Thanksgiving revisited

Just thought I'd write a little about the week of Thanksgiving.
There was not Thanksgiving holiday  when I was growing up in Barcelona. It is a very American holiday, with the native Americans and the Pilgrims etc, so it's never been one of my top holidays to celebrate, although I think it is nice to give thanks for family and friends and pets etc.

When I first got married that was one of the first holidays I spent at my in laws. It was the typical turkey, dressing, mashed potatoes, pies etc. It was repeated the next month for Christmas, just with different types of pies.  I am not crazy about turkey, and thought it strange  to eat stuffing made out of bread. Even the pies were not my favorite type of dessert, especially pumpkin and mincemeat. I still don't care for them now.

So Thanksgiving at home has been always sort of eclectic and non traditional. This year we had grilled rib eye steaks, cesar salad, potatoes and allioli. For appetizers  we had spinach dip and assorted meats (deli turkey, ham, swiss cheese, Brie) with crackers and chips. For dessert we had pumpkin pie, chocolate meringue pie, another chocolate pie I made, apple pie, and cream puffs.

Besides Marv , Lizzie and I, we invited my friend Norbert. Oh and Lulu! It was a low key dinner, everything was good and we all had a nice time.  A highlight was a  face to face call to Sandy and family. It was nice talking to them and seeing them, I had not seen Tristan for a while and he looked so much more grown up  now.

Lizzie came over Tuesday night. Wednesday she had to work (she brought her laptop), I think we had KFC for lunch. Friday Sonia called and we chatted for a while, then the 3 of us went to Capriotti's for lunch, for dinner we had leftovers. Saturday after taking Marv to dialysis, Lizzie and I went to a Restaurant in Whittier called "Toast". It was interesting, Lizzie had the Cali which was toast with avocado and baby heritage tomatoes, I had a toast with Rajas  (slices of poblano pepper) con crema, with corn and bacon.  For dinner we had pizza.

Lizzie left around noon after taking Marv to get a haircut. She was a good help this week and good company too. 

Happy Birthday Lizzie

Time Flies

Just a week before Thanks giving! November seems to fly by fast.

Marv was sick on Nov 8, I had gone to get a haircut and when I came home he was not feeling well at all. Next day he woke up disoriented, not wanting to go to dialysis, and I couldn't even talk to him, so I decided to call 911.  The firemen, medic, ambulance, first responders in general trooped right in and checked his vitals and everything was good. They wanted to take him to a hospital but I asked them to help me get him in my car and I'd take him to the ER, and so they did.

(Just as an aside, those first responders were fine!)

At the ER they checked him in right away, no waiting. I was happy about it. They kept asking his birth date, his name, if he knew where he was etc. He still had some trouble putting words together but the one thing he couldn't remember was the year. After several tests, they found he didn't have a stroke, but he had some pneumonia, so they kept him overnight. Then they kept him for a couple more days and released him on Sunday. Now he's feeling pretty well, back to normal :)

Lizzie was here and she was good company for me and we went out to lunch a few times, and she helped me when he got home. We also kept in touch with Sandy by texting her. I think is hard for her when she lives far and cannot come as often as she'd like. A good thing with today's electronics you can keep in touch and talk and have face time, and be able to be in touch at any time

When I came to the US, the only way to be in touch with my parents was by regular mail, and that took a few days, also by phone but it was pretty expensive. It was very hard for me not to be able to be there when my father was knifed and in the hospital, or just at any other time for the good things and the bad things. It would have been great to have what we have now...

One last thing...I like our new car. It's nice, looks good, is roomy, it handles well. Good choice!

October Recap

This month has been very good healthwise, no major issues :)
But Many things have happened this month worldwide.

October 1   Catalunya held a referendum. Voted for Independence from Spain.
October 1   Massacre in Las Vegas, 58 people dead, 546 injured. The perpetrator killed himself.
                   But there's more to the story...
October 4   To SuperMax with Marv.
October 5    To Huntington Beach, nice weather. To Ruby's lunch with N.
October 9    To my ophtalmologist. My eyes are better than they were last year :)
October 11  To the wound nurse
October 13   Edison worked on the electric poles. No electricity  from 9 to 9.
                     Lizzie came over.
October 14    Lunch with Lizzie at 12-Sixty for lunch, not as good as last time
                    Shopping for Lizzie's Halloween . Scored monkey!
October 18   To Orthopedics with Marv. Hip is healed :)
October 27    Bought 2018 Honda
                     Catalunya declared Independence.
October 28    N came over to help me clean the pick up. Went to The Habit for lunch.
October 29    Brought the car home.


