Sunday, Sunday, SUNDAAAYY…

Rory and I are both struggling to come up with tasty meatless alternatives for dinner that everyone will enjoy. Last night he took a crack at making black bean patties for hamburgers, which weren’t bad but need a little fine-tuning. The texture was certainly better than the veggie loaf from earlier in the week but the patties were HUGE. We’ve got a burger press somewhere in the kitchen – we may have to haul that out and use it the next time we attempt this recipe. Meanwhile, I’m still searching the web for healthy options that sound good. The trouble is that I think I’m a more adventurous eater and something that sounds yummy to me may be appalling to the rest of my family. Take Indian food, for instance – Rory detests the stuff and yet there are soooo many wonderful vegetarian dishes that come from India. Yes, they’re heavy on spices and some of the recipes use ingredients that are hard to find, but I love it. I have one or two dishes in my recipe collection that I haven’t tried yet but I can’t wait to give them a go. We’ll see what the other three family members have to say about them!

I started my morning walkies again this week. My first try on Friday morning ended up being only about 15 minutes long because I didn’t want to overdo it but yesterday’s walk probably clocked in at about a mile. I was very surprised to discover how much the muscles in my bum ached after the fact. I’m not complaining, mind you – those muscles haven’t seen any significant activity in months. My ankles didn’t swell and my toes behaved, so all was good. I did wear open-toed sandals rather than athletic shoes, though. I don’t want to push my luck with enclosing my feet in socks and shoes since I have NO idea how my nail beds will react to all that darkness and constriction. I really wish my stupid nails would grow in but I have a feeling that they may be gone for good. We’ll see.

I’m still struggling with my one last jewelry gift. After nearly finishing one half of the first design I faltered and began to see that it wouldn’t work as well as I’d planned, so I launched into another design, this time using a four-strand braid. I’m fighting with this one as well. The braid looks great but capping it off and adding the clasp is a complete PAIN IN THE ASS. I’m using a type of cotton cord that has a really slick outer finish and any knot that I tie in the cord has to be reinforced with glue or the knot will work itself out. GAH. I couldn’t find any leather cord in the same thickness and I’d much prefer working with that. Maybe I’ll make a pilgrimage down to Michaels today to see what they have.

I have an appointment with my oncologist’s office this coming Wednesday in San Antonio. I’ll be given all the details regarding my ongoing monthly outpatient chemo treatments as well as the medications I’ll be taking. I also have an appointment with a financial advisor in the office on the same day and honestly, this part scares me far more than learning about poisonous chemicals that I’ll be expected to ingest. I sincerely hope that our insurance company continues to pay for the treatment. They’ve been really good up until now, they even ended up paying for my entire sixth hospitalized chemo cycle after hearing the details from my doc (they were initially only going to pay for the first seven days).

I made baked mac & cheese for dinner tonight, the first time I’ve made it since before I got sick. Rory was mystified – he can’t figure out why my version turns out so velvety smooth while his is a bit granular. No idea! His version is really tasty as well and I don’t think our techniques differ that much so I really don’t know the answer to this one.