Month: January 2024

Cleaning.

I got so much sleep the other night that, when I got up, at about 10:30am, I was close to “raring to go”.

I had 2 cups of coffee, then I was raring to go.

I started at about 12:30pm, in the living room, just after a light breakfast, and didn’t stop until almost 6pm.

I’m sitting in front of our mid-sized TV that’s been in here for the past year, or so, but never used. At some point, actually, it was last year at Christmas time, I opened up the dining room table so I could decorate it. I never got around to putting the sides back down.

They’re down now. I’m hoping I can download the photo I took when I got finished with this area. I even cleaned the glass shelves on each side of the TV, though you won’t be able to see that. Just trust me that I did it.

I only have the 2 long, top shelves, and the other 2 shorter shelves left to clean. Hopefully I can get to them this afternoon, or, possibly tomorrow.

It’s still a work in progress, but it’s clean. I will soon have a bit more room to potentially do some low-key exercising. We’ll see.

Until next time, stay happy, healthy, and safe. Wash, cover, and protect yourselves.

Post script: I actually did this the next morning so I could get my legs underneath the table. I raised the table edge closest to me, and have it held up with the 2 large luggage pieces that we’ll probably never use again. Win, win. Back using the Mac mini M1 processor. It’s been awhile so I have to relearn tons of things. I love it!!!

I want to share something I discovered recently.

You may already know how great it tastes, but it was new to me.

Bananas, chocolate syrup, unsalted peanuts, and cinnamon.

We got a fresh container of cinnamon recently that is so much more flavorful than its predecessor as to be an entirely different spice. Just one shake of the container, and the kitchen is perfumed with the rick scent of cinnamon.

So, I break up the quite ripe, probably too ripe for the rest of you, banana, sprinkle the peanuts, drizzle the chocolate syrup, then give 4, or 5 good shakes of the cinnamon powder, and off I go. Happy as a lark. (I used to say happy as a clam, but I’m confused as to what that might feel like.)

According to NOOM, this whole concoction has only 296 calories. Yay for me. I’m not much into sweets, but this combo is my new after dinner go-to dessert.

Either that, or papaya with Chantilly cream on it. Another gently sweet dish I could eat every day. I can have 2 cups of papaya, with 4 Tbs. Chantilly cream for only 156 calories. I usually only eat 1 cup of the fruit, with the cream so it’s even less. I more of a carnivore.

Hope you’re enjoying the weather wherever you are, as we are here. It’s getting a bit warmer both day, and evening. Makes walking in the park so enjoyable.

Until next time, stay happy, healthy, and safe. Wash, cover, and protect yourselves. Please.

I slept almost 11 hours the other night.

I took 50 mg. of Benadryl at about 10:30pm, went to bed at about 12:30am, and listened to 30 minutes of Better Sleep™ green noise hypnosis once I got settled in bed.

I just got up, and it’s 10:50am!! That hasn’t happened since I can remember. I have a Benadryl hangover, which I dislike as much as an alcohol hangover, but without the upset stomach. It’s a win, of sorts.

I signed in to the Better Sleep™ app some time ago, hoping it would help with my inability to sleep, however, I have since discovered that one has to actually use the app for it to work.

That said, I have also discovered that one needs to use it for multiple nights in a row to “train” your brain, or possibly, in my case “trick” my brain into relaxing enough to allow me to sleep.

What an adventure.

I’ll let you know how it goes. Stay turned.

Until then, stay happy, healthy, and safe. Wash, cover, and protect yourselves.

How many countries in the world provide central heating, and air conditioning for family dwellings, do you think?

The US, and parts of Canada.

Almost every other country in the world needs to heat their homes, or a few rooms, or only one room at a time. They use gas, some use electricity, but almost no country uses “central” anything.

Here in Mexico, we use layers of clothing to warm ourselves. Some have electric heaters, as do we, though we never use them. Some have gas heaters, which have an actual flame, safety regulations are horrendous. Some have a small ”fireplace”, and I use the term very loosely, but most use some form of element to keep warm.

