Month: December 2021

2021 is almost over; So long Betty White

Aynaria 4 Comments

“Betty White died!” My mom told me this hours ago. I was a bit surprised; I know she was s 99, and not too many people live that long; however, It surprised me. I first saw her in the sitcom The Golden Girls. I loved that show; Dorothy (Beatrice Arthur) was my favorite character from that series. Although the character was much older than me, our mannerisms are similar. It wasn’t until years later that I realized that Betty White had been acting for a long time. Then, I saw an episode of Mama’s Family, and there was Betty. I later discovered she was also on the Carol Burnette show. Betty seemed to have a full life and was adored by her fans. Both sides of my family have members that live to their 90’s and quite a few have lived past that point. The oldest that I’ve personally met was my aunt Emma, who was 106 years old when she died. She lived three years past the last time I saw her. Three of my dad’s aunts lived past 100.

2021 went by in a blur for me, a lot of new beginnings, triumphs, and challenges, but through it all, I’m here, and I have a lot to be thankful.

I am wishing you all a fabulous 2022.

Compromised account

Aynaria 2 Comments

Monday, I noticed some unusual transactions in my checking account. I checked out where they originated and could confirm that these payments were not mine. Calling my bank, I was told that these were ACH transactions, and I’d need to come into the bank, fill out the required paperwork, to stop the activity. I did that yesterday, and I closed that account and opened a new checking account. I then went through making sure my credit cards, investments, car insurance, were all linking to the proper bank account. I have a few more accounts to update; however, for the most part, I am finished. I check my accounts regularly, so this has rarely happened to me. Last week, I remembered receiving a few alerts from Lifelock (An identity theft company) that several sites were potentially compromised based on an application used by all those companies. I would not be surprised if that’s how the hackers accessed my information.   The last time I had unauthorized access to my checking account, it was similar. Thankfully, I could take care of it without any lost funds.

I’m looking forward to the three-day weekend. It’s been a busy work week; however, I cannot say that I mind it at all. I work remotely 100% of the time. I purposely positioned my office desk to have a fantastic view of the outdoors, and I look outside often.

Shop opening soon

I’m slowly creating items that I’ll release online. After that, I most likely will use Etsy and have the items featured on my website. There’s still a lot of behind-the-scenes work to complete, and I’m okay with that.

I’d like some Salmon

Aynaria 8 Comments

My mother has been reading books that I’d bought for her about FODMAP and IBS. Today when I talked to her, she told me that she would purchase Salmon from the store. I watched my father while she went out. I told her to take her time. When she arrived home, one of the grocery items she had was a large Salmon. She told me, “I just want a little piece of the salmon. Nothing spicy!” Later, while my mom was caring for dad, I cut off a piece of Salmon and froze the rest. To the Salmon that I’d set aside, I added some freshly squeezed lemon, lime, a tiny amount of salt, and black pepper to Salmon. I neatly wrapped the Salmon in aluminum foil, placed it in a glass pyrex baking dish, and put it in the oven. In addition, I added wrapped four sweet potatoes in aluminum foil and placed them alongside the Salmon. I figured that once the salmon had finished cooking, I would leave the sweet potatoes in the oven and let them bake for an hour.

While the Salmon was baking in the oven, I sauteed red potatoes and string beans in some chicken stock on the stovetop. I allowed it to cook down until the potatoes were cooked.

Salmon with green beans, red potatoes, and a sweet potato

The meal took about 30 minutes to prepare, and I made enough for my mother to have leftovers. I finally got my mother to eat. Results? She loved the meal. I told her to take her time, relax and enjoy herself while I watched my father. She did exactly that. She again thanked me for making all her meals. Initially, she was resistant to me doing this; however, now she accepts this and makes requests. My mother does so much; however, I reminded her that tending to someone solely dependent on the caregiver for everything takes a lot of effort. I’ll try to assist her in making the burden of all the demands that can be placed on the caregiver a bit lighter when possible.

Updates

  1. My father continues to make progress and sat up in bed, hanging his legs on the side for about 10 minutes. Baby steps? Yes; however, we are grateful.
  2. I received a new work laptop this morning. Hooray! I’ll be returning my old laptop before the year ends.
  3. I purchased an Epson Ecotank 4700. I’ll be using it exclusively for Sublimation printing. I’ll be printing designs onto clothing, mugs, tumblers, and various other items.

