one we were going to – we were going to the downtown airport – MKC).
The downtown Kansas City airport is pretty cool because it’s right by the downtown (derp) – so there is a neat view from the ramp and when you take off.
Steven’s brother, him, me, Steven’s dad
Flight instructor, Steven, me, Steven’s dad
We had time to kill because of weather and the icing risk, so we went to lunch then came back and took off at 4:11.
We flew right over the city. It was so neat! I’ve been visiting Kansas City since 2002 when Steven and I started dating so I recognized a lot of what I saw.
Our plan was to head toward the Quad Cities in Iowa then reevaluate if we could go all the way to Chicago or if we needed to stop somewhere to wait for weather to clear up. When Steven and the instructor checked the weather, there was still a low ceiling and icing risk, so we rerouted to Waterloo, Iowa (ALO) where my snister would pick us up and we’d spend the night there. It’s another airport Steven plans to fly to in the future, so even though we would have liked to fly all the way home, it was good to get the experience.
Landing at ALO at 5:55
Note – my snister was also in Kansas City for work this weekend, with her husband and kids, and our parents. I actually got to see her and her husband briefly at the Saturday visitation (they were friends with the friend who passed too) but didn’t see the rest of the family and we were all kind of bummed about it, but it made absolutely no sense to try to fit it into all of our packed schedules.
Snis and me
So it was a wonderful treat to spend the evening with them all! Oh! But I was going to say, my snis got home around 4:40 then left a little over an hour later to pick us up at the airport. When I get home after a trip I just want to unpack and relax, not have people in my home, but us staying the night on such short notice did not phase them at all! Thanks so much snis and fam!
We did another weather check before we left ALO to make sure if made sense to spend the night and it did. We felt better when we talked to another pilot who was doing the same.
So yeah, we hung out at Christina and Will’s and got to see everyone! Yay!
Dad, me, Mom, Steven. My poor parents – they got back to my snister’s and just stayed there. They must have been so beat too.
We were planning on being home early afternoon Sunday, but also knew there’s always a possibility your flight plans can change so we had what we needed to stay an extra day and work a bit (and I was able to set up cat sits and cancel my strength class). Even when we do a day trip we take what we need for a potential overnight. This is just the first time we’ve executed that backup plan!
I started work at 6:30 am Monday (Ick! I wanted to just take it off but had a 7:30 meeting I only saw the night before when I emailed my supervisor at 11:00 pm) and ended up being on calls until almost 9:00, then wrapped up, hung out a bit with the fam and we left for the airport around 9:45.
My snis has been sending us a Christmas Countdown pic each day and I got to be in this one with Ella!
The weather looked good to go, yay, so the FBO got the plane out of the hangar (we put it in there so it wouldn’t have frost on it – it was already starting to frost over when we landed Sunday night), Steven did preflight, and we left at 11:12.
Snister loaned me a blanket – the heat is either ON or OFF in the Cessna 182 and it was cold when it was off
It was really neat to fly out over my hometown and see a lot of familiar landmarks, and my childhood home, etc. I will spare you those pics because they only mean anything to me, ha.
Crossing the Mississippi
The instructor had filed an IFR (instrument flight rules) plan for this flight. The other three flights were all VFR (visual flight rules). They used the IFR most of the way there then canceled the plan and went to VFR. The sky was clear until we got to scattered clouds around Chicago.
Landing at UGN
Back at UGN!
We landed at 12:46 and did all the post flight stuff and I was back home and at work at 2:00.
And kind of exhausted and over it.
I’m still glad we went this way though. We learned a lot about flying in cold weather. A LOT. And Steven got to practice with an instructor that has different techniques than Josh.
It’s just too bad that all those diversions added up quite a few extra hours and made it a lot more money than we predicted! (We rent the plane per hour it’s running). Oops. We learned about that too, ha ha. (also, *cry*)
Random Thoughts Thursday 433
- Last night was our office holiday party. In the morning I drove to a different train stop so I would have more options to come home later, then was thinking “will I even want to stay late? Will I have anyone to talk to for that long?” (The party was from 4:00-7:00.) But the time flew by and I talked with lots of different people and had a great time! It’s amusing being the only sober one at these things. I ended up taking the 8:32 train home (got home past 10:00) and am glad I had the later option!
My outfit for the holiday party. Three people approached me to tell me they could tell I’d lost weight and thought I looked great, which was nice (some people don’t like that, but it doesn’t bother me – none of these people said it in a weird way). One of them said I walked “like an athlete – light on my feet.” Aww. Do I? Ha ha.
- Random (but not really) pet peeve – when you ask someone to take a group photo of you and they cut off your feet.
- Steven had loaned me some .5 readers and I finally tried them on last Thursday (after whining about my vision Wednesday) and WHOA! Everything was so crisp! I ordered some readers that are more me. Can I skip eye makeup now?
- I was really excited to see WWM post a reel of the rock painting class, especially after I told you all I was a bit regretful I didn’t take any photos or video!
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Reading Update (2023 #65-67)
This review is entirely audiobooks because my Kindle books were non-fiction (Atomic Habits & Anti-Diet) and I couldn’t get through them! Crazy because I used to only read non-fiction… and also only read a few books a year.
[65] Things I Wish I Told My Mother by Susan Patterson, Susan DiLallo, James Patterson
Fiction/Women, saw in “Available Now” on Libby, audiobook
Synopsis: Laurie and her mother Liz are opposites and have never gotten along, but when Liz has a heart scare, Laurie suggests they go on a European trip as a reward for leaving the hospital, and hopes they can bond a bit while there.