Books I read in October

 Movies I watched in October

Happy Halloween ~!

Witchy Woman

Eagles

Raven hair and ruby lips

Sparks fly from her finger tips

Echoed voices in the night

She's a restless spirit on an endless flight

Wooo hooo witchy woman see how

High she flies

Woo hoo witchy woman she got

The moon in her eye

She held me spellbound in the night

Dancing shadows and firelight

Crazy laughter in another

Room and she drove herself to madness

With a silver spoon

Woo hoo witchy woman see how high she flies

Woo hoo witchy woman she got the moon in her eye

Well I know you want a lover,

Let me…

New car

For a long time, my spouse has been talking about getting a new vehicle.

I have my Ford Mustang, that I like a lot .

And we have a Dodge Dakota pickup in really good shape, with low mileage even though is 10 years old. It has no dents or scratches outside or inside. And it runs very well. And it's all paid for.
I didn't really see the need for a new vehicle and kept on saying we didn't need to trade.

As of late, he has been hinting rather broadly about the need for a new car. He thinks the hoses, etc. are getting old and maybe I will find myself driving to Huntington Beach one day and the hoses will break down and I will be stranded etc. etc.   He's also been talking to the girls about my not wanting to get a new vehicle.  So I've been hearing from them about it too.

I finally got fed up and got tired of  trying to get my point across. So I caved in and we went looking for one.

As I am now the primary driver I didn't want to get something that I would be uncomfortable driving and parking. In addition we would need  a car that is easy for Marvin to get in and out and  easy for me to put the walker inside.

The car he originally wanted was a Ford Escape. Even though he kept on saying is smaller than the pickup blah blah blah, it seemed large to me . We went to the Ford dealer and tried it on for size. He could get in and out easily, but it was hard to get the walker in as the cargo door was narrower than the walker and I had to lift it and try sideways and the lay it down. When I sat on the driver's side I thought it was too large, and I thought it might be  as hard as the pickup to park if not harder. We also checked a Ford Edge which was even bigger but easier to put the walker in, we also checked a couple of other models. We told the salesman we'd think about it. Time spend there, about 3 hours.

FORD ESCAPE

Two days later we went to the Honda dealer. I had been checking cars online and I saw one I sort of liked. They had one 2018 in red (which is the color I wanted), is smaller than the Escape, but it was easy to get in and out and the walker fit well in the cargo, and I felt comfortable in it. Marv said it be OK with him if we got that one as it was a lot roomier than he thought, so we decided to get it. We spend over 6 hours at the dealer! I hated it. Tons of paperwork  and lots of wasted time. And didn't have lunch. I understand it takes time for paperwork and finances etc, but it was waaaaay too long. I was pissed. Marvin of course was OK with it since he has limitless patiente for stuff like that. We were there before  1 and didn't leave till almost seven. We traded the pick up and used it as down payment.

We didn't take it home or test drive it. But we went back on Sunday to pick it up. They said it would be ready for us at noon. But still we had to wait over an hour for it.

So now we have a new car. It's a 2018 Honda, color is Milano Red. It has tons of electronics, cameras etc etc. It'll be a while before I understand how everything works. It drives well and looks good.

2018 Honda HRV

Bothersome leg

For about a month now I have been having some problems with my right leg. It started as a sore spot in the left side of the knee, but it started to grow worse in time.
I've been putting cold compresses, taking Ibuprofen and rubbing it with BenGay. It's not too bad during the day but it hurts more at night when I go to bed and stretch my leg it hurts. Sometimes the skin is warm to the touch and sometimes it feels a little burning.

I made an appointment with my doctor but he cancelled the day before, he went out of town! The next appointment would be in 3 weeks. I had a telephone consultation with another doctor. After explaining the problem, she thought I had pulled a muscle. Truth is, sometimes when I'm cleaning or picking up heavy stuff, rather that bending and picking it up I move it pushing it with my leg. Some boxes are heavy (like the Blue Apron ones)

I have now made another appointment with a new doctor. I changed physicians because my regular doctor is in Huntington Beach and now they have opened a new Kaiser much closer to my home so it will be easier to get to. I hope I like him and that he is a good doctor.

It maybe arthritis, since I shattered my left ankle many years ago, the doctor said I would be prone to arthritis. luckily other than a few passing problems I had no problems with it. But I wonder if this might be it. I'll let you know how it goes :)


I know October is a favorite month of my girls :) It's been hot here, but now it's cooling a little, about time!