Soledad's Journal

( Boring health stuff behind the cut - read at your own risk )

On a more positive note, I've sent the cat pillow picture to the future recipients, and the reaction was very positive. Now to see how to get the kitties to them, despite Omicron tearing through the country. *double sigh*

( About health - such as it is )

Today I made the second page of the baby book. I only forgot one detail (which I can add to a different page) and made one stupid mistake (which I could easily correct). So I consider that a success.

We had another visit from the physiotherapist and I had two long, nice phone chat with my friends Monica (our choir leader) and Evie. That made my day... and made up for a sleepless night.

To summarize it: I still have it. Obviously. It is a condition that goes away within 7 days when you go and see a doctor, but without a doctor it can last as long as a full week. Well, two weeks in my case, if the recent 60+ years are any indication.

At least I'm still not coughing my lungs up as it was often the case in the past, although I got up with a slight dizziness in the morning, which worried me a bit. But it went away after I had breakfast, so I might be simply hungry. Apparently, my system needs more fuel to fight the cold or whatnot.

Since I'm an idiot and forgot to buy enough bread the day before yesterday, I decided to bake a braided yeast bread instead of going out into the cold with my cold. Pardon the bad pun. The thing turned out absolutely fabulous, we'll eat it for at least three days - plus, the extra warmth from the kitchen and the fantastic aromas wafting into the other rooms were a blessing.

Crafting-wise I decided to start a second baby book for the new baby expected in the family in July or so. The original one promises to turn out very beautiful (at least in my eyes), and I'm not sure the young generation would really appreciate it. So I'm making for them a simpler one, and the Thing of Beauty(TM) will go to another family eventually, somewhere where I know it will be properly admired. Yes, I'm a bit odd in that area.

So, that was my day. I'm feeling fine right now, except from cold feet (literally), but that's always the case in such a condition. Two pairs of warm socks and a thick blanket over my knees keeps things under control.

I've finished the kiddie bags:



They are not perfect, but I doubt that Elise's three granddaughters would terribly mind. Still, if I ever make anything like this again, I'll return to the rounded flaps. In hindsight, those look a lot better.

Elise called me today, BTW, to tell me how much the family (families, meaning her parents, her hubby, her two children and their families) loved the biscuits I made for them. We had a very lovely, lengthy chat, it really lifted my spirits.

Shortly thereafter my goddaughter (Little Emma's mother) called, too, and she got Emma to say "Happy New Year" through the phone. Spoiled kiddie was surprised that she couldn't see me - they all have smartphones with video function, or whatever it is called. She couldn't know she was talking to the two remaining dinosaurs of the family. *g*

On less joyful news, Mum seems to have a mild case of cold - just a runny nose and a bit of a cough. In other times we'd just shrug it off. But the evil virus that we won't name here has made us all a bit paranoid.

Otherwise known as St. Lucia's day. Just sayin'...

I've decorated two batches of cookies I'd baked yesterday; that took half my day, but it was worth the effort. I'm very satisfied with the results. I'll finish the other two batches tomorrow, when I get back from the hairdresser's. Got an appointment today because I look like a Neanderthal again; a particularly depressed one.

The physiotherapist called today and cancelled her visit that would have been due tomorrow as she's been tested Covid-positive. Now Mum is quietly panicking a bit but tries to take it with dignity. Poor thing...

Not much else happened. I'm a bit tired, and as much as I enjoy my baking orgy, I'm relieved that I'll be done in another session... hopefully. *fingers crossed*

So, one day after the third jab we are doing reasonably well. My joints were stiff and hurt quite a bit when I got up in the morning, but I believe the stiffening up comes from having to toddle with Mum yesterday at an extremely low speed, which is exhausting. In any case, we felt tired today and took naps in the afternoon. I still feel exhausted, so the next baking orgy might be postponed to Friday. We'll see in which shape I'll be tomorrow.

Not much else happened. I went to the supermarket in the morning to get some things I've managed to forget (and some of which I've managed to forget again), and for the rest of the day we were just lazing around.

I'll tell you in a moment why. But first the promised cookie pic from the second batch of the Great Christmas Baking Frenzy (GCBF for the future):



From the left:
1. Cashew-white chocolate cookies
(Unfortunately, they look exactly like the macadamia ones, but that can't be helped. Still two different sorts, though.)
2. Cranberry-cashew cookies
3. Cashew-coconut snowballs
4. Nut-nougat cookies with pecans
5. Ginger-hazelnut bites with lime icing

( And now on to the baking drama )

Other than that, the Dreamwidth importer still isn't working for me. Oh, the joy of cutting & pasting my entries manually and not being able to save the comments, just in case...

I've managed to register for the 3rd jab, both Mum and myself! Yay! It appears that I was an idiot; the website worked just fine, but I misunderstood something, which caused the site to stop. Now I've figured out the trick and we're to get our jabs on November 29, in a hospital relatively near to our home. Mum is feeling adventurous and intends to use the bus to get there - I'm not so sure about that myself, but we'll see.

Other than that, I made some more preparantions for tomorrow, when I'm planning to bake 6 different sorts of cookies. Yay!

I've tried painting the lolly sticks with acrylic paint, and these are the results:



I might have overdone the sparkling a bit but am still content with the results. The wings of the middle one are actually individual "feathers" - they were part of a gift box-making kit and I've completely forgotten about them until finding them today by accident, while looking for pink paper for the angel's back. *g*

( On less joyful things )

There's autumn break at school next week, so no choir practice, which is probably the best right now. My friend Evie promised to drop by with a bag full of apples, so I won't have to buy them, which - considering the current prices - is a good thing.