Good morning, everyone. Happy Thanksgiving! 🦃🍽
Safe travels to all of you hitting the road today.
Thanksgiving has always been one of my favorite holidays. Yes, it’s a day of pure gluttony, but for me the joy has always been in the traditions…the familiar dishes, the smells that drift through the house, and the people gathered around the table. And for the record, when I say “variety of dishes,” I’m not talking dinnerware… although that was definitely Sally’s thing.
Good morning, everyone. Happy Thanksgiving! 🦃🍽
Safe travels to all of you hitting the road today.
Thanksgiving has always been one of my favorite holidays. Yes, it’s a day of pure gluttony, but for me the joy has always been in the traditions…the familiar dishes, the smells that drift through the house, and the people gathered around the table. And for the record, when I say “variety of dishes,” I’m not talking dinnerware… although that was definitely Sally’s thing.
Good morning, everyone.
Looking ahead at the weather, it shows snow barreling toward Crystal Lake with temps that will feel below zero. Suddenly, saying “no” to St. Maarten feels like a mistake. Brrrrrr. 🥶❄️
A follow-up to the house fire story from yesterday…
When I was 5 or 6, still living at 316 Keith, I took a book of matches up to my bedroom. I was fascinated by fire even then — the warmth, the glow, the way a flame dances.
Good morning, everyone.
Nikki and Alex were here last night. Nikki flew in for a quick visit before the big St. Maarten vacation, and Alex arrived hauling the 20-pound turkey we’ll be cooking on Saturday—for six people. Safe to say…there will be leftovers.
We got to talking about childhood stories, and as often happens, one memory led to another. Many stories are worth repeating and I’d like to share as many of them as I can over the upcoming winter months.
Good morning, everyone.
Nikki is flying in this morning for a quick visit before she and the family take off for St. Maarten with the Brickhouse clan. Cindy and I were invited to join them, and I’ll admit…it was tempting. An island adventure with sun, sand, swimming, and siestas sounds heavenly. But the real draw would have been time with Coco and Wyatt. We just don’t see them much anymore since this shitty disease entered our lives.
Good morning, everyone.
I stuck with my formula feedings yesterday and even squeezed in some enchiladas, so I know I got the calories in. I didn’t get on the scale—and honestly, even that small task takes effort because I wobble so much I end up with an error.. So no weight update today. I’ll shoot for tomorrow.
I spent most of Saturday with a book in my hands. It was quiet, calm, and simple—and right now, those kinds of days feel like a gift.
Good morning, everyone.
I’ve been on formula feedings for a little over two weeks now, which works out to about 2,100 calories a day. That sounds like a normal diet for the average person, but 8,000 short for an elite competitive swimmer. Right Alex? However, for someone who’s basically sedentary it seems way too high.
My “activity level” consists mostly of trips to the bathroom and going to my feeding station.
Good morning, everyone.
We had some of my high school friends over yesterday. We had to switch things up a bit—big restaurants and big groups are tough for me to navigate these days—so the crew made the long trek from Lake County out to edge-of-suburbia Crystal Lake. And they didn’t come empty-handed. Ric, Cathy, Bill, Monica, Carrie, and Chrissy arrived with the full dinner spread: appetizers, salad, homemade lasagna, and dessert.
Good morning, everyone.
Yesterday was a busy day.
I had a massage scheduled for 9:00 a.m. to help work out some serious problem spots in my body. I’ve been dealing with limited range of motion in my shoulders—picking things up, pushing myself out of a chair, even sleeping on my side has been painful.
Our ALS Clinic care coordinator, Peggy, found a mobile massage therapist out of Woodstock. It’s a one-person operation run by a woman named Ashley, and she normally works out of her massage van.
Good morning, everyone.
Gratitude
Over the weekend, I received a card from Sandy and Don—high school friends of Cindy’s who welcomed me to Crystal Lake when I moved here in 2007. Don and I shared running in common, which made it easy for me to break into Cindy’s network of friends. Over the course of twenty years, we developed a really good friendship.
