Sunday, March 16, 2025 – Day 215

Sunday, March 16, 2025

Good morning, friends and family scattered throughout the world.

As I sit here on this quiet Sunday, I’m grateful for a blank calendar. No appointments, no obligations—just a good day to chip away at family tax returns. I know, taxes aren’t exactly thrilling, but for me, they’ve been oddly therapeutic. They require focus but not much physical effort…perfect for me.

When it comes to physical effort, that’s a different story. My occupational therapist suggested I use one-pound weights for upper body exercises. I’m told my upper body is still strong. They arrived yesterday, courtesy of Amazon, and I confidently went to do my first rep… only to be met with sheer, humiliating difficulty. A single pound. That’s four sticks of butter. And yet, here I was, struggling like I’ve been asked to bench press a cinder block. It’s moments like these that really highlight just how much muscle I’ve lost in the past seven months. So, I’m not sure what they mean when they say my upper body is “strong”. But hey, this is where I am so I’ll keep doing what I can. If the butter weights are too much, I’ll just use my arms. Can’t get much lighter than that and each day they get a little bit lighter.

On a much more enjoyable note, yesterday we had a fantastic St. Patrick’s Day dinner at Joe and Donna’s. Mark and Barb drove and Bear was invited to tag along. Joe, the indulgent “grandparent,” made sure Bear got his fair share of the feast. No wonder the dogs adore him.

The meal was excellent, and I even found room for a second helping—something that doesn’t happen often these days. My appetite has been pretty minimal, mostly because I’m just not burning many calories. I’ve been eating bird-sized portions for months, but last night, I made an exception.

Speaking of meals, we’ve been incredibly lucky to have so many of you cooking, dining out with us, and even sending full meals to our home. A St. Paddy’s dinner arrived recently, complete with a delicious Bundt cake for dessert. Cindy, of course, follows the sacred rule of “eat dessert first,” so the Bundt cake is already history. The meal came from a company called Goldbelly, and they’ve yet to disappoint—we demolished a King Cake from them a couple of weeks ago, too. Huge thanks to Lis for sending it.

Between these amazing meals, a dozen boxes of Do-si-dos, and a respectable stash of Twizzlers, I’ve managed to gain four pounds over the past few weeks, bringing me up from 168 to 172. After months of steady weight loss, I’ll take it. The nutritionist’s advice? “Eat whatever you want.” So naturally, I’m taking that very seriously.

In home improvement news, the contractor came by yesterday to review the bathroom work and finalize payment. He was happy with the results, and so are we. There are just a couple of plumbing details left to sort out, including finding a replacement faucet. Once that’s done, the plumber will be back to wrap things up. I’m hoping it down take long and the work is competed before 7:00 pm. Bear hates when his bedtime is pushed back.

It’s a relief to see the house returning to normal after six weeks of noise, dust, and general chaos.

It’s been a good weekend with family and friends and we still have a full Sunday to go. Whether it’s lifting a single pound of butter, savoring a great meal, doing taxes or just putting the house back together it will be a great day.

Hope you all have a great Sunday.

Love you guys!❤️