Grandma's 99th Birthday!

The weekend before Thanksgiving was Grandma's 99th birthday!  That is something to celebrate for sure so I jumped in my car and made my way down to St. George.  I got there in time to meet for lunch at Applebee's, one of Grandma's favorite lunch places.  I was lucky to catch Marsha in town too!

Grandma was just so cute and excited to celebrate.  Her favorite was her chocolate sundae though.

After lunch, we went back to Grandma's room to open birthday gifts.  She loves gifts!  I gave her some flowers.  She also got a cute blouse, book, and Marsha made her a photo book which was really cute.  After gifts, she wanted to read and bit and we visited and worked on her puzzle.

 I stayed in St. George at the Cliff Inn.  It was bought by new owners and fully remodeled over the last few years.  The rooms are beautiful and they each have a balcony that looks over St. George.  We also enjoyed dinner at the Cliff Restaurant.  It is by far my most favorite restaurant in St. George.  It is so delicious but I am going to keep it secret because I don't want it to get any more crowded and difficult to get into.

Day view from my room

The night view from my room

As if it couldn't get any better, I got a free room service breakfast delivered to my room.  It had a fruit and yogurt parfait, orange juice, and a fresh sweetroll pastry.  I also had a Keurig in the room with hot chocolate.  It was perfect....I mean terrible because I want to be able to get into this hotel again.  :-)

On my way out of town, I met Marsha, Dan, and Mom at the coffee shop in La Verkin.  It is right on the edge of the Virgin River.  I had a Chai Latte (a hug from inside) and we had a great visit catching up and hearing of Dan's adventures.

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And before I knew it, it was time to head back to Salt Lake and reality.  I really enjoyed seeing Grandma and celebrating her 99 years!

Happy Birthday Grandma!

Carolina Beach weekend

I'm a little behind in my blogging!  Let me go back to my weekend with Nola and Jennie at Carolina Beach!  Each year, we get together at Carolina Beach for a scrapbooking retreat.  At least it has been a tradition the last few years.   I flew directly from Baltimore to Raleigh to get together with Nola.

Nola was great and picked me up at the airport and then we went to her house.  I couldn't wait to get there as they are remodeling their kitchen and I couldn't wait to see it.  I also was anxious to see Gregg.  It has been so long since I saw him.  In regular fashion, the Zarnstorff's were excellent hosts and I enjoyed our quick visit.  On Friday, Nola and I packed up our car for the ride to the beach.  Jennie decided to join us this year so she met up with us for the ride.  It was about 3 hours ride to the beach.

We stay in the Marriott that is right on the beach.  Each room faces the ocean and has a balcony with the wonderful sweeping views.

We got set up in the scrapbooking room (a huge conference room) and got settled in before going to dinner at Surf House.  Surf House has become another tradition for us.  We love the freshly sourced seafood and my favorite item is the shrimp and grits.  While they changed their recipe slightly, the taste is still fantastic!

Saturday, we spent some time scrapbooking but in the afternoon, Nola suggested we walk on the boardwalk.  Last year, they had it all dug out but this year it was all done and simply wonderful.  We enjoyed swinging on the swings that face the ocean.  We were talking and laughing and having a great time.

After sitting there a bit, I asked Nola and Jennie if they would help me try to walk on the sand...and they agreed!!  I really struggle to walk on any surfaces that are not firm.  Sand has proven to be a huge problem for me and it really throws off my balance and I get stuck but Nola and Jennie were very patient with me and helped me get my feet in the sand.  It was absolutely thrilling!!!

Me in the sand!

Sandy toes

That night, we went to Little Dipper.  It is a fondue place that I've heard about over the years.  Jennie found it when she was living in Wilmington for her internship at Corning.  I was fascinated and totally loved it.

Downtown Wilmington.  So cute!!

Check out the jelly fish in the aquarium at the Little Dipper!

Our delicious food.

Sadly, before I knew it, it was Sunday afternoon and time to head back to Raleigh to catch my flight home.  It is always hard to end our fun weekend but I really enjoyed it and I know we will do it again. On top of all the fun, I got 15 scrapbook pages done too!  Not a huge accomplishment but it was fun and I am happy with what we did.  Thanks for a great weekend Nola and Jennie.  Until next time!

