What. The. Fluff....

I mean, really. I refuse to ask "what now?" but I will say WHAT. THE. FLUFF...

Last week, at our women's group meeting, I said, "I'm sitting here and staying away from everyone, because I feel like I'm coming down with a cold."

By that Friday, I ended up at the urgent care. They said a vague "there's a crud going around, just watch so that you don't end up with pneumonia." Sent me home with OTC meds because apparently, some of the prescription stuff I'm on, they can't prescribe certain things. 

This past Sunday was our family's Thanksgiving. So Hubby made the turkey, I did the vegan stuffing, a soba noodle dish, and a vegan lemon cake. Oh, and we were planning home-made whipped cream (my sister adored Cool Whip - ugh - and the rest of us loved the stuff in the can). I had purchased a carton of heavy cream and didn't end up using it, so I figured we'd use our homemade vanilla and treat the fam to something interesting. 

But after the Friday appointment, I made the decision to stay home. I just didn't feel like it was a good idea to go. And when Kid #2 came over to do the spuds, I masked up and stayed away from everyone. I was hacking up a storm, but I had no fever, no chills, nothing. Oh, I was sore from the coughing, and lemme tell ya - a big honking cough with a 65-year old bladder? Yikes... 

Turns out it was a very good choice to stay home. Not because of Quinn, though I was worried about leaving her home alone for an extended period of time. Her potty calls are getting to be a bit more frequent, though she hasn't had any accidents in the house. 

On this past Tuesday, I went back to the doctor. I hadn't really slept since the Thursday-ish before because of the coughing. It wasn't getting better with the OTC stuff. And I had lost my voice. Cancelled my remaining PT appointments and pushed them back 10 days. 

Turns out, I have RSV.... Check here for what this is. The commercials you may have seen regarding either the babies or the elders -- they're not wrong. I am sick as the proverbial dog. Still no fever to speak of, the body aches are because I'm trying to sleep sitting up and I'm coughing like crazy. And what I have is considered "mild." 

It was a good call to not go, because we have a 6-month-old baby and my mom. There is a bright spot here... my mom and several friends, seeing how sick I am, have gone and gotten their RSV vaccine. 

They have me on an OTC med, tessalon pearls, a nasal spray and an inhaler now. The OTC med is ridiculously difficult to get open. I mean, I see the point, since the pills look like orange jelly beans. But I need scissors and basically a small knitting needle to get into the "tear here" portion of the package. 

This is supposed to be an expectorant and decongestant. Like in the Shrek movie, "Better out than in." The pearls make it so that you don't hurt when you cough. And the inhaler opens up the bronchials. No antibiotics - this is a virus. 

RSV is EXTREMELY contagious. Thankful for Hubby's wonky souped-up immune system. He's managed to not be seriously ill since he was in high school. I'm coughing into my elbow. Washing my hands. Staying kind of in my own area. We were supposed to have a small dinner on the "real" Thanksgiving, but I told everyone -- Hubby told everyone, since I can't talk much -- to stay home. 

I will be able to go to work next week, but I'm wearing a mask. My voice is still a little rocky, so I'll stay home from church, and I got a sub for my yoga classes; at this point, I can say a few words in a row, but that triggers coughing. 

And as soon as I can, I'm getting the blasted vaccine. I was waffling. See what good it did? I don't even know where I picked this up. But it sucks. And I'm over it. 

Thanksgiving... 

So everyone enjoyed everything and even ate the vegan dishes! Win-win! My mother has also decreed that "henceforth, we shall have home-made whipped cream," so I guess I need to buy 2 cartons for Christmas. 

The lemon cake was really pretty good. As Kid #2 puts it, there's no magic in vegan cooking - just using other ingredients. It was meant to be a layer cake, or a 13x9, but I did it in a Bundt pan. Not sure that I'd do that again. I have a nice 12" ring pan that might be better. 

The recipe had some erzatz "buttercream," but I'm told that if you use vegan butter and regular shortening, my own recipe for buttercream turns out just fine. Nonetheless, this one got a dusting of powdered sugar. Hubby managed to scrape together some whipped cream from the vultures... and so I had a slice of this with the whipped cream. It was really nice and moist. Good crumb. I would probably add more lemon zest in the batter. And I might try my own buttercream on this one, just vegan it up. 

The stuffing went well too. I did 4 kinds of bread: a French loaf, sourdough, pretzel bread and pita bread. Cut them up, dried them in the oven and then added all the veggies, dried cranberries, cut up a couple apples and tossed them in there. Leeks. Veggie broth and vegan butter. It was really pretty good. Just juicy enough, not soggy and not heavy. 

