Thursday, June 26, 2025

I bet Peps is tired after traveling home. I am pretty exhausted after our flight here to Madrid. We left at 10:30 pm last night and landed at 11 am Madrid time. A bit of confusion figuring out where to meet our prearranged driver but we found him finally. We were at the apartment by 1 and had done some minor food shopping by 3.

SIL is wiped out even after having a wheelchair in the airports. She just has no stamina partially because her medications have made her unable to eat much at all lately. I'm surprised she made it but we are here.

The apartment seems to be convenient to many things. It is clean and spacious with good amenities except it is very modern and the only upholstered furniture in the living room is one couch which SIL needs to be able to lie down on. My other SIL and I have to sit on hard dining room chairs.

Not sure what we will do the rest of the day. Maybe just try to stay awake enough to make it to dinner, then crash afterwards. We just decided we should pick a restaurant now while we still have some faculties.

Have a thinking Thursday!

PS: I watched Wicked on the plane and enjoyed it way more than I ever expected to.

Good morning from sunny California! It's nice to be back surrounded by my dogs. Liz, glad you had safe travels to Spain.

We got home at just about 8 pm, which would have been 5 am in Budapest. We left the boat at 6:30 am, so a good 22.5 hours on the road. I slept a little bit on the plane, but not more than an hour or two at most. I stayed up until about 12:30 am to hopefully get back on a schedule and I think it worked. I was up by 7 am west coast time and have been enjoying a leisurely morning, but got the kitchen put back together (sitters put stuff in very random places....), have laundry started, and have done some doggy clean up.

I decided to get on the scale and see what damage was done. Today's weight: 206.7. I'm up 5.9 pounds. I'm going to guess some of it is water, but I'm sure I have a good few pounds to take off. Even with all the walking, my calories were high. But I enjoyed every delicious minute of it and have not a single regret.

My new order of meds came yesterday. I unpacked it all this morning and took my shot a few minutes ago. Back on track and raring to go.

Diane S....FYI, I will be in your neck of the woods over 4th of July weekend, if you want to schlep on down to Ferndale.

Have to go visit Pop today. He needs his nails done and and hair cut. I shall go give him a spa day after lunch.

Have more laundry to do and dogs to brush and wa****'s flea season here and for the first time in several years they seem to be a problem. Have to get out the meds and get the dogs treated.

Liz, hope SIL manages okay.

DD, you are a godsend to your Aunt, but I think she knows it! Sounds like you are both lucky to have one another in each of your lives!

Glad you made it home in one piece and are reset. Your travels must feel like a dream! Scale should go down fairly quickly if you are back into the groove right away. I think with the return to usual surroundings that usually happens.

I'm kind of in awe of your SIL's determination to travel, and your determination to help her do that. Maybe this is a crazy suggestion, but would you be able to buy some folding beach chairs that would at least be a bit more comfortable for sitting? We stayed in a Melia brand hotel, which is a Spanish chain, and the decorating style was very contemporary and, austere in my opinion.

Day 3 of taking care of my Aunt and I am exhausted. Yesterday she was never comfortable enough to sleep more than an hour, so I got her in and out of bed numerous times. She was able to stay in bed from around 11am to 5:30 am so I did get some sleep. There are constant things to take care of. I love her dearly, bit I am also looking forward to completing my nursing duties on Saturday. I volunteered to actually cook something tonight, now I'm wondering if I will have time to actually do it!

You are so kind to be helping out your aunt. I bet she is most appreciative! It is tiring though! Try and take a little time for yourself when you can. Pizza for dinner?

Such a good person! Caretaking is exhausting. I know your aunt is super appreciative.

123 on the dot. A new low this time around but only by .2 lbs. A good excuse to have an extra snack today!

Bible study was good today. I'm feeling much more comfortable leading it now that I have been doing it for several months. The only part that was hard for me was leading prayer time. I'm great at teaching things I know well (did tons of health education in my job) but extemporaneous prayer scared the heck out of me! Some people can pray so eloquently off the cuff, I do much better with planned speaking! I'm getting better though!

Did a DH walk today. Weather is a bit cooler (low 70's) which is perfect for walking. I bought Costco bacon the other week when we had the protein pancake breakfast for dinner meal. As Costco products go, there were 3 packages of bacon. I froze one right away, we used one and the 3rd has been sitting in our meat drawer with an expiration date toward the end of August so we have plenty of time to use it. DH absolutely loves bacon and I just don't buy it because of all the saturated fat! It has been driving him crazy to have an uneaten package of bacon sitting in our fridge so tonight I will appease him with BLTs. Hopefully he is unaware of the frozen package.

My Mom's amputated toe seems to be healing fine this time around and they were able to remove a few of the stitches yesterday. She can also finally go down to her cafeteria for meals again. She had been on a bit of a couch rest with having to have her foot elevated 45 minutes of every hour. Depression was setting in from being so isolated. She can finally see her friends again at mealtime!

Glad our world travelers made it to their destinations with not too many hiccups.

I bet the dogs were thrilled you are home Peps! Kudos to you for already being on CA time! Also, your weight gain is nothing! I remember a boyfriend gaining 10 lbs. on a 3 day cruise when I was in college! It will come off in no time, and like you said, no regrets!

Liz, anxious to see pics from your travels and the wedding as well. I hope your SIL can enjoy her time away and it doesn't exacerbate her pain and fatigue.

Good news about your Mom's progress. My MIL also was a social person and loved her meals with friends.

DH walk LOL! I guess mine are DH and Justice walks.

Glad everyone made it safely to their destinations! For being summer in Arizona, it's actually pretty pleasant here. Which oddly enough is not good for creating monsoons. It has to be hot, hot, hot to pull the moisture up from Mexico.

Yesterday was busy with a board meeting for the HOA and today with writing the neighborhood newsletter. It turned out pretty good and I actually enjoy writing it!

I'm working on my leaving lists (before I go, what to take, for the house watcher) and checking off little projects. I just changed the two wireless smoke alarm batteries as that was a gigantic nightmare last year. Working on cleaning up and organizing the laundry room as that looked so embarrassingly full of detritus. Tomorrow I have a hair appointment.

I think that's it! Liz, I'm so sorry your SIL is feeling so poorly. This is a lovely thing you're doing helping her make it to this wedding. And speaking of lovely, DD, from your previous descriptions of your amazing aunt I know how appreciative she must be of your help. How much nicer it is to help people who are appreciative than those who aren't!!

That's right - you are leaving soon aren't you? Must be beautiful in Michigan now.