Baltimore/Johns Hopkins visit

Last week, I had a follow up appointment at Johns Hopkins.  I can't believe it came around so quickly!  I timed it out so I could head to Baltimore on  my way to Nola's for a visit.  I flew to Baltimore the day before my appointment.  I didn't go explore much but I did head to my hotel and got settled in.  I picked up a great deal on a hotel on Priceline and ended up at Hotel Monaco in the downtown area. It really was a beautiful hotel with lots of character and charm.  I decided to have dinner in the hotel so I could rest my muscles and my mind and be ready for the next day.

Inside Hotel Monaco.  Look at that architecture!

The menu was....weird.  So I ended up with a cheddar and stout fondue
with in house made chips.   It was...zesty and a real heart stopper but it was yummy.

I ate during happy hour so wine was $4 and appetizers
were $8 (see above photo).  Don't mind if I do.  Seeing the
groups there reminded me of my years of business travel.

In the  morning, I got up super early because my appointment was at 8:00 am sharp.  So I was up and at 'em.  I had a rental car so I checked out of the hotel and started heading towards the hospital.  It was cloudy and overcast in the morning.

The bay.  I'm getting pretty familiar with this area!  It is my preferred
place to stay in Baltimore and is about 10 minutes from Johns Hopkins.

As you drive down "Eastern Avenue", you drive past all these brownstone homes and through historical towns.  Germantown, Little Italy, and even a hispanic area.  It was interesting to see Moms trying to navigate the "city" to get their kids to school.  Lots of people bustling around.  I thought these lighted decorations across the street in Little Italy were very cool.  It reminds me of growing up in Kaysville. We had street decorations similar.

And then I pull into Johns Hopkins campus.  The Myositis
center is at the Bayview Center.  I think it is one of many Johns Hopkins facilities.

The Myositis center is in building 301 which is on the side of the older
hospital.  There brilliant minds in there that help us Myositis patients
when no one else can help.

 I had a good visit.  I was very nervous because I started with both physical therapy and occupational therapy.  I had a flight out later in the day so I was very concerned I would get too worn out to travel and make it through the weekend activities.  But both therapists were great.

The occupational therapist did a pretty thorough evaluation of my movement and limitations.  We mostly focused on my hands.  Part of the issue with IBM is lost of strength and function at the finger tips.  I have significant loss of strength but they were amazed I could still do things like doing up buttons, picking things up from a counter top, and cooking!  We talked about the importance of keeping whatever strength I have so I can maintain independent living.  I agree whole heartedly!!  So we worked with theraputty.  They gave me a bunch of exercises to work with which was perfect.

Then I met with the physical therapist.  We spent a bit more time evaluating where I was.  I had to walk as quick as I could for 2 minutes.  Much to my surprise, I was able to do 2.5 laps around the office.  I was also timed in going from sitting to up and walking and turn around and back to sitting.  This  was  hard for me.  Then we went to work on some exercises.  We mainly focused on my core (tummy) muscles becuase there are basically none.  He gave me some very easy exercises to do to start to build my core muscles and "reengage their memory".  We also worked on some ankle exercises and tricept exercises (those are traditionally non existent for IBM patients as well).  And then we spent lots of time talking about my current work out and fine tuning that.

After all that therapy, I met with Dr. CS.  She was very busy and running way behind with a hard stop time for a luncheon so she wasn't the most relaxed but felt good about how I was doing.  She did some muscle measurements and discovered I have pretty much maintained over the last 6 months which is good.  We talked more about how my disease is not typical and there is probably a reason why but we don't know that yet.  They are still learning the basics about Myositis.  She indicated here was a clinical trial for IBM that she would love to see me in but I do not qualify due to my cancer history.  But because she is part of the trial team, she wants to help me with any learnings they come up with.  So she asked that I come back in a year so we can catch up.  She is also very interested in my DNA and blood to do research on.  So I provided another vial for comparison to the vial they collected in January.  Wouldn't it be exciting if they made further discoveries based on my DNA!

