Pre-Transplant Home Prep Checklist

For anyone bringing a loved one home from the hospital after a transplant, the home preparation one needs to do is somewhat overwhelming.  There is a lot to do, as the home must be spic 'n' span and free from anything that might sicken the patient with a compromised immune system.  When I first read in the handbook given to us by the transplant team regarding Paul's upcoming transplant, the amount of work and prep I would need to do, I was overwhelmed.  I work best with a checklist, and so created one.  Below is a free checklist template you can open in Google Docs and download and use to help with home prep. Click on the icon for access. You can edit it to suit your situation, add whatever items as you see fit. (If this link isn't working for some reason, please let me know in the Comments below.)

Long Absence/Explanation/MDS/Non-Hodgkin's Lymphoma

Hello! I have been away a long time.  A lot has happened in life since my last post a year and a half ago.  Paul and I spent a lot of time traveling in late 2018 through November of 2019.  Then there was work and grandson (who is 13 and 1/2!).  When we returned from our last trip in 2019 (a visit to Philadelphia to see our son and to tour Gettysburg, plus a Civil War ball), Paul was diagnosed first with severe anemia, and then cancer (MDS and non-Hodgkin's Lymphoma).  He is going in for a stem cell transplant in May which will hopefully lead to a cure, God willing.
I'm not sure if I will be able to blog much, but in a subsequent post I wanted to post a checklist for pre-transplant patients and caregivers. I also have been posting YouTube videos relating to Cancer Caregivers.  My channel is here: Celeste's Channel.

Michaelmas!

Today is the Feast of Saint Michael the Archangel. 
One of my favorite prayers, that I say often, is the prayer to Saint Michael:

Saint Michael the Archangel, defend us in battle

be our protection against the wickedness and snares of the devil.

May God rebuke him, we humbly pray.

And do thou, O Prince of the Heavenly Host, 

by the Divine power of God, 

cast into hell Satan, and all the evil spirits, 

who roam throughout the world, seeking the ruin of souls.

Last year, Paul and I planted Michaelmas Daisies in the garden.  I brought some into the house for today.

Bedroom Woodwork (with Regency Fashion!)

One of the last rooms to be finished in our fixer-upper is the master bedroom.  We had wallpapered the walls years ago (20 years?!), and that is in need of an update.  Paul had added window and door casings (we had the original design reproduced in oak).  But we didn't have baseboards in our room since the original pine ones (that were in horrible shape) were removed - 30 years ago - when we had gutted the upstairs.  Finally though, this summer, Paul installed the baseboards!  They are beautiful.  And this week the wallpaper is being changed.  So I am happy.

I happened to be dressed up for Book Club the day Paul finished them.  I was dressed in Regency for our book choice: Northanger Abbey by Jane Austen.  I wore my Michaelmas dress, that I finally finished (when I wore it for my Michaelmas Party, the "innards" weren't finished (seam finishes around the armholes, tacking down of the back fastenings, etc. and the hem was atrociously put in - I literally machine basted the worst-hem-ever.  Now all is finished and properly hemmed.  It was nice to wear the dress again, with my short stays, and have it be complete.  I also wore my Regency slippers from American Duchess.  I posed my foot by the new baseboards!

Northanger Abbey Dress

"Dashwood" Regency slippers from American Duchess

Close-up of the baseboards, with the outer corner blocks

Where Has The Time Gone?!

We have had a very busy spring and summer!  I'll post some projects.  I'll try to be better about posting!

Kitchen Storage Organization (Small Space Living)

Living in a small space has its challenges.  Although we redid our kitchen a couple of years ago and added lots of new cabinetry, I still needed to economize on space.  A lot of the items below were put in initially with the kitchen remodel.  But a while back I did a lot of kitchen reorganization which really helped working in the space.  I ordered some new things for this.  I also repaired an appliance, and employed an antique tea canister for fun.

One of the first space organizers I purchased was an Ikea Pot Lid Organizer, to be use for baking dishes and pie pans, rather then the pot lids it was intended for:

A more recent project, I took everything out of the drawers, and reorganized them.  Here is the big drawer reorganization:

Everything from the bottom section out to sort and purge

The bottom section reorganized: baking utensils, etc.

