Pineapple Days

When Doug and I first bought a house in Ocala, he noticed that there was a pineapple plant growing out back.  We had never seen a pineapple plant before and were fascinated by the whole process.  The pineapple seemed to be growing on top of the plant, looked like a miniature pineapple from the start and changed from green to brown to yellow.  Doug picked our first one carefully (as the leaves had sharp edges) when he thought it was mature in the spring of 2023 and enjoyed the fruit very much.

Shortly after eating our first pineapple, Doug and I decided that we wanted to remove the plants and shrubs surrounding our house.  Many were overgrown and housed bugs and snakes.  We had a tree service company pull everything out and then hired a landscaper to put down white rock and beautiful cement curbing. We have loved it ever since.

Before the landscapers arrived, Doug and I walked around the house to see if there were any plants that we wanted to keep knowing that we would have to move them to pots since neither one of us wanted to deal with overgrown landscaping again.  The only two that we kept were the pineapple and the aloe plants.  I wasn't in love with the aloe plant because of all of the sharp spines on it, but it was interesting to look at and Doug liked it very much.  I never worried that the aloe would survive as it appeared hardy to me, but the pineapple was another story.  One had already died since we moved here, and we didn't know anything about growing them.  We decided to take a chance and transferred it to a pot.  I am very glad that we did as today we were able to pick and taste one of the best pineapples that I have ever eaten.  Maybe growing it ourselves made it sweeter or maybe it was because we let it ripen on the vine.  Either way, we both enjoyed it very much.

New Meds

The medication that Doug started taking July 4th for anxiety was pretty tough on him at first with fatigue, nausea and heat intolerance as the main side effects.  Thankfully, those went away and after a month on the medicine Doug is feeling a lot calmer about everything.  Unfortunately, the tremor has not changed and instead gets a lot faster after his daily dosage of the new medication.  Therefore, he now takes it in the evening so it's manageable, but because of that he has decided that he would like to try something that would help calm his tremor.  I was ok with whatever he decided as the tremor doesn't bother me, but I know that it does make it more challenging for him to type and write. 

Doug messaged his doctor today and they agreed for him to take a low dose to start the tremor medication to lessen the chance of severe side effects.  I don't know if either one of us believe that it will make a difference, but they have been asking him to try this drug for four years, so Doug thought that he might as well give it a chance.  Whether it helps his tremor or not, I will pray that the side effects are not as severe as with the first medication he took in July.  

Trying it On My Own

Meg and Nick wanted to come out to Ocala this weekend to hang out with us.  We were excited to have them visit, and told them that we usually go to Hiatus Brewing Company on Friday nights with Uncle Phil.  They were happy to go with us especially since Nick had never been.  Meg said that they didn't have a lot of excess money in their budget, however, with their trip last weekend to the Midwest.  When I heard that, I offered to make something.  She really liked that idea and I started thinking about easy recipes that I could make to go along with our plans.

Meg first suggested bruschetta as she had a recipe that would only take ten minutes and that I could make ahead of time.  She sent it to me, and it looked easy enough.  With that in mind, I decided that I would make another appetizer and quickly looked up the refried bean dip recipe that we had made many times over the past few years.  I was excited about those two dishes but knew that we would need more food than just those two.  Thus, I thought back to everything that I had made in the past and settled on cheesy potatoes.  I would leave out the sausage this time as I knew that would work with the crowd I was feeding.

Everyone had a great time trying a few beers at Hiatus before returning to our home for dinner.  The potatoes cooked in the crockpot while we were gone, and I put the bread for bruschetta and bean dip in the oven as soon as we got back.  Everything was delicious, and I was very happy with how well everything turned out.  I am not noted as the cook in our family but was proud of my first attempt at making everything on my own.

