Month: July 2025

I’m going to undertake the horrific job of finally cleaning the inside of my amazing Breville Smart Oven.

This post will be mostly “before” photos, with “after” to be posted at a later date, whenever it’s finished to my liking.

We’ve had the oven since 2019, have been using it almost daily since 2020, and I’ve only attempted to clean it out once; about 2 years ago. Let me show you.

Oh, there’s more. If 5 years of cooked on yuck bothers you, you may want to go on about your day. Otherwise, check the next photos out, and say a few prayers that I can follow Max’s instructions, and get this beauty back to at least a “gently used” designation.

Underneath all of those spots is the oven light. Haven’t seen that in forever. I imagine it’s like folks that develop cataracts, and the light they can see diminishes gradually over time. As I have the overhead kitchen lights on anytime I’m using the oven, I really didn’t notice- until I decided to try cleaning it out. Wow!!!

This photo is looking up at the “ceiling” so to speak, at the heating elements, and the front edge of the oven. WOW. Now can you see why I need your prayers?

Lastly, the next photo just shows the front bottom of the oven. The crinkly stuff is actually aluminum foil. Some say the crumb tray shouldn’t be lined with aluminum, that it supposedly “ruins” the oven. I’ve never found that to be so. I’m going to continue to do it.

That’s as much as I can stomach for today. I’ll show you the results when I have them. Again, prayers are gratefully appreciated.

Until next time, stay happy, and healthy in the Lord.

I made pineapple popsicles tonight.

Four of them. How exciting. I haven’t made popsicles since our grandkids were small. That’s been awhile I can tell you.

I had some pineapple left from that big beautiful pineapple I bought a few weeks ago, and had a space just the right size for a few glasses of popsicle stuff.

I blended up some pineapple, (I’ll post the recipe at the end of the post), added the sugar, and lime juice, and boiled it for 15 minutes. Then, I put it in a rectangular storage container, then in the fridge to cool down. After 30ish minutes, I blended the mixture with evaporated milk, Chantilly cream, a pinch of salt, and a teaspoon of vanilla. Poured that into 4 Glade candle glasses, and they are in the freezer as I’m typing this. In an hour I will put popsicle sticks in the cups, and let them freeze overnight.

I’ll let you know how they turn out, but I can tell you already that the mixture is so gently sweet, with a nice bit of pineapple flavor. Yummy.

Until next time, stay happy, and healthy in the Lord.

popsicles in the making.

I have a plant called Orbea Variegata, or Carrion plant, that needed quite a bit of attention.

So, I trimmed it all back, left the cut stems out to dry for a few days, and have repotted several of them together with a couple of other succulents, all in a container I bought a couple of years ago for this very purpose. Let me show you what I did.

This is how it looks today, but I’m going to change it up a bit over the next few days to include more of the succulents needing attention.

Until then, stay happy, and healthy in the Lord.

Recently we’ve enjoyed a much appreciated cooler, and rainier season.

We’ve been sitting at our tv trays in several layers of clothing- something we haven’t done for months. We even put the springtime duvet on the bed, but with the winter weight comforter inside. The thunder, at times, was deafening.

Those few weeks are at an end my friends. The temperature, for the last few days has been back in the upper 70’s, with a blue, essentially cloudless sky. We have gone from rain all day long, starting 2 weeks ago, to rain only at night, though with significantly high winds. Several branches were down in the park even.

One evening, also 2 weeks ago, I thought I could out walk the storm I could see coming, and just about made it. I was on the last 3 minutes of my routine when the skies opened up with a vengeance. I was soaked to my skin by the time I got in the apartment. I even had a light raincoat on. I had to take a shower to warm up.

Anyway, we’re back to normal hot, sunny weather, and I’m ever grateful. I have recently purchased several spaghetti strapped tops, and “yoga” shorts, with side pockets to wear on my walks, and they weren’t getting much use. They are now.

This is 2 days of walking my 2k routine between 11am and 2pm. I’m not as red as it appears in the photo.
Until next time, stay happy, and healthy in the Lord.

I have to show you a couple of plants I have recently noted on my walks.

The first one is a beautiful, large cactus outside a house on the first part of my walk. Here it is.

The cactus is actually about 4’ tall, and a foot wide. It’s stunning. As it ages, the spines become sharp but until then they are covered with plant material.