 

IBS Friendly: Peanut Butter Balls

Aynaria 3 Comments

My mother hinted that she would like something sweet, so I searched through the recipe book, The 28-Day Plan for IBS Relief by Audrey Inouye BSC RD and Lauren Renlund BASC MPH, that I’d gifted to her and found a recipe for no-bake peanut butter balls. As I reviewed the recipe, I realized it was similar to the one that she made when my brother and I were little. So I mentioned this to her, and she knew immediately what drop cookies I was referencing.

Since I was unsure if she would like these, I made a small batch. I modified the recipe included in the book; Peanut butter, rolled oats, puffed rice, maple syrup, cinnamon, bittersweet chocolate chip morsels were the ingredients listed in the book. I eliminated the puffed rice and I added some spirulina and turmeric. Results? They loved these little peanut butter bites, so I tripled the recipe this evening.

Peanut Butter Balls

My daughter took a picture of one of the containers of these little bites right before they were placed into the refrigerator. After 10 minutes of putting them in the fridge, they should chill enough to eat. I look forward to doing some more experimenting with this recipe.

Last evening, I made dill beans using my VacMaster 215. You can eat them immediately. I ate a few; however, they were even more flavorful today.

Familiarizing myself with Cricut Maker 3

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I forgot to mention in an earlier post,

but I purchased a “crafting desk” for my Cricut. My home office desk is made by the same company, and the colors of both desks are a perfect match. I love this desk. It has plenty of room for all Cricket items, and the drawers can hold all of my die-cutting supplies.

This past weekend, I learned a bit more about Cricut Design Space.

I printed several stickers and increased my knowledge about printing, cutting, and modifying designs within Cricut’s Design Space.

I love the above picture. It reminds me so much of my daughter, big hair and all. Besides the purchased images and free photos, I was able to turn one of my daughter’s sketches into a sticker. How awesome is that?

I also purchased an annual membership at Maker’s Gonna Learn. A few weeks ago, I stumbled upon some of Tanner Bell’s (owner behind Maker’s Gonna Learn) Youtube videos. I enjoyed his energy and learned that he had a Cricut website filled with tutorials, images, tips and tricks, and much more that I thought would be helpful to me as a new Cricut user. Currently, I’m taking 30 Days to Maser Your Cricut course. On Day 6, How To Download Fonts to Cricut Design Space.

Later this week, I’ll be creating a few Holographic Christmas stickers. I cannot wait to see how those turn out. After this weekend, I might make a few stencils. We’ll see! Thus far, I’m enjoying my Cricut Maker 3.

There are a few things that I wish would change with my Cricut.

 

Increase the area that I can print and cut

I’m restricted to 6.75 x 9.25″ for cutting with the Print and Cut feature. I’ve been using the 8.5 x 11 paper, so space isn’t being utilized. Currently, I’ve only been printing stickers. I’ve utilized every inch of space with Cricut Design Space.

Allow me to save material selections.

Also, each time I print, I have to go through selecting the type of printer paper I’m using. I already know that I’ll be using stickers a lot. I love them. Cricket, please give users the ability to save formats they often use. Overall, I do like the Cricut. I still have a lot to learn about this die-cutting machine; however, I’m enjoying the learning process immensely. I’m currently waiting for my mat to dry to make a few more stickers.

Edited to add

There is an option for Cricut users to choose the medium that they use the most. Once the material is favorited, it will appear under your favorites section.

In other news

Work laptop is dead

My computer laptop stopped working. It won’t turn on at all, and now I’m awaiting a callback from our IT department to tell me what I already know. I need another computer! This will be my second replacement. Hopefully, the third computer will give me no more issues.

Dad upgraded to ice chips.

Today, my father had a visit with his Speech Therapist and Physical Therapist. He did very well. His Speech Therapist has allowed him to eat ice chips. Woohoo, progress! This will be the first item he’s had in his mouth for several weeks.

 

IBS and my mom

Aynaria 9 Comments

I had suspected that my mother had IBS for quite some time; however, with her world recently turned upside down, I was convinced of this, and while I talked to her about it and to my delight, she was all about making the changes needed. She completely changed the way she ate and allowed me to prepare her meals, and so for the past three days, I’ve prepared all her IBS/FODMAP (fermentable oligosaccharides, disaccharides, monosaccharides and polyols) meals, and <drum rolls> her IBS symptoms have been reduced significantly. During our chat, I advised her to nix any processed food and focus on whole foods recommended for IBS. I also told her to try and see her doctor.

Earlier today, I prepared quinoa, baked (cubed) sweet potatoes, and green beans with a spritz of freshly squeezed orange. According to her, she’s not experiencing any of the explosive symptoms that plagued her for the past few weeks, and her bowel function is returning to normal. She stated that the food tasted different; however, she said it was good. I told her it was because she’s eating whole foods.

Towards the end of last week, I sent my mom a few links about IBS/FODMAP friendly foods, and earlier today, I purchased two FODMAP/IBS friendly recipe books for her from Amazon, and both books should arrive tomorrow. I read numerous reviews and chose the two listed below based on the positive comments.

 

Low FODMAP and Vegan: What to Eat When You Can’t Eat Anything by Jo Stepaniak, MSEd. I’m familiar with her, and I believe I owned one of her books at some point.

And I bought The 28-Day Plan for IBS Relief by Audrey Inouye BSc RD and Lauren Renlund BASc MPH RD. Both authors are new two me. Both books should arrive tomorrow! Hooray, you’ve got to love Amazon’s quick service for Prime members! I’m curious to see what my mother thinks of the books, especially when preparing her meals.

Moving forward, I’ll believe that I’ll prepare all of her meals for some time, and I’m OK with that. I love meal prep, and I can easily make her meals and seal them using my VacMaster 215. I’ve already started doing using my vacuum sealer for her meals. Since I’m preparing her meals, it means that’s one less thing that she needs to think about, and it also guarantees that the meals she eats are nutritious and delicious, giving her time to relax when possible. I’m very aware that caring for someone utterly dependent on others for everything is a lot of work. My dad continues to improve, and I believe he will have physical therapy tomorrow.

 

Running on Empty…

Aynaria 5 Comments

Last Tuesday was my final day at work for the week, and that day was a partial day. Since that time, I’ve been assisting my mother with the care of my father. I spoke with my awesome boss, and he worked with me so I could take the time needed to assist my mother while waiting for his Home Health Care to start. His Home Health nurse was supposed to be at the house last Monday; however, that did not happen until Friday of last week.

Supplies that were supposed to be here just started arriving today, which was for one item we don’t use. I’m happy to see that it’s begun. Hopefully, my mother will get the remaining supplies soon. I’ve been running errands for my mother to ensure she has adequate supplies until the ones ordered with his care start to arrive. I spent a few hundred dollars worth to ensure that she had plenty of stores. My mother tried to pay me; however, I told her I wasn’t taking her money. She’s my parent. They did so much for my brother and me when we were children and continued to support us through adulthood emotionally.

It feels strange seeing my father so utterly dependent on others for the basic needs that we sometimes take for granted. My father is being fed through an IV tube attached at his stomach.  A catheter condom is how he urinates, and the bed liner catches his bowel movements. Undergarments are out of the question since he developed a bedsore in the hospital. Even with all the extra tasks that have been placed upon us, I know my mother (nor I) would want it any other way.

Today, his physical therapist and his occupational therapist were at their house; at different times. Finally, he was able to sit up on his own. Success! Baby steps. While I know it will be a while before my father can do things he once could do. I do believe in time that this will happen. I have an older friend (in her 80’s) that faced the same thing. She had to relearn everything, and like my father, she was fortunate to have family that loved her and did what was needed to take care of her needs, even if it meant sacrificing their downtime to make that happen.

I’ll be returning to work tomorrow. I must say that it truly is a blessing working from home. If I worked outside my home, I would be unable to assist my mother since my father has been released from the hospital. At times, as the title states, I genuinely feel like I’m running on empty. However, I’m more than willing to give up my time to assist my father during the healing process.

In other news: Cricut Maker 3 and Canon Pixma 8620

Yesterday, I was finally able to squeeze a few moments setting up my Cricut and registering at Cricket Design Space. Cricket Design Space is the program that’s needed to operate the Cricket machine.

Nightmare Before Christmas – Sticker that I made from Etsy purchase

I browsed Etsy, discovered and bought a few .png and .svg files that I like. So I created stickers with a few of the images today.

Stickers of the same picture

I still have a lot to learn; however, I’m pleased with the stickers created, and I know my daughter is also.

Sticker sheet that I created

I gave her the stickers that I created. I’m still impressed with my purchase of the Canon Pixma 8620. The photo quality is terrific. I’ll be curious to see how long the ink cartridges last. I did notice that some stores are already sold out of printer ink. I better order some ink now before they’re gone.