A few of the families we know actually sleep several people to a bed, covered by 2, 3, 4 layers of blankets. Imagine that. Trying to sleep with 3 other people in your full sized bed; not queen, or king, but full sized bed.

I won’t say that you should be grateful for the warmth you have when you wake up, and it’s 25ºF outside, and you have to shower, and/or shave before you dress, and go to work, but it’s actually 75ºF, just as you programmed your central heating to be when you get up. Think about getting up to 25ºF, and your house is actually 25ºF, and you have to shower, and/shave at that temperature.

We stay in bed until it’s about 60ºF. Period.

If you have to get up to pee in the night, well, that’s on you. You run to the bathroom, on the incredibly cold tile floor, do your business, run back to bed, and put your freezing feet on the legs of that amazing spouse next to you, with whom you sleep.

Until next time, stay happy, healthy, and safe. Wash, cover, and protect yourselves.

No clue how I did it, but do it, I did.

I was dozing one night recently, when, at about 2am, I made to roll onto my back from a slight tilt to my right side when a pain, such as I had never experienced, shot through my right shoulder, and down to my elbow. It had me fully awake, and crying out in said pain.

I tossed, and turned for several hours, trying to find a position comfortable enough to take another nap, finally getting up to take 800 mg. Ibuprofen.

About 6:30am I decided sleep was no longer an option so, after taking the above Ibuprofen, went looking for our elusive heating pad. It was right where I remembered seeing it, but I didn’t think it was complete. I actually had, for a moment, both the wrap, and the electrical cord in my hand. I thought, however, that there was more to it, so I put it back where it had been, and went whimpering, back to the bedroom.

I sat up, watched some YT vlogs, (Trek Trendy, my latest fav), had a cup of coffee, took another 400mg. Ibuprofen, when Ivan came in to help me. He went right to the wrap, and cord, brought them in for me, and get me settled in bed where I stayed for the next 3 hours.

I must have overextended my right shoulder, possibly by letting my right hand relax passed it’s normal range of motion whilst napping, lying tilted to the side. It’s the only thing I can understand that makes any sense. However it happened, I hope never to do that again.

I’m am up, sitting at my tray in the bedroom, trying to get up the courage to leave the wonderful heating pad aside for a bit, and go make some avocado toast. We’ll see. Time will tell.

Hmmm. Guess I won’t be able to do the laundry today. What a shame.

Happy birthday to my younger sister, Nancy. Many, many more mi querida.

Until next time, stay happy, healthy, and safe. Wash, cover, and protect yourselves.

Keep your arms inside the ride until the ride comes to a complete stop.

Post script: day 2; after having 4 doses of 800-1200mg Ibuprofen with hours, upon hours of heating pad use, I have significantly more ease of movement (about 40%) in my shoulder, and was even able to move enough to prep chicken, and veg to make more chicken soup tomorrow. Yay!!!

Post post script: on day 3, I have about 80% pain free movement in my shoulder; the only movement that really still hurts is lifting it straight up in front of me, as if reaching up into a cabinet. Or washing my face. Or combing my hair. Or putting on makeup. Or turning on the exhaust fan. Or hanging anything on the clothes line.

Note: for the foreseeable future, I will be posting Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays. I have enough already typed for the next couple of months. See you soon.

I discovered this recently, and had to pass it along.

We have a goodly supply of the plastic Rubbermaid Brilliance collection of food storage containers. These are the ones.

We have several different sizes as well. I like them because, if I drop one, or it slips out of my hands when I’m washing it, the glass doesn’t shatter everywhere.

I’m writing about this because, one day, this December past, I discovered some gunk under the black plastic locking mechanism, and could not get it clean to save my life.

I knew I could clean it if I could get the black mechanism off the lid, but couldn’t figure out how, without breaking something.

As it happened, I had a lid that I left too close to the kettle of water I was heating on the stove top (to wash the dishes), and the edge of the lid melted. As I was attempting to pry off the mechanism from a good lid, it hit me that, just maybe, I should try removing it from the damaged lid. (I just love aha moments.) So I did just that. Here is what it looked like.

If you look closely, you can see, on the top piece, the locking mechanism, that the right side is open, while the left is closed. I took a flat headed screw driver, and pried up in the middle of the mechanism. Since I had never done this before, I had no idea what would happen.