The top section is silverware

Speaking of silverware, I bought new stainless.  This was problematic, because the bottom of the dinner fork handles are large and ornate, much wider than before, and they did not fit in our small dishwasher basket.  I liked how the dishwasher basket fit in our small-space dishwasher, and didn't want to try and find a new one that might not work anyway.  Paul suggested opening up a few of the basket sections, so they were wider:

The basket before

It just doesn't fit!

The basket after, with four of the sections in the middle widened out using a metal rasp.

Then there is small-space pan storage.  We used two separate units in one of the base cabinets, a two-level unit for pans and lids (that have to be placed with their handles just so on the adjustable rack), and another for cookie sheets and cutting boards:

Bottom pan level

Top level - lids, and the teensy-tiny frying pan

I also repaired my grain mill (the air outlet piece).  Note that my grain mill will now be used for non gluten grains such as oat groats (back on gluten-free diet).  This deformity had been here since I purchased the mill.  It didn't affect the functioning, but it bugged me, so I ordered a new part:

Finally, I needed tea storage for some little samples I had gotten.  I found this canister in an antique store - just like mother used to have!!

What I Did Instead (Went On Vacation!)

(Note: I thought I had posted this already!  Well, better late than never!)
This past November, there was a problem with a group I was working with.  It all had to do with music and harp, an inexplicable and unnecessary rude email from one of the leaders to me, and an unexpected invitation that same day from another group that helped salve the wound (a group I am happily working with now).  I don't want to go into details since this is a public blog, but suffice it to say, it was so disappointing.  I have moved on, but still am flabbergasted by the whole sequence of events.
There was a special event planned for February with the old group, that I was so looking forward to.  I had blocked out a series of days from my work schedule to accommodate this.  When everything fell apart, I had this rare lengthy time off.  Paul had not been feeling well, basically from Thanksgiving to Christmas.  When thinking of a gift for him for Christmas, I thought time at the beach would be therapeutic.  Plus we had enough points on one credit card to cover two airline tickets, enough on another to cover the rental car.  So I booked a long weekend in Florida.  We had a lovely time.
I made sure, on the evening of the event that I was not part of, that Paul and I were drinking cold champagne in a warm place.  And celebrating our lives together.

An Improvised Vanity Table

I have been wanting a vanity table for makeup application forever.  But in our smaller house, and the configuration of the chimney as it relates to our bedroom (right in the middle of one wall), we have to pick furniture carefully and are limited in where we can place it.  I thought about looking into a new dresser that might just have a makeup space in the middle, but our dresser wall just wouldn't accommodate that, and besides, I'd rather not spend the money on that right now.

So I looked around, and realized that a small desk we have in our room could easily be re-purposed into this makeup station for me.  It's a nice desk, an antique, and had the blessed feature of sitting fairly flat against the wall, thus fitting perfectly into the "nook" to one side of the chimney in our room.  I really don't use the desk as a desk, since all bills are paid online and letters have morphed into emails, so it was mostly for storage, and (ahem), clutter.

I went through and purged a lot out of there (old cancelled checks from back when they still sent you those each month, unnecessary papers, index cards, you name it), found a mirror online that fits "just so", and has a magnetized little magnify mirror that you can take from the back of it, stick on the bigger mirror, and see yourself close up to do your eye makeup), and a small plastic makeup storage caddy.  All of my cleansers and moisturizers stay in the bathroom.

I needed a small chair or bench to use with this.  I found this one online, that is small, and stows off to the side nicely.

The desk 

(still a lot of stuff in the side cabinets part, but I'll get to that!).

Close-up: the mirror (reflecting my flowered shirt), 

to the left is the makeup caddy, 

to the right another storage box, and a "tea facial" kit.

The desk with the new bench in front.  

I love the floral upholstery!

The bench placed off to the side  

and the desk folded up after use, 

so I can get by the corner of the bed easily 

to go around to my side.

Another Fireplace Snafu

I think we finally have it right.  It took some doing.  Last night we lit a fire.  We (thought) we had the flue open, the flue fan (installed last year, see here) was on.  But wouldn't you know it - smokiness.  We figured maybe we needed some sort of "turbo-booster" in the flue to propel more air out.  I dashed off an email to the fireplace guy (who ended up responding almost right away, good guy, that one), but then the smokiness got really bad, ending with a scary comedy of errors where Paul had to get the fireplace log out into the snow in a metal tub (don't ask).  Then Paul was testing the flue, trying to figure out what on earth was wrong.  Well since it has been gajillion degrees below freezing here, the flue had frozen shut (our first clue should have been that the flue fan did not sound very loud, even on high, which we now know means - it isn't open!).  Once Paul had tugged the flue chain several times, it finally opened up -we knew because the fan sounded loud, about the same time we got an email back from Fireplace Guy suggesting that very thing.