And here are a couple of tomato plants, planted inside the frame of sticks where it shares space with a bigger plant, though I don’t know what it is. I keep an eye on it every day I walk. They’re doing quite well at this writing.

Until next time, stay happy, and healthy in the Lord.

Post script: in case you’re interested, today I’ve started my 7th decade of life. Praying for however much more time I’m going to be given, and that I can live every day to the fullest. Thank you Lord.

I started the morning with a wonderful walk around the park, virtually pain free.

I had done my exercises in the morning, did some stretches, so out the door I went. The walk was only 1km but it was an amazing walk, the best I’ve had in months. I was actually able to enjoy everything around me, the sights, the smells. All the direct results of having had diarrhea for 3 days, having now lost a total of 9.8 kilos, was this amazing lighter than air 15 minutes.

I spent some time on my computer, some time in the kitchen, you get the idea. It was about 2pm so, time for the second walk. I did a few minutes of stretching, nothing much, ended up changing into shorts, a light top, and a knee length cover up. (There was a good breeze.)

I walked the 0.65km to a small market, not the one I usually go to, bought a few staples, and had turned around to leave the store when

that was all she wrote.

The ground started moving underneath my feet, my eyes started darting back, and forth, I became nauseated, and started sweating. If you’ve never experienced these symptoms, they are, for me, the beginning of my dizzy spells.

I made it down the steps in front of the store, across the normally busy street, though it wasn’t so at that moment, (gosh, I wonder why?! TYJ!!!) then on my way the rest of the 1/2km to the apartment. I kept praying “please, just get me home,” “please, just get me home”. He did. Thank you Jesus.

It took forever, or so it seemed, to get home, but once I got into the building, no one was in the reception area. I staggered to the elevator, got in, got upstairs, and into the apartment. Ivan called out asking if I was ok, (why? Why do you think? TYJ!!!) I called out to him that I wasn’t, please come quick. He knows “that sound” in my voice from years of experience, and was at my side in seconds.

He took my hands, and guided me back to the bathroom as I am always so close to vomiting, and have such a strong sense of losing control of my bowels that I always head to the bathroom first.

After a few minutes of rest, he was able to peal off my clothes which, at that point, were absolutely soaked with sweat, and stuck to me like a second skin. It was as if I had gotten caught in the rain. I told him later I was the rain.

He helped me stagger to bed, tucked me in, got my CPAP on, and let me sleep for awhile. It saps all of my energy when I have these episodes, though I haven’t had one like this, we call this type a “full blown” episode, for quite awhile, thank God. I have occasional “mini” episodes that, if I can catch them at the beginning, before they get out of hand, I experience minimal symptoms as aforementioned.

With this one, however, I had no premonition it was lurking in the shadows. It hit me head on, and didn’t care a bit that I had to walk .65km to get help. It came on, and didn’t stop until it wanted to.
But it did stop. I’m fine. I’m tired, and after this post I’m going to bed.

Until next time, stay happy, and healthy in the Lord.

I finally did it.

I made a single batch of dill pickles. I’m trying to ignore them as I want them to be exactly right when I open them. I’ve never made dill pickles before, and have no idea if they’ll be any good, but I’m hoping for the best.

I had a few end pieces from the spears, and a bit of fresh red pepper so I put them in a jar as well. I think I’ll open the jar with the pieces by my birthday. I’ll let you know how they turned out. If they’re any good, I’ll post the recipe, as usual.

Until next time, stay happy and healthy in the Lord.

It happens when I’m praying in the mornings.

Sometimes, depending on how much sleep I’ve gotten the night before, I get distracted while praying the Rosary, and forget which Hail Mary I’m on. I noticed that every so often the man reading the Rosary, Jonathan Roumie, actually, (who plays Jesus in the amazing tv show The Chosen), adds a bit of emphasis at the beginning of the 5th prayer, as if he’s just come back from somewhere, and is newly energized. If I’m paying any kind of attention, I can get back in sync with the prayers.

For those who don’t pray the Rosary, or know much about it, it contains 5 decades, which contain 10 Hail Mary’s, hence the term decade. Before each decade is a mystery, of which there are 4 specific mysteries: Glorious, Joyous, Luminous, and Sorrowful. So, a different mystery is prayed each day, but within the mystery category, there are 5 specific readings given. Very quickly, let me explain a bit more.