I asked The Kid about the "main" vegan dish, and ended up going with a soba noodle concoction with a Greek dressing. I diced up a butternut squash, roasted it along with mushrooms (white and mini bellas), shredded carrots, chopped spinach, and roasted red peppers. Tossed it with the noodles and the vegan Greek dressing. It was warm; but it could also be served cold or room temperature. You could also add beans to it, but I didn't this time. Funny enough, everyone ate some of it! 

We boiled the carcass with the veggies I stuffed inside of it (we don't stuff our bird). The fruit & veggies this year were: 1 lemon, 1 apple, 2 carrots, 4 celery stalks. Just cut 'em up and poke them into the cavity, and then the front end of the bird. The bird then gets a massage of olive oil, some salt & pepper, and rosemary under the skin and in the cavity. Roast it... 

So after we boiled the carcass and veggies, we plucked the bones clean, set that meat aside, and whizzed the broth. I made soup with thin egg noodles, and have been eating that all week. 

Seems like everyone liked everything, from the texts I got. And yes, they were appreciative that I kept my sick behind at home!

Reading...

I've been reading my usual mysteries, but I bought this actual book, Greg Louganis' autobiography entitled "Breaking the Surface." It's fascinating. And an easy read. I admired him during the Olympics, and now after reading this, I feel sad. Pick it up. You'll learn a lot. I was amazed, watching him compete, how a guy his size (I don't know - it was hard to judge, but he's not a small man like some of the Japanese divers) could rip into the water with nary a splash. Nobody does it like he did it. And he's still, in my opinion, the world's greatest diver. I don't think anyone has beaten his record of 4 golds in consecutive Olympics. 

I've been reading and going down the rabbit hole of YouTube, lots of Harry & Meghan videos. Though I did see the tiara that Katherine, Princess of Wales wore recently. I was so happy to see the Strathmore Rose tiara come out into the light of day. As I recall, this tiara was in contention for Meghan to wear, but once I saw her (not too well-tailored) wedding dress, I realized the tiara she wore actually matched it much better. 

Of course, Katherine could wear a sack and look good, but on this instance she was a real stunner... and the tiara was perfect. She's not suited to the bigger, bolder ones (except for the Cambridge Lover's Knot). Camilla can carry those big honkers off much better. The fact that this tiara was just kind of stuck in the vault for a century is kind of bonkers. But it suited her dress and her head. Here's some info on this little bauble..and also where I plucked this picture from, giving credit where credit is due. 

I do like the "flapper" version but I honestly don't think Kate could have carried that one off. The dress was too modern. It wouldn't have looked right. And if nothing else, she usually does try to make everything perfect. 

Knitting...

I'm also getting a lot of knitting done. The mindless Part 2 of the Bias Before & After scarf is coming along well. I'm really digging the "matcha latte" color. I think I've got about 31" or so. I can see the ball of yarn coming down, which is perfect. 

I really think this will be done if not in December, early in January, so I can block them both and still have enough of the cooler weather to wear them. Hopefully - they're calling for an El Nino winter and sometimes I feel like they don't even really know what that means. 

I kind of want to speed this along so that I can get to the beading. And I want to see how that updated provisional caston un-picks, considering that I really faffed up the one on the peacock scarf. It was just so clunky. 

After that, I may go back and finish the sock for the North-South-East-West pair to have them off my needles and in the sock rotation. And then I have to decide: The DROPS sweater? The black/brown Expression Fiber Arts shawl WIP? Start up the Long Sands? It's going to be tough. 

Oh, and an update from the Cascade Heritage Sock - the Petty Harbours that I finished? They washed up like a dream. Were so yummy to wear. And they didn't pill. Though I've only worn them once. So we'll see how they wear long-term. 

If nothing else, I'd buy a solid in that yarn and do the most warm and cuddly shawl. It would be awesome. 

Random Picture...

I was all set to give you an update on the ornaments, when I remembered I had already done that! Yikes. My brain... 

So instead, I reached back, WAYYYYYYYYYYY back, into the NAS and found this picture. 

It's St. Mary Lake, Goose Island in Glacier National Park. I can't even tell you how old this is. I am pretty sure I took this with my honest-to-God CAMERA, my Canon. 

This is one of my favorite spots in Glacier. We didn't go often enough. I'm hoping we will have time to go again. We haven't been back since my mother-in-law's funeral, and at that, we certainly didn't have time to go to the park. Being that it was in April, if I remember, the park wasn't open. It usually doesn't open till June. 

Now with the new hip, I'm in better shape to actually travel without being bound by the pain. Just have to figure out where we want to go.