After my visit, I took a small flight out of Baltimore to Raleigh.  It was wonderful because we flew low enough that I could really see the countryside.  I couldn't help but take photos.

Flying out of Baltimore.  Bye Maryland.

I missed the memo on how to live my life on the water complete
with a private boat dock.  It is fun to dream what that would be like.

I was fascinated by the clouds we flew by and around.  They were light and fluffy and stood still as we pierced them or went by.  I took a few photos just to remind myself how surreal they were.

Trying new things - Uber Driver

In October, I got a crazy idea to take my new car and make it work for me.  So I signed up to be an Uber Driver.  It is a fairly vetted process.  I had to send in information, go through a background check, send in my insurance and registration, and have an in person car inspection.  Right before Halloween,  I was approved as a driver!

It wasn't even a full day before I started hearing reports in other cities of safety issues for both drivers and riders.  And the reality of what it meant to let a stranger in the car became very real.  So I didn't drive but I gave it lots of thought.  My intent was to drive people like me. Business travelers who need a lift to the airport or from their business to the dinner restaurant.  What I didn't want was large groups of partiers or drunk people.  Clearly no creeps allowed!

And then time went on.  They mainly communicate via text message so I would get messages how they need drivers or that so many days have past without me driving. My account was threatened to be cancelled.

Today I went into the office to work.  I was dressed for business and was downtown.  So after work, I decided to turn on my application and see if I could pick up a ride.  It wasn't more than a few minutes before I was alerted that I had a rider.  It was "Jason".  He was a business man from California that comes to Salt Lake for business on a regular basis.  He needed a ride to the airport.  It was quick and it was easy.  He was friendly and we talked about business travel and Uber.  I didn't have the guts to tell him he was my first ride but I did tell him I was newer at it.  I dropped him off at Terminal 2 and decided I would see if I could pick up a ride at the airport back to town.  I circled the terminals again but didn't get a ride so I left and drove to Costco to do some shopping.  In those 10 minutes I was a "Driver for Hire", It showed I made $15!  Not too shabby.

As I drove to Costco, I was in some not so grand area so I turned off my availability.  I got a message asking to confirm I wanted to turn it off because I was 20 minute shy of an hour. I didn't know what that meant so I shut off.  What I learned later is Uber takes a cut of commission (30%) for new drivers.  And part time drivers get even more of a cut.  And if you don't do a minimum of 50 minutes out of 60, you get another cut.  And you must average at least 1 drive per hour.  Also, I am learning you might need to spend time driving to a location to get a ride and then you can drive around for awhile before  you may or may not get a ride.  While my first trip was an easy trip, not all will be that way and I don't know if it is worth it to get all those cuts and handle all those rules and restrictions.

I'm glad I tried it.  My first ride was friendly and easy.  Not sure if I will repeat.  We will see.

What a difference 40 lbs makes!!

Today I am making my way to Baltimore for a follow up appointment at Johns Hopkins.   I've not traveled alone since this time last year.  And uncharacteristic to me, I've not traveled at all by plane since June!!  While I have not lost much weight since July (we can blame dating and lack of willpower), the good news is I have not gained either.  Anyway, I was a little nervous about flying to Baltimore alone.

I tease that I have body dysmorphia because I just don't see the 40 lbs gone. Yes I notice my face is not as round.  I also notice my clothes don't fit. I really didn't plan on buying new clothes yet because I hope to continue to lose weight.  But I am really sick of jeans that fall off and t-shirts that drown me.  I also have a few smaller things in my closet that now seem in the realm of fitting.   This is pretty exciting but when I look in the mirror, I simply don't see it.  Well today, I decided to walk all the way to the D10 gate myself. And I did it without a break.  I don't use escalators or moving sidewalks as it throws off my balance.    In Baltimore, there was not a wheelchair waiting for me so I walked that too.  And I did it without feeling like I was going to pass out.  I was able to stand 15 minutes to wait for the car rental bus!!!  No sweat.

So I finally bought some new jeans that fit and don't fall off when I walk.  Just one pair but it has been a long time since I had jeans that hugged my body and fit.  It was pretty nice.  And when I sat in my seat on the plane, I didn't have to break a sweat to fasten the seat belt!!! In fact, I had room to spare!!   I also noticed I fit in the seat better.  What a nice surprise!