Today I was very brave, and asked Paul to light another fire before he left with the kids to go see his mom.  I was contemplating doing some quiet journaling after a very busy morning away from the house.  I really wanted to sit by the fire on this freezing cold day, with a cup of tea, and a chance to work in a new journal I got (more on that later).  All was well!!  No smokiness, a beautiful fire, and I enjoyed my respite.

And I captured a nice picture of Tyler 

in front of the fire right after it was lit.

Bedside Table Scarf Craft

A while back, I needed a quick nightstand scarf for our guest room (which was Robert's room, and he still stays here when he visits home - which will be tomorrow!!).  After Robert moved out to Portland, we decided to do some long needed renovations to this room that were too involved to do whilst someone was living in it.  These included:

• Gutting, insulating, and wallboarding the closet (still in the works, but mostly done, no secret passageway yet though)
• Revamping the electrical in the closet
• Tearing down the ugly tile ceiling, replacing with wallboard
• Fixing the venting system in the floor (the pros did that)
• Removing the old wallpaper and painting
• Sanding and refinishing the large dresser (but only the top of it; the rest was in pretty good condition)
• New carpeting

We also found a cute bedside table and a "banker's lamp",  which this room was lacking the whole time Robert lived here (poor boy!).  This is what I wanted the nightstand scarf for.  I found and inexpensive, washable, cloth placemat at the nearby hardware store, and saw that I could easily cut it down and stitch it with very little time involved.

I measured the table top, and cut the placemat to size, keeping the existing hems on two sides 

and allowing seam allowance to turn under for a matching hem on the other two sides. 

New hem pinned and ready to sew.

The little table fits perfectly in this awkward little corner next to the bed.

I love the vintage feel of the banker's lamp.  The placemat will allow a water glass to sit without ruining the finish of the table.  Paul ran an extension cord unobtrusively for alarm clock or a cell phone charger.  There's a shelf below as well for books, tissues, etc.

Darling

This is a tale of the elusive "Darling" pin.  My mother had a beautiful antique pin, inscribed with the word "Darling".  I always loved that pin, and when my mother passed, expressed a desire to keep it from my mother's belongings.

When my sisters and I began going through my mother's things after she passed, we could not find the pin in with the rest of her jewelry.  We felt really horrible.  Then, miraculously (St. Anthony had a a hand in this!) we found the pin almost by chance, after unfolding a crochet shawl my mother had made.  She had worn the Darling pin with the shawl, but had the foresight to attach it to the shawl with a vinyl (invisible) thread so it would not be lost by accident.  So I took the pin home and placed it in my jewelry box.

A few weeks ago, I was looking for the pin.  I swear I took apart my jewelry box looking for it, but it was not there.  I asked my sister Barbara if she had it by chance - she did not, but promised to say a prayer to St. Anthony, asking for his assistance.  I did so as well.  I looked in the attic, trying to find my mother's shawl.  I couldn't find that either (although I did find a shawl she had made for me).  I felt just awful, thinking it was gone for good.

Today, I set about cleaning my completely messy and disorganized house (Robert is coming here on Tuesday!!).  I have been in the process of setting up a makeup table in an antique desk in our room (more on that in a future blog post).  I decided to do a clean and purge of my jewelry box (something I had planned on doing whilst looking for the pin; there was so much in there that I no longer wanted, and it was bursting at the seams).  And what do you think happened?  I found "Darling"!!  She is now in a small box, safely in the jewelry box, so I will always know exactly where she is.

I'm so happy!

End of Season Tasks

Last week and this, Paul and I have been tidying up the garden in preparation for winter.  Paul took down our birdhouse for winter storage, we gathered up the tomato cages, and covered some of our perennials.  Paul will run the mulching lawnmower over the grass to collect up the leaves on Monday, when the weather is predicted to be "warm".  We also arranged for Sears to come do routine maintenance on our snowblower. 