As luck would have it, the whole thing popped off; the lid, and locking mechanism both unharmed. So, I did the same prying up of the yucky mechanism, this time with the emphasis on the right side of it, and boop, off it came. So now, I have a clean lid, and 2 new locking mechanisms to put somewhere for safe keeping.

Thought someone might find this helpful. Hope so.

Until next time, stay happy, healthy, and safe. Wash, cover, and protect yourselves.

I know that January of each new year embodies the idea of changing past foibles for new, exciting foibles in the making.

I dislike thinking about all of the foibles I have that need changing. I’m only going to give thought to a few; at a time. Ever.

Starting out, I am going to get out of the apartment, a few times a week, at least, and go for a walk. I don’t care where, I just need to get out of here. I need to see the sun, and hear bird song.

Next, we are going to find thrift stores, a second hand shops, here in the city, and get rid of all of the stuff we no longer need, or want. I am so tired of shuffling these, and those, over here, then over there. We just keep stirring the pot of “things”.

When we lived in the States, it was so easy to take things to our local Salvation Army, Goodwill stores, or as charity donations. Here, I have to search to find a few stores within a decent distance. I’m hoping for the best.

That’s enough to start the new year. It will probably take me 6 months to start either of them.

Until next time, stay happy, healthy, and safe. Wash, cover, and protect yourselves.

We’re going to do it.

Soon.

Eventually.

Seriously.

No, really.

We’re going to start decluttering, and cleaning the apartment. We need to do a few things first, kind of the “domino effect”, if you will.

We need to get control of our storage space on the roof. It’s a mess.

I believe that once we have the space for our things up there, we will see a huge decrease in the mess in our apartment.

That, and getting rid of the things we no longer use, need, or care for, will be such a relief. Less is more. We are going to adopt the ideology.

Seriously.

Until next time, stay happy, healthy, and safe. Wash, cover, and protect yourselves.

Post script: don’t hold your breath waiting for the apartment to be as we envisioned it. Just saying.

I am going to take you with me, on a journey around the park where I walk. It’s just across the street from our condo.

Mind you, as I am typing this it’s the beginning of December, and we are in the midst of another season of blooming plants. So very different from the growing cycle of the US.

As a matter of fact, last month all of the jacaranda trees were in bloom. Google jacaranda, and then look at some of the older posts I have with photos of them. They’re everywhere here, and they add an exceptional beauty to the city.

There are places in the park, however, that are clearly sparse, without any ground vegetation whatsoever. First, I’ll show you a photo of the Google map of El Parque de las Montañas. Then, I’ll follow with several photos I took a while ago, when I started walking again. (Actually, I took these on 12/06/23.) The sky was overcast so you won’t get much color punch, but you can see how I saw these amazingly beautiful plants. IN DECEMBER. (Sorry. I get a bit carried away with the vegetation here.)

As I go through this blog, and edit it, it brings such a smile to my face. Looking at the park, from your perspective, makes me want to get over there, and take more photos, or even a video of the magnificence I see when I’m there.

Would you be interested in seeing a video of the park while I’m walking through it? It takes me anywhere from 11 to 15 minutes to walk through it, depending on how often I stop to take photos, or stretch.

Until next time.

Stay happy, healthy, and safe. Wash, cover, and protect yourselves.

Post script: at some point I’ll video the walk around, post it, and if you don’t want to watch it, you are certainly not obligated to do so.

I stopped exercising a few weeks ago, when wee got sick, just before Christmas.

Wrong move.

Well, I couldn’t exercise when I was not feeling well, because it drained the little bit of strength I had.

I bumped into the edge of a counter yesterday, and had the same shot of electricity through my back that I used to have before I started with the back strengthening exercises I had been doing.

So, it’s back to the floor I go. Not sure when I’m going to restart, but restart I must. It was so nice, walking around without pain in my lower back, again proving that you don’t know what you’ve got till it’s gone.

I’ll let you know how it goes. Until then, stay happy, healthy, and safe. Wash, cover, and protect yourselves.