Day 269 of 365

I have too much junk around the house. Not really junk, just too many things. Boxes, envelopes, computer cords, plastic containers.

I tried downsizing several months ago but lost the itch to get it finished. Now is the time to try again. After yesterday's (and today's) den cleaning, I realized there is an abundance of things that I really don't need. Like our four staplers. One in the desk drawer, one still in the package in the desk drawer, one that resides in the pen holder, and one in my sewing room. The only stapler we ever use is the one in the pen holder. Printers? Just as bad. We have three even though only one is used.

Pens and markers? In the pen holder. Plus in the desk drawer in two different places - in a big drawer and in a little drawer marked pens. My husband's plastic container on the bookshelf has some more of his, and my plastic container on the shelf has some more of mine. That's just in the den. (Let's not talk about how many other rooms where we have dozens stashed.) Scissors, paper clips, blank envelopes, glue sticks, and post it notes can all be found in multiple places around the house. We've accumulated stuff I didn't even know we had accumulated.

We're even accumulating pies. In addition to the pies my daughter and I cooked up, my husband bought one from a student (another pumpkin). Then just tonight he collaborated with Marie Callender to make a chocolate raspberry pie.

Day 268 of 365

It almost happened today. For the first time in 268 days, I almost forgot.

Maybe my daughter calling this morning set things in motion for it to happen. Usually she calls every evening when she's on dinner break or after she gets home from work. Today she called this morning when she got off work.

She works at one of those department stores that opened at midnight last night. So at 11:30 PM on Thanksgiving Day she had to be at work. And she worked all night long until 9:30 this morning. I hadn't even had breakfast yet and she had already put in a 10 hour shift at the mall.

I spent the rest of the morning on school work and some computer clean-up on our home computer. In the afternoon, I gathered all the kitty pictures I've taken over the last year and made a calendar for my daughter for Christmas. In fact, the reason I started this picture-a-day thing was because of the cat calendar I made for my kiddo last year. (The full story was back on Day 9.) You'd think that would be enough for me to remember it, but no.

The rest of the afternoon was spent going through old software, desk drawers, pen holders, file folders - all those things in the den taking up space on bookshelves and tables and desks. I'm working on getting rid of things that we no longer need. The den has been a mess all afternoon as I've sorted it all into a million piles. 

At one point this evening I was doing some shredding and looked out the window. I spied birds sitting on the power lines, silhouetted nicely against the evening sky. I thought to myself, That would be a nice picture.

And that's when it hit me. I forgot about the blog.

I forgot to write. I forgot to find a picture. I forgot to even think about it. Never, in all these months and months, has a day gone by where I even came close to forgetting about it. But I did today.

Thank goodness for those birds. If it weren't for them, I might have skipped one of the most important things I do.

Thank you, birds, for saving me today.

Day 267 of 365

Thanksgiving is simple around our house every year.  You'll find no card games, no people cheering loudly as they watch a football game. Every year it's just us. My husband, my daughter, and I. If it's a year my mom is around (like this year), she'll join us too. No people bringing food, no extra dishes to wash up.

Despite all the pies and prep work my daughter and I did earlier this week, today was a party of four. Packed up enough leftovers for my daughter to have meals at work for the next four days. Plenty of turkey for sandwiches and soups and enchiladas and anything else turkey we can come up with. Slices of pie sent with my daughter for her and her boyfriend and my mom.

Turkey, mashed potatoes and gravy, stuffing, corn, green bean casserole, homemade cranberry relish, homemade rolls. Our standard, simple fare.

Whether your day was a quiet one, a loud, boisterous one, or somewhere in between, I hope it was shared with family and friends.

Speaking of sharing, my husband shared his plate for today's picture.

Happy Thanksgiving!

Day 266 of 365

This notice is to inform you that the request for benefits has been denied based upon our review of the information provided. Infusions and all associated charges-benefits are not provided for the proposed service, supply, drug or other charge that is not medically necessary.

According to my insurance company, there will be no infusion-type treatments for my rheumatoid arthritis. I guess they'll have me keep taking what I'm taking - a combination of two weekly injections that have not improved my condition. I can't blame the insurance company for not wanting to pay. Thousands of dollars a month for one medication?

I'm a big believer in things happening for a reason, so I'm going to take this as a sign that at this point I don't need to be pursuing this particular treatment.

I have an appointment with the rheumatologist next week and will find out if his office is planning an appeal. I'm certainly not. In fact, I'm getting close to pulling the plug on the whole darn thing. I'm tired of having bald patches, I'm tired of intense headaches, I'm tired of being sick, I'm tired of being tired from medication. Having all the side effects from the medicines without seeing any benefits is getting old.

Working with my daughter in the kitchen keeps my mind off things. Yesterday, in preparation for Thanksgiving Day we made:

• Berry and cherry pies (from a frozen state).
• Lemonade pie. (From Day 202.)
• More pumpkin puree. Cooked up the pumpkins and froze the puree for later.
• Homemade rolls.
• Homemade pumpkin pies from our pumpkins from the garden.
• Pumpkin seeds. Again, from the pumpkins from the garden.

Everyone kept their hands off everything. Almost. The pumpkin seeds have been dwindling quickly. My husband loves them, my daughter loves them. And I figured I better take a picture of the seeds before they disappear completely.