Paul and I also went through our canned goods, purging any expired ones, cleaning and sorting.  This was not planned; the upper shelf of our Lazy Susan base cabinet shifted down, needing an adjustment, which Paul took care of.  But I have been meaning to go through it, so all was good.  The trick is to use up all of the duplicates I found and didn't realize I had - how much coconut milk can one person accumulate?!  I see Thai food in our future, maybe some Indian or Caribbean as well.  We are well stocked in vegetable soup for the winter.  It feels good to have that done. 

Sadly, there is a frost predicted for tonight.  So I went out and collected the last of the herbs before they are frozen.  Surprisingly, in spite of some pretty cold and awful weather in the past month, three herbs survived: rosemary, oregano, and parsley.  In keeping with my international cooking, I will also need to make some recipes that use parsley and oregano (Italian, anyone?!).  The rosemary I plan on using to make a rosemary hair rinse (link to holistichabits video/prep instructions here).  Rosemary is great for the hair, and has aromatherapy benefits as well, which apparently one will smell while prepping the hair rinse.

Left to right: rosemary, parsley, oregano

Michaelmas Party and New Harp Inaugural (Part II - The Dress and The Party!)

There were many moving parts to this party.  Besides the sewing, there was music to be learned and practiced, a hairstyle to be gotten, and food and decorations.  Paul, was an angel, and helped me so much with party set up and as our butler!

I had a special braided style done by Crowning Glory Braiding.

The table beforehand.

This time I have the right dimensioned tablecloth!

The new baby - cherry wood, with a cherry blossom motif

Here I am with the new harp.  

(Excuse the wrinkles in my dress - 

photo taken after I played for the ladies.)

And here are the Tea Ladies!

We had a lovely time.

Michaelmas Party and New Harp Inaugural (Part I - Sewing)

A week ago, on September 29th, I had a Michaelmas Party at my house.  Michaelmas is the Feast of Saint Michael the Archangel (one of my favorite saints, and I say the Saint Michael prayer often: see here).  I had often heard this holiday mentioned in Jane Austen movies, and never really knew what it was.  I was vaguely aware that it was near the end of September. I was wanting a theme for a dinner I was planning for my Tea Ladies.  It was going to be a special dinner, because I wanted to debut my new folk harp, a Dusty Strings FH36S, which was due to arrive at the beginning of September.

So I put together a Michaelmas Party with a Jane Austen/harp theme.  I decided to make a new gown.  I had a nice yellow fabric that I was actually intending for a test pattern that I am involved in evaluating, but I wanted to do something simpler, so I used La Mode Bagatelle's Regency Wardrobe Pattern which I have had in my stash.  I also needed a set of stays that I could wear and still play the harp in, so I bought a Short Stays pattern and the kit from Redthreaded.

The dress pattern: 

I used the crossover bodice with short sleeves

The Redthreaded kit:

I liked this kit, and the owner was very helpful with my questions!

The finished stays

The sewing was rather rushed; as usual I was running out of time, literally sewing up until a half hour before the party.  It is only by the Grace of God (and the fancy-schmancy invisible zipper foot I bought years ago, especially for my machine) that my invisible zipper went in without a hitch. (Yes, I was completely historically inaccurate and used a zipper.  This dress was meant to be a quick costume, not a faithful reproduction.)  The hem I put in is probably The Worst Hem Ever.  Machine sewn with a big basting stitch setting, and horrible on the inside, But it passed muster on the outside.  I will go back and re-do it in the future.  

Stay tuned for Part II - The Finished Dress and The Party!

Summer Birdhouse

We found this gorgeous birdhouse on Etsy: A Country Way Shop.  It's really well made, and adds such a nice touch to the garden!

A Pepper Mill

My sister Barbara gave me this awesome pepper mill, part of a gift she and Jack got me as thanks for helping out with my adorable great-nephews this year.  It works spectacularly.  Here I am seasoning some gnocchi before baking in the oven (another Meez Meals prepped dinner).

Workouts With Personal Trainer/Sugar Addiction

I was going to title this, "The Elephant in the Room", tongue-in-cheek, but I am trying to bring more positivity into my life, especially around body image.  It has recently dawned on me, in a BIG way (no pun intended) that I really need to take the difficult steps involved in promoting my own health.