Don and Sandy moved to Galena a few years back, and we still stay in touch—mostly because Cindy and Sandy always talk.
Good morning, everyone.
Most mornings I wake up on my own, but just in case I don’t, I still set a 4:00 a.m. backup alarm. Crazy, right? Well… I slept right through until just after 5:00 a.m. That never or rarely happens. And a certain someone who heard the alarm didn’t want to wake me. So I met my eight hour sleep goal and then some.
Yesterday I started a new prescription (olanzapine).
Good morning, everyone.
Yesterday we had a sibling lunch with my local brothers—Tom, Tim, and Nick—and their spouses, MJ, Shawn, and Jill. The restaurant, a BBQ place in Lake Zurich called Barbecue Productions. We had an early lunch reservation for 11:30 a.m., hoping to beat both the crowds and the noise.
As soon as we parked and opened the car doors, that wonderful smoky, grilled-meat aroma hit us square in the face.
Good morning, everyone!
I tooled around the neighborhood in the beast of a wheelchair yesterday. It was a beautiful, sunny day, and Cindy practically shoved me out the door—otherwise I would’ve missed it completely. It’s far too easy for me to stay inside and avoid the whole production required to get outdoors. A little sunshine goes a long way, and I’m sure the vitamin D did me some good. Thanks for pushing out of the house.
Good morning, everyone!
ALS just keeps plugging along, and I keep doing my best to manage whatever that means on any given day. Some days it feels like I’m adjusting to change after change, just trying to keep pace with a body that keeps rewriting the rules.
For instance at my “feeding station,” in the kitchen. we added pieces of non-slip material on the floor so I can push my chair with my feet.
Good morning, everyone! Let’s talk about pets.
We have a mini goldendoodle named Bear, and he came into our lives during peak Covid. We originally looked at rescue dogs—so was the entire world—so we turned to a breeder recommended by a friend. We put down a deposit and were told it might be a year before our name came up. As it turned out, it was half that. In December 2020, we drove up to northern Michigan and came home with an armful of curls, paws, and pure joy.
Good morning, everyone.
Wow! Even though I didn’t personally see the northern lights the last two nights, the photos have been incredible. Truly stunning stuff.
This morning I get to sit here in the quiet of the house, listening to the owls talk to each other. They’ve been around for years, and I’m glad they like our little wildlife buffet of rabbits, squirrels, mice, and whatever else wanders through. Cindy however, would prefer they wouldn’t leave their kill on the sidewalk to the house.
Good morning,
I bit the bullet yesterday and got my vaccines, two of them anyways, for the upcoming winter season of sniffles, sneezes, and soup. I got the flu shot in my left arm and the pneumonia shot in my right—trying to share the pain equally.
Well… there’s nothing “equal” about it. The pneumonia shot felt like getting jabbed by a rusty nail, while the flu shot was like a polite tap on the shoulder.
Good morning, everyone!
Happy Birthday to my sister-in-law, MJ! 🎊🎈🥳
Sorry about the confusion on yesterday’s blog post—where I accidentally titled it “Sunday.” Amazingly, only one person caught it!
My brother-in-law Mark came over and installed the new Nest thermostat. The hardware swap was simple enough, but the software side gave us some headaches… thanks mostly to me.
I’ve been using the old Nest app to adjust our thermostat for more than ten years.
Good morning! Welcome to a new week. Hope it’s a great one for everyone.
Cindy went solo to the HOA board meeting yesterday. She gave me an out, and I took it. No need for me to labor through the financials and everything that goes with it. I stayed upstairs, and since I didn’t hear any angry voices, I assumed all was well. The meeting wrapped up in just over an hour, and they even identified a possible replacement for me.
Good morning! Welcome to winter. Brrr 🥶
I had to crank the fan on the fireplace this morning. Hard to believe that on Friday I was outside peeling off layers because I was too hot. Now I’m shivering…the heat didn’t kick on overnight.
Which brings me to my complaint with Google. We have a Nest thermostat that can no longer connect to my phone… all because it’s “too old.” I was warned this would happen and that I’d need to buy a newer-generation Nest to continue using the app.