For example, 0n Tuesdays, and Fridays we pray the Sorrowful mysteries which are 1) The Agony in the Garden, 2) The Scourging at the Pillar, 3) The Crowning with Thorns, 4) The Carrying of the Cross, and 5) The Crucifixion. So each mystery has a short reading, and what “the fruit of this mystery” entails, then on to the Hail Mary’s.

Before each decade we pray the Our Father, and afterwards, the Glory Be, the Fatima Prayer, (given to three children in Fatima, Portugal in 1917 by the Holy Mother herself), then the next mystery, and then the 10 Hail Mary’s. It takes about 30 minutes, provided the internet is cooperating, plus I listen to Jonathan at 1.5x the normal speed. The “normal” speed is absolutely intolerable to me. However, I look forward to the 5th Hail Mary of many of the decades I pray. It’s just enough of a jolt that it wakes me up. Every time it happens to me it makes me chuckle, as if God is telling me to pay more attention to my prayers.

So I do. Who am I to argue with God?!

Until next time, stay happy, and healthy in the Lord.

I’m praying this isn’t going to become an annual “week before my next birthday” sickness.

If you’ve read any of my last few posts you’ll know that I’ve been ill for the past several days. Last year, mere days before my birthday, I/we developed what I am absolutely, for sure, positive, (without physical scientific evidence, but really, who needs that these days, right?) was CoVid. We were days in bed, out of bed, sleeping where we could, when we could, if we could.

This isn’t quite so violent, thank you Jesus. This is more of a summer cold, or something like that. Allergies don’t usually come with fever, muscle aches, joint pain, and fatigue. I have most of the same symptoms as last year without the severity of it all.

The worst part? Three days of diarrhea! Seriously? Is that absolutely necessary, with all of the fever, and chills? This has been my B/L/D for 2 days now.

Please, send a prayer my way, if you will. I will certainly appreciate it, and so will Ivan. (He hovers when I’m not well, though I’d rather be left alone.) I will never tell him to leave me alone in my pity, as someday one of us will be alone, and in pity.

Until next time, please, stay happy, and healthy in the Lord.

I have to tell you that I started the day as I normally do, but something felt “off”.

I can’t really remember, exactly, what was off, but it was something that was normally of no notice.

I putzed around the kitchen, and living room for a bit, then finally got down to my prayer routine. Still, nothing to speak of, but definitely a lack of energy, or motivation.

I was only able to walk 2x today, both very short walks, the first time was after prayers, but before eating breakfast, around 9:35am. I was able to walk all of 13 minutes, for .45 km. Yippee. The second time was later in the day, at 12:54pm, when I got all the way to 5.0 km, which took 16 minutes.

I knew something wasn’t right. I came home, did some playing of my computer games, Vita Solitaire, and Vita Mahjong, (which I know for a fact is nothing like “real”mahjong, but it’s amazingly fun to play). Really, nothing much.

So, about 45 minutes ago it hit me, as if someone hit me with a brick to my back. At the moment it’s 8:39pm, and I have begun a fever, no chills yet, but total body muscle aches, even my skin hurts. I took Ibuprofen 800mg when I got up this morning, and about 30 minutes ago. I’ve had to take the same 2, possibly 3 days in a row so I should have seen this coming. Come to think about it, I’ve been sneezing all day today, yesterday as well. Well duh!!!

I’m watching The Chosen, then, immediately after that the Aftershow, and then the Bible Roundtable, all discussing different aspects of each episode. If you haven’t seen any of what I just described to you, you owe it to yourself, and those you love, to connect, or reconnect with Jesus through the Chosen app. It has helped bring Jesus back into my life, bringing me back to reading the Bible daily, and bringing me back to daily devotionals in Jesus’ name. He never left me, I strayed from Him. Huge difference.

Download it, and watch all that I just told you for free. It will change your life. Well, that having been said, if an amazing change in your life, spiritual, and every other way possible, isn’t something you want, don’t watch it because that’s exactly what will happen to you if you do watch it. Guaranteed.

I’m going to bed as soon as my fever breaks because my face is going to explode.

Until next time, stay happy, and healthy in the Lord.