I hope to keep losing weight but I'm going to take the holidays off and then hit it hard again in January.   If I could double my loss, I would be ecstatic!!  I don't know if that is feasible but I believe in "reach" goals.

Tomorrow is Johns Hopkins and then flying to Raleigh for a visit with Nola and Jennie.   I can't wait! I'm of course going to see Gregg too!   Another update to come soon.

Going full circle -- Kitten Nursery Style

Besides working at the Kitten Nursery, I am sometimes called to come do office work at the Adoption Center.  The front of the Pet Adoption Center (PAC) is all about the animals with kennels of cats, cat enrichment rooms, and kennels of dogs.  There are a few kennels of kittens that you know came from the nursery but by the time they are old enough to adopt, it is almost impossible to remember which group they were from the nursery.  There was one in the "kitten enrichment" room that I remember because she is a tortie with a line right down the middle of her nose, orange on one side and black on the other.  Always fun to see the fruit of our labors.

Then in the back is all business.  There are open cubicles of workers, a large conference room, smaller huddle rooms, supply rooms, laundry room, break room, and then in the back  is a bulk supply area and staging area.

Well I was working the late afternoon doing some computer work.  There are tons of kittens out at foster homes and apparently, tomorrow is spay and neuter day so 6 groups of kittens were brought in for surgery tomorrow.  I couldn't possibly keep working with kittens coming in left and right.  Beautiful kittens that all came from the nursery but I have no idea who most of them are.  The good news is they are now old enough to be touched and the clean procedures that are so critical in the nursery are no  longer necessary.  So that means I can touch them with bare hands!!!  I had so much fun petting the kittens and even holding some.  Towards the end of the day, a man brought in a group of 3.  I hear him say they are "foster failing" (adopting their foster) one of them...maybe two.  So I was teasing with Jen that "foster fail" is bound to happen.  As we were talking, she pulled the foster fail kitten out.  Guess who it was....VANILLA ICE!  She let me hold him.  Just like when he was in the nursery, he still likes being tipped upside down and have his belly and face rubbed.  But he is big.  And he is wiggly and wanted to play.  I tried my hardest to get a photo of him but he would NOT hold still.  I still just loved holding and loving on him.  That is exactly what I needed to remind me why I've spent my summer volunteering cleaning poop, shoving gruel in them, and dealing with over 1,500 kittens.

Here is a photo comparison for you.  I wanted this kitty really bad myself but seeing his new "dad" was a great reward.  I'm not surprised they foster failed because Vanilla Ice is the BOMB.

Vanilla Ice 10/4 at the Kitten Nursery

Vanilla Ice 11/4 ready to be neutered and then to his forever home.

A few more weeks left until the Kitten Nursery closes for the season.  I can't wait to hear  how  many we helped over the summer.  I'm sure I will be back in March when they open again for 2016.  Although it is hard work, it is also very rewarding.

And we are off the market

This weekend, my listing on my house has ended.  I've extended the listing a few times but as October comes to a close, so has my interest in continuing to sale the house.  We really tried.  I've done countless price drops and ended up at $399,900.  Friday, I had a couple very interested in the house.  They spent almost an hour in the house.  The agent said they loved it and needed over night to consider it.  It was their first home purchase.  I patiently waited.  I didn't hear anything.  So today we are done.  I can't feel too bad.  We probably had 50 groups through over the last 2.5 months.  I've had 3 offers that all fell through.  It has to be timing because my house is cute.

So I am settling in and getting ready to slob out a bit.  I can't wait to cook in the kitchen, leave some messes around, and not make the bed each morning.  I'm quite disappointed but just not interested in dropping my price further.  I'm tired of the fire drill of getting ready to show it only and go sit in the car down the street to have the buyer pick it apart.  I'm so sick of hearing how unacceptable my basement is.  It's a 1950's home.  That is how they did it then.

I'll try again in the Spring with an agent more familiar with my area.  For now, I need to get busy finding someone to help me with the snow this winter.  It is time to also start thinking about the holidays and enjoying another holiday season in my home.