Elayne Riggs' Journal (for Leah)

Sunday, July 06, 2025

Vacation's End

I can't look at today as the end of a vacation week, as I'll continue to take every Wednesday off until the end of next month. But it's been nice and relaxing, and I'm ready to get back into the swing of things, particularly as I get to work from home tomorrow. I just hope I can start to catch my breath a little better, I had to forgo the bike again today and spent much of my time in bed just not feeling up to anything. I hope this all turns out to be psychological...

Saturday, July 05, 2025

Least Resistance

Not much of a shopping trip today, but we secured a few vegetables to cook in the air fryer later in the week and got our usual sushi lunch. They didn't have my usual nigiri at the supermarket so I opted for a poke bowl, which I instantly regretted when I realized they'd slathered a whole bunch of spicy sauce right beneath the fish. I did get on the bike today, but my continued breathing issues meant I only did 15 minutes instead of 20, which still isn't bad. Gearing up for getting back to work in two days; I guess I'm ready as I've already started having work-related dreams. 

Friday, July 04, 2025

In a Pickle

The country, certainly. Goodness only knows what a mess we'll be in next year at this time for the 250th anniversary of our declaration of independence from the last tyrant. But I can't think too much about it, it permeates my sleep and generally leads to despair and an inability to take any sort of personal action. And personal action is what drives me forward. Today I pickled my radishes and got more organizational things done. I've been neglecting personal upkeep but this weather just takes it out of me, so I'm hoping to get back on the bike tomorrow, if I can get some sleep when these local fireworks stop..

Thursday, July 03, 2025

I'm So Dizzy, My Head is Spinning

Maybe it's the weather. Maybe it's the time of man. But man, I could do without all this dizziness! I was hoping to continue the week's organization by steaming some of my work tops, but not in this state. At least my to-be-read pile has dwindled considerably and the DVR is all but empty (finally caught up with Outlander!). And I'm going to try pickling some radishes tomorrow, my first attempt at pickling anything. May as well experiment! Now, back to watching the NY baseball teams most probably lose... at least tomorrow one of them will win!

Wednesday, July 02, 2025

Organized!

Well, not everything works out the way it's planned, but at least some things are taken care of. We can now get into all of our kitchen utensil drawers to find whatever we need. I love the feeling of having organized! We celebrated by going out for sushi, as we had to pick up one of Robin's prescriptions anyway and I don't feel like doing that on Saturday when we do our regular food shopping. Speaking of which, I also did a bit of last-minute Independence Day grocery shopping at the same mall where the sushi place is, so we're more than set for Friday. The only issue is my continued inability to breathe, which I'm currently chalking up to a possible summer cold. I could hardly catch my breath after climbing the outside stairs, and had to wait at the inside landing for at least a minute before proceeding. Good thing we have no plans for the rest of my vacay...

Tuesday, July 01, 2025

Oh Canada

White Rabbits, and happy Canada Day to those who celebrate! It might have been nice to see the Canada Day celebrations prior to the Blue Jays-Yankees game in which the Bronx Bombers again got clobbered, but of course American TV doesn't want us to see other countries being feted even as they host us. Our great sojourn today was to the nearby hospital a short bus ride away to get our quarterly blood draws for our A1C and so forth. Didn't even need a mask on the way down, the bus was so empty, but it was packed to standing room only on the way back, and I think that put paid to the rest of the day. Our plans for tomorrow have been altered; as I arrived home with somewhat labored breathing due to either a summer cold or the heat, it's going to be too much on me to take the car in tomorrow and walk around the area as I'd hoped. Instead we'll be going for a mid-week sushi lunch before picking up last-minute Independence Day groceries and Robin's meds from the pharmacy. In the meantime, I'm through with the catalogs I peruse in the "reading room" so I'm making headway (weird to go through Christmas catalogs now)!

Monday, June 30, 2025

The Wilds of NJ

Visited Mom today in the long-term care facility, and my brother (who's there on average once or twice daily since it's right near his home) showed up as well, so we had a nice little sibling reunion and chat. I now have a bead on a different parking lot to use next time I visit, in case the main one is full up, so I might go back to Wednesday trips. Alas, there was quite the hold-up on the way back to the GW Bridge, as construction was just finishing up and there was a minor accident on the lead-up as well, so a 65-minute trip turned into at least 90, and I'm plumb exhausted. Air frying the mushrooms didn't quite go as planned, I need to give them a lot less time, and the veggie latkes a bit more time as they were cold on one side, but of course we're still in the experimental stages. Tomorrow we head over the Broadway Bridge to the local hospital for our quarterly blood draw, then I've made no specific plans for the rest of the week given the temps and storms and whatnot. Particularly the whatnot.

Sunday, June 29, 2025

Shelved

Hoorah, the new kitchen shelving arrived, Rob assembled it in minutes, and all the pots and pans are out of the living room and into their new spots! Of course it's been too hot to cook, but we're still having fun with our air fryer. We hit the farmers market this morning (probably a mistake considering the temps) and got some mushrooms, which I'll experiment with air frying tomorrow to add them to a salad. That's if I have the energy after visiting Mom. The week is shaping up nicely! 

Saturday, June 28, 2025

When You Own An Air Fryer...

...everything looks like it needs to be air-fried. Today we shopped for the coming Independence Day weekend, but also for things specifically designed to be air-fried, and boy howdy did we come home with a lot! I also accomplished my usual Saturday "chores" and even caught up on finances in anticipation of paying our rent. So far I'm in good shape and very hungry to try some of this stuff! Our new kitchen shelving arrives tomorrow so I can finally rearrange our pots and pans. I'm actually trying to get a lot of the usual stuff out of the way so we can concentrate on relaxing, visiting Mom on Monday, maybe doing local things like getting our quarterly blood draw or taking the car in for an oil change... fairly low-stress things for a low-stress week!

Friday, June 27, 2025

Fry Day

The cute li'l air fryer is here and sitting on the hutch, alongside the coffee maker that will probably be put into storage as Robin's more a tea-drinker now (and so am I) and our current toaster that may be discarded as well because the air fryer can do toast! We tried it this evening, after I logged off work to officially start my Summer Shutdown week, on veggie fries and they came out very well. Should be a nice addition! Rob put in the order for our kitchen shelving now that we know the dimensions of everything, so all our pots and pans should be out of the living room and back where they belong by the end of this weekend,  No real plans for the coming week, just vague notions of things I might like to do. Comics will probably arrive tomorrow so reading is near the top of my list. Mostly I just want to rest...