My winter and spring consisted of: feeling unmotivated, not exercising, getting sick at least three times between November 2016 and now (some related to CIRS, but more on that later), and eating horribly, but with sporadic attempts to set myself right.  I would get on a good path, but then feel deflated and unmotivated.  Some of this may be due to feeling depressed.  I have been taking supplements to help this, but the whole exercise piece was missing.  So I stumbled along, knew I was gaining weight, knew I wasn't feeling well even when I wasn't officially sick.  And let's just say that my approach to sugar, ice cream, and candy bars is (and hopefully - was), like that of an addict.

I finally had the courage to step on the scale - shocking.  I know my clothes weren't fitting well, but, you know, tomorrow. I had been thinking of booking some sessions with a personal trainer months ago, but wanted to wait until after Portland.  Then I got super sick, and did nothing.  But eat.

Recently, I watched some YouTube videos on fitness and lifestyle.  I became motivated to try once again to get a handle on this.  In a stroke of luck, I received a free trainer session from the health club since it is my birthday month.  I signed up, was able to choose my trainer online (which was hard, but thankfully I picked one I match well with), and set up the first session.

The first session was mostly evaluation of my strength, flexibility, diet, etc.  Then she had me stand on this diagnostic fitness tool called "In Body":

The In Body told us my weight, which I already knew was up there, my total body fat percentage, my muscle mass, and some other stuff that I wasn't really tuned into (too focused on the first three).  In a nutshell, my fat percentage is too high, and my muscle mass is too low.  It was a lot worse than I thought it would be.  We talked about diet and sugar, and a lot of other stuff.  Ultimately in the end I signed up for a series of sessions.  

I have been exercising every day, even if it is just a walk throughout the neighborhood.  I figured out a .75 mile distance and do that when I don't go to the health club.  And I have stopped treats for now, with the exception of a little bit of nice, dark chocolate (Wei of Chocolate Dark Creamy, sweetened with coconut blossom sugar), and I had a little bit of Tyler's chocolate cake the other night at a restaurant.  I also had ordered some prepped meals from Meez Meals (Mise en Place).  That helped so much with cooking - most of the prep is all done.  I also saw a product on YouTube to add to my smoothies in the morning that seems to help with the cravings.  I am going to go through the fridge, freezer, and pantry over the next few days, and get all set up to promote proper diet. 

So I think I am on the right track.  My trainer worked me very hard today, but I felt great afterwards.  And it is easier to feel positive when one is doing positive things!

Vegan Substitute for Bone Broth

My posting has suffered due to illness.  I won't go into all of it, other than to say that I never fully recovered from a cold in March, and then was basically sidelined for two weeks recently, feeling awful, only meeting the barest of obligations.  But I am finally on the mend again (tired of being sick all the time - what an awful fall and winter I have had!)

I keep hearing about bone broth and how good it is for you.  The trouble is - we're vegetarians.  A while back, I found this recipe for a "Gut-Healing Broth".  The woman who wrote the post brings up some good points:

• Nutrients and electrolytes in bone broth can be found in vegan-friendly sources
• The body makes its own collagen 
• Our bodies can’t even digest collagen whole; rather, we simply absorb the nutrients from our food which provides our bodies with the building blocks it needs to naturally create collagen
• Eating collagen does not equal having more collagen
• Healing the stomach lining can be done in other ways
• The calcium, potassium and other minerals found in bone broth are more than easy to find in plant-based foods plus they contain much, much more goodness

I made this broth.  It had lots of ingredients.  It used coconut aminos instead of tamari or soy sauce, which was interesting (I found the coconut aminos at Whole Foods).  I added Himalayan salt to it (it needed it!).  It had a very strong taste.  I made a big batch and froze a lot of it, parceling out small doses each day of the small Ziploc bagful that I didn't freeze.  I haven't thawed any out since, but will this week.  I just saw an interesting talk on "leaky gut" which inspired me to be more cognizant of this.  

Ingredients all prepped and ready to go

Cooking, after which the brother would be strained.

Portland Photos At Last!

These photos are from our trip to Portland in April.  We did much more sightseeing this time (previous visit was setting Robert up in a new apartment when he first moved there).  As before, all of the food was marvelous.  Portland restaurants can't be beat!

Fabulous view on the look-out

Ty and Me goofing off

These are from the Crystal Rhododendron Garden:

SOMA Kombucha - Yum!

On the way to the falls - what a view!

These are all from Multnomah Falls - Beautiful: