Blissfully Peaceful...for the Moment and Other Thoughts

    

    I just got up (yes, it is close to 1 p.m. but in my defense I did not go to sleep until 5:30 a.m.), got the coffee going, wiped down all the outdoor furniture after yet another dust storm, and am settling down to drink my cup of liquid gold (Coffee).  I'm seated at my outdoor table on the back screened in porch, cats lounging in the sun spots, and am greeted with a picture of my youngest grandson Tate on my computer screen.  How can you not smile when you see that little cutie?  All my grandsons bring me such great joy but since I can see and hug the others in person, this little guy gets the place of honor as my screen saver. 😘

   At the moment it is blissfully peaceful out here in my little oasis.  No dogs barking, the wind is blowing through the trees and the birds are singing their beautiful songs.  I am savoring every moment because I know that it can quickly be shattered at any moment by a screaming lady and her yapping dogs that is back up here for about 6 months again.  Honestly, it is like nails on a chalkboard.  I have tried so hard to be nice and to model good behavior in how to treat your pets for her, but nothing seems to work.  It honestly makes me sad for her dogs and for her family too.  She has been this way for as long back as I can remember her coming up here.  With that said, I am going to continue to soak in the peacefulness for as long as I can. 😉

   Onto other thoughts...lucky you! LOL!  Jeff and I were supposed to get our Johnson and Johnson covid-19 vaccines yesterday.  We were woken up early in the morning with phone calls from his work, messages from the doctor's office and our kids messaging me on facebook that the government put a "pause" on giving that particular vaccine due to rare blood clotting reactions with it.  YIKES!  I talked to my nurse friend who was helping us to get the vaccine and she recommended the Pfizer since we could not do the Johnson and Johnson.  With the cases rising in our county and being put back into Phase 2 with some pretty restrictive measures in place once again, we were getting worried.  So now we go in this Friday night for that and have the weekend to get through the worst of it praying it does not send me into a huge flare since we are helping Jaysn and Rachel move the following weekend.  Jeff is taking that night off. And then, the icing on the cake, is that we get to do it all over again in a month's time. 😞  Maybe it was a blessing in disguise, at least that is the way I am choosing to view it.  Given that I already have anxiety issues, that waiting after the vaccine for a couple of weeks after the J and J vaccine to see if I would get that rare blood clotting issue is not what I need and would have keep me heavily medicated to avoid major panic attacks.  I already am dealing with high anxiety and a few panic attacks at the moment, but I am able to deal with them, even if they are unpleasant and also bring nightmares with them.

   Given that we did not get our jabs yesterday and it was a nice sunny and warm day, Jeff was able to finish building the raised garden bed boxes for both the front and the side gardens.  I am so proud of him for not only building them, but using free lumber and old roofing metal that we had here on hand to do so.  Love that talented and ingenious man of mine! He was so cute, having me come out and check the heights along the way to make sure that they are just how I want them.  I now have 4 lower leveled ones for taller plants and a taller one for things like lettuce and lower growing plants so I can easily harvest from them with out having to bend too much. 🎕

   One of the other things I had done was cook up a huge casserole dish full of homemade macaroni and cheese, 2 loaves of bread and 3 loaves of banana bread for after our jabs on Tuesday.  Well, we are now working on that and I am coming up with plan b for food to get us through the weekend.  I will make more sandwich bread, am making breakfast sausage sandwiches with precooked sausage patties and English muffins from the freezer (I'll have those ready to go in a container in the refrigerator), I cut up a cantaloupe (but I think Jeff will have that gone before Friday so I may have to pick up another on Friday and cut it up that night before the shot really kicks in) and will most likely make some sort of casserole that is easy on the tummy.  In addition to that, the freezers and pantry are stocked with lots of easy precooked foods that will be easy to grab.  I have lots of other fruit on hand and already have water bottles by the beds (I frequently sleep in the guest bedroom since that bed is better for me in dealing with pain), bathrooms are stocked with toilet paper, and I am keeping up on the laundry so we will not have to deal with all that.  I'm thinking the one thing I have not planned for and need to is digging out 2 more sets of queen sized sheets (I know I have at least one extra set) so we can quickly change the sheets if they become sweat soaked (gross right).  Hopefully though, our reactions will be minor like my parents were.  They got the same vaccine and only had sore arms and a little bit of fatigue.

   So I was in for a shock last night when I was looking through the grocery ads.  Have you noticed a HUGE jump in the price of bacon?  Oh my goodness, it's over $9 a package here and we are not talking those huge deli sized packages, but rather the regular small sized ones!!!  Holy piggies! 😲  Packages of crackers have also doubled in price...thank God for the Dollar Tree and Grocery Outlet or we would not be getting any more of those either for awhile.  This is one of those moments when I am so glad that I try to keep a very well stocked pantry so we can avoid having to buy things at outrageous prices or just go without them.  I fear this is just the beginning of prices going through the roof on food.  So glad we are planning for a bigger garden and really working on having great and productive soil this year.

   I think I am going to end this here.  I hear Jeff stirring and I want to be able to just finish my coffee while visiting with him without any other distractions.  We shall see what the afternoon bring us...be blessed!