Downsizing

While we were at Brett's this weekend, we talked to him and Karen a lot about downsizing.  Moving is the perfect time to do so, but since they had brought a lot of their possessions with them when the joined households in Columbus, they would have to search through their items now as they unpacked.  I suggested donating or selling some things on Marketplace to make their living space more useable.  I found an article online this week that worded exactly how I felt about decluttering the house and hoped that it would help them on their downsizing journey.  In summary:

1.     Your stuff is not your story.  Do not tie your identity to physical objects.  You are the memory, not         the souvenir that you keep.  Letting go of an object does not erase the history that you made with            it.

2.     Emotional Guilt Keeps You Buried in the Clutter.  This is especially true of inherited items that you         didn't ask for but feel guilty getting rid of.

3.    Decluttering is Not Just About Physical Space; It's About Mental Weight.  Clutter costs you time,            energy and peace of mind.

4.    Sentimentality is Not a Storage Strategy.  Holding on to something solely because it reminds you of        another time is not sentimental, it's impractical especially if those items are in boxes that you never        look through.  

5.    Your Kids Don't Want Your Collections.  Take responsibility of your things now and don't push     t         them off on someone else.                

6.    Decluttering is a Gift to Your Future Self.

7.    Organization Without Elimination is Just Rearranging Clutter.

8.    You Don't Need Permission to Let Go.

I thought these suggestions were perfect for anyone downsizing.  If I could add one thing to the list it would be:

9.    Don't Save Anything Just Because It Might Be Worth Something Someday.  It never is!                                                                                                  

Lollapalooza

While we were enjoying Bloomington, Meg spent her weekend in Chicago attending Lollapalooza with her friend Maddie.  Meg had bought tickets before she even moved to Orlando as two of her favorite artists, Olivia Rodriguez and Sabrina Carpenter were singing.  Meg sent pictures and thoroughly loved hearing them in concert.  Meg also took Maddie to see her family at the Crown Point County Fair.  Meg said that it wasn't quite as good as Elkhart County's, but she was glad to meet Maddie's sisters.  Meg also stayed in Lincoln Park while she was in Chicago and had fun walking through the zoo once again.  

Concert-going wasn't the only thing on Meg's agenda the past few days.  She visited with Grandma Jane multiple times, saw Alistair and Philip and went to dinner with Stella.  She was impressed with how well Grandma Jane was doing from her last visit.  She was also thankful for a few naps on her couch catching up on some rest from a busy weekend.  Overall, I was really happy that Meg had enjoyed her stay.  It was also nice to hear that she was ready to come back to Florida.  She and Nick have made a home in Orlando these past few months and it was nice to know that she liked it enough to miss it.    

Deep Cleaning

Not too long ago, Cameron told me that he was tired of how dirty his apartment was and was going to do some deep cleaning before his roommates returned.  We had just played cards at his place over the weekend, so I realized that it wasn't that bad.  I also knew he was a twenty-year-old male college student, and his standards of cleaning were far higher than most.  I always thought Cameron would probably take after me in the cleaning department when he got older, especially since he spent the most time with me in his teenage years. From his text, it sure seemed to me that I was correct.  I decided not to point out Cameron's deep cleaning obsession to Cal and Meg or that I thought he might be the one turning into me.  They already thought he was "nerdy" enough.

Heading Home

 Yesterday, Doug and I left Brett's apartment when they went to mass.  We had enjoyed staying in Columbus last night as it gave us a chance to catch up with both of them.  They had some projects to work on after we left, and I was thankful that we were able to give them some advice on where to start and what to prioritize.  We also had time to play Ticket to Ride with them and listen to Brett's new vinyl record player as well.  We would have loved to go to mass but needed to get to Indy for our flight.  Karen now sings in the choir, and we would enjoy seeing her sing at some point.

Our trip home was an easy one.  The plane was on time, and we were able to make it back to Ocala for dinner.  I picked Las Margaritas for our meal as we hadn't been there in quite some time.  It was wonderful to sit outside on their veranda, relax and get Doug's thoughts on the weekend.  I was happy to hear that he had had as much fun as I did.  I was also thankful for the warmth.  It had been cooler than normal in Indiana and Brett likes to keep his air conditioner set in the mid-60s.  Even with the abundance of ninety-degree days here in Florida in the summer, I'm not quite ready for 60s.