I can't resist the occasional peanut butter and banana sandwich for lunch!
Today I've been busy in that storage room. I have sorted through a mountain (not much of an exaggeration) of papers and stuff. Much of it will be shredded and thrown away. The innate librarian in me was never able to throw away a good piece of information, a quote, an inspiring image, and so forth and then file it away in an elaborate vertical file system. That was before the internet. Long before. There was a whole lot of that stuff that was just needlessly taking up space. I have to remind myself to be fierce about getting rid of things that really are of no value to us. I'm genetically predisposed to keeping. For example, I KNOW I'm never going to make that item for which I clipped the instructions from a magazine! Pitch it already! I still have piles of stuff to go through. Large piles of the kids' school work ... lots can go, some will be kept. And school supplies! My how they've gathered over the years. I'll have a large box to deliver to the school.
I did come across a bunch of scattered items of sentimental value ... mementos from weddings, births and deaths ... newspaper clippings about people I'm fond of. I found Barb and Kevin's wedding napkins, Elaine's funny pre-wedding photo where it looks like the priest is grabbing her boob, Uncle Keith's eulogy, memories of Auntie Jean, Auntie Elsie, cousin Bob, my Dad, Laurie and Mark's wedding, A newspaper clipping of Cowboy Wade in action, newspaper clippings about Uncle Reg, Hannah's music festival results, Luke's sporting recognitions, ticket stubs from concerts, programs from plays, and so much more. I just kept throwing it into my "sentimental folder", which I will go through more thoroughly later. There was much already in it that I haven't even looked at yet. I want to take some time to enjoy it.
Last night we had a very nice dinner at Jim and Lynne's. Graham and Allan are so interesting as they grow and mature. They're smart as can be! I can't wait to see where their lives take them. They both went out with friends for the evening. For dessert, Lynne made a scrumptiously rich and chocolaty cake decorated so prettily! I tell you, they threw me a surprise that almost knocked me over. I couldn't figure out what was going on until it hit me. I won't elaborate quite yet ... I will later ... but man, I was SURPRISED! It was kind of funny! And very sweet! I'm not just talking about the cake.
I was beat and hit the hay early. It's been a cycle lately of one night of bad sleep followed by a sleepy day and a solid night's sleep and then another night of poor sleep and so forth. Last night I had a relatively good sleep while Kevin met up with the guys for some poker.
Today we'll go to Ron and Patty's to watch the Superbowl game! Go Saints!
Lightening The Load
What's not to love about this? This is the happy surprise that was in my mailbox today! From Meghan and Dawson! Sparkly, shiny, and puffy stickers and all!! 
How pretty! I don't drink coffee and have never seen one of these little works of art except in photos! This is Berny's coffee at the Mendel. Lynne, I believe, told me that the best coffee in the city is here.
Berny and I were able to get together again today while she was in town for appointments! How nice! Here we are at the plant conservatory at the Mendel. I was even able to meet some of her family.
Thanks, Uncle Norman, for this pie bird! For those of you who don't know what a pie bird is, you stand it in your pie while it's baking so the steam can escape (because it's hollow with openings top and bottom). Cool, huh? I have to try it out!
... that I'll probably make again! Last night as I was filling my water glass before going to bed, it occurred to me that I had forgotten to take pills that day! Most importantly, I had forgotten to take my Tamoxifen! DANG!! So, without thinking very clearly, I took it before I went to bed. Only after getting into bed did I think, "Gee, I hope it doesn't upset my stomach since I didn't eat before taking it". Sure enough ... I was awake for about 3 hours in the night just trying not to move a muscle, just in case moving set off a gag reflex. I'm happy to say the feeling had passed (without anything gross happening) by 6:00 a.m. and I was then able to get some sleep. You could say I've had a very slow start to my day.
I had committed today to taking Otto on a walk, since we hadn't been out for any length of time for a few days. It as so pretty out along the river that we ended up walking farther and longer than I would have otherwise and it wasn't such a good idea. Instead of turning up the hill at the Broadway bridge, we walked further along the river bank and then had quite a lengthy walk back. My right leg had seized up pretty solidly by the time we made it to Broadway and it was slow going the rest of the way home, which wasn't Otto's idea of a good time. A breeze had also picked up by then and we were walking into it. It was going right through my warm, fuzzy hat and I was pretty chilled by the time we got home. Nonetheless, it was a beautiful day to be out and Otto and I had a good time.
I took a frisbee for the park this time and by the third throw, it was in pieces. Good thing I brought the ball, too! We had a good play in the snow before continuing on our long walk.
I decided to plug all my annoying side effects into Wordle so that font size indicates the level of trouble I perceive them to be. As you can see, my itchy arch, numb toes and dry skin are of little real consequence and the fact that I've had to cut back my previously moderate boozing to almost nothing seems more bothersome to me than it really should be. It only bothers me when I actually WANT a drink, which isn't so often after all. I'll get over it! Besides, the couple of times I've had a drink since starting on Tamoxafin, I've ended up feeling kind of crappy. That's pretty much a disincentive.
Well ... another year older ... feels like twenty. While that might sound awful (and there's no doubt it has been), the plus is that I will start feeling younger in the coming months for a change! I can't wait for that part to kick in. And it will. I know it. 
Who needs candles when you can have a hot flash?! 
Today I had birthday tea/coffee and scones with Norma at Tastebuds! It was so nice! She picked me up and insisted on paying for everything and yet, it was HER BIRTHDAY!! What's that about??!! Happy Birthday, Norma, and thanks so much!
It was so nice to see the Saints win the Super Bowl, though I wouldn't have been upset to see it go the other way either. The best part about Super Bowl was spending it at Patty and Ron's. Patty must have been cooking all week! There was so much food, they'll be eating yummy leftovers for a while. Patty and I both made guacamole but we used different recipes so it was fun to do some taste testing. They were both good with different dominant flavours, Patty's being cilantro and mine being lime. It's all good. And the turkey chili was great! Well, so was everything as you can see.
Their tv makes ours look like pipsqueak tv! Mind you, we're at the point where our tv is pretty old school compared to everyone else's. We're just holding out for some more technological developments ... uh huh. That's my story and I'm stickin' to it!
I can't resist the occasional peanut butter and banana sandwich for lunch!
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