Review: I was really enjoying this surface-level book (I finished it in a day!), then the ending made me so completely irate I knocked it down from 4 to 3 stars. I do NOT recommend it unless you want to be that frustrated. I should have paid attention to the second part of this description from GoodReads: “A mother and daughter on vacation in Paris unpack a lifetime of secrets and hopes—with a giant Pattersonian twist at the end!” Ugh, I am still so annoyed with it.
Recommend? No
[66] The Rumor by Elin Hilderbrand
Fiction/Women, saw in “Available Now” on Libby, audiobook
Synopsis: Nantucket folks love to gossip, and when Madeline rents an apartment to help focus on writing her next novel, the rumor mill starts about her relationship with her husband, and her relationship with her best friend Grace’s husband. But maybe Madeline is the wrong one to gossip about…
Review: This was such a light, fun listen with lots of people misbehaving and rumors gone awry. This is what I wanted Bad Summer People to be. There are a lot of storylines in this book, but the great narration made them easy to follow, and I found them all interesting and didn’t feel like I was slogging through any of them or trying to rush through one to get to my favorite storyline.
Recommend? Yes
[67] Beautiful Day by Elin Hilderbrand
Fiction/Women, saw in “Available Now” on Libby, audiobook
Synopsis: Ha, I cannot remember any of the character names or find them with very little googling. Oops. Two families are united on Nantucket for a summer wedding and it should all be going according to plan – the bride is following the wedding plans her late mother made her to a T. But no family gathering is without drama, and as people reunite past grievances resurface and the weekend is anything but calm.
Review: Hmm. I didn’t love this book as much as other Hilderbrand books. Don’t get me wrong, I loved the juicy family drama, but even though it was set in the summer, I didn’t get the offset of happy summer vibes with it. Ha. There were some other annoyances – every few chapters was devoted to “the notebook” where the late mother had said how she wanted her daughter’s wedding to be and was just… super ick to me. It didn’t feel endearing. It felt controlling and odd. And there were smart phone references that seemed SO outdated (this book came out in 2013). Great narration again though, like in the previous book, but overall, meh.
Recommend? Nah
Best laid plans and all that
When I had my INR appointment (where they check how fast my blood is clotting*) early last month and it went so well that we booked my next appointment A WHOLE MONTH out I thought “that December 4th appointment could be my last appointment of the year! I better have my holiday gifts ready for the (hospital) pharmacists (at the Anticoagulation Clinic) in case I don’t see them again until January.”
I immediately put a reminder in my calendar to get their gifts ready this past weekend and had them with me yesterday.
Then my INR was so low** I have to bridge my blood thinners with a shots twice a day and go back in Thursday morning to test it again.
Best laid plans and all that. I feel like I jinxed myself!
I still gave Sonia her gift since I had it with me, and now I will see Edyta in person on Thursday to give her hers, and likely be back next week or the following.
A year ago (or even half a year ago!), I would have seen this as a set back and been upset, especially about the shots. But now, I try to figure out why my INR got low (if I can), then sort of shrug it off. The most annoying part is if I have to go pick up the shots at the CVS pharmacy in Target, and if it’s hard to find time with my work schedule to come back and get tested again. Otherwise… it is what it is***. And I call that attitude progress!
*I have Antiphospholipid Syndrome – my body makes antibodies that attack tissue and form clots, so I have to be on blood thinners and have my INR (International Normalized Ratio) monitored
**When it’s too low your blood clots too fast. I cut my finger this weekend and it hardly bled, and I got my first bloody nose since being on blood thinners this morning and it hardly bled so… yeah, my INR is low.
***That other people give me my shots (Steven at home, my snis when I am at her house) helps me have this attitude
First time I ever ironed my PJs 🤭
I had the best time at the WWM Holiday PJ Party on Saturday night! It was seriously the most fun I’ve ever had at a holiday party. I was laughing so hard my cheeks hurt!
I was really excited to go to it, but a small part of me was like “er, I am still kind of new and don’t know everyone’s names or know too many people too well. Will I just stand somewhere by myself the whole night?”
Of course, that didn’t happen. I was chatting to people as soon as I got there, then joined a fun game of Taco Cat Goat Cheese Pizza, ate with a group, then had a blast watching people play silly holiday themed physical games*, loved the White Elephant Game**, and did a few karaoke songs before I came home with a huge smile on my face.
What a great way to start off the month!
And yes, I did get my PJs out of the drawer and realized they needed to be ironed before I went. Who would have thought I’d ever be ironing my PJs?! They actually still look a bit wrinkly in the photo below, ha ha ha.
Me with Marybel, the owner
Oh! And there were gifts for the first 5 people and I was number 5, so I got this awesome tumbler!
*Game 1 was trying to pick up candy canes from a bowl with one tied around your waist, Game 2 was being blindfolded (I did this one) and using your non dominant hand to scoop super light “snowballs” on to a plate, and Game 3 was having a container with a tiny hole on it on your back that you have to shake ornaments out of. That one was hilarious (they all were). People were twerking and being so silly.
**I brought a painted rock, paint pens, and some blank rocks as my gift, and got a scent theory set (room spray, candle, bubble bath) & champagne as my gift!
Oh! One last WWM thing!
A friend of mine said she knew how much I was enjoying WWM classes and wanted to get me a WWM gift card for Christmas but didn’t see any on the website so she made this one and sent me a check. How incredibly thoughtful! And perfect timing because I had just changed from the 12 pack to 18 pack the day it arrived! I have the best friends.
Hi! I’m Kim, a 40-something-year-old living in northeastern Illinois with my husband Steven, and our cats, Khaleesi, Apollo, Starbuck, and Eddard aka Ned. My current main hobbies are running, painting rocks, flying, reading, and eating. I follow a vegan lifestyle and work in an account management role. I write about a variety of topics and consider this a “life” blog – a place I can share anything that’s on my mind. Please visit the “About” page to get a better idea of who I am! 🙂
