Day 17: Festive Lights!

Day 17: Add some festive lighting to any room.

Doesn't matter what time of year it is, add some festive (or as we like to call 'em, "happy") lights to your decorations.  Sort of like we did back in college, or for those who were really hip, high school (I was not really hip).

I remember stringing old (non-led) christmas lights around the perimeter of my room, and on nights when I need warm fuzzies, I'd turn off the overhead and plug in the christmas lights. They gave a soft glow to the room & made the surroundings feel, well, for lack of a better word, special.  Then (as trite as it might be) I'd play some Miles Davis or John Coltraine, and it was magic.

We have several strings of light hung in our house now, but my favorite is the colorful lights hung around our French doors (up all year round):

Day 16: Be Someone's Cheerleader

Monday: Be Someone's Cheerleader (even if they don't know it).

Over the past couple of years we've noticed a number of people who get out and walk in our (high trafficked) neighborhood, but there's this one guy - a big, burly (young) guy who we would see every day, with his headphones on - walking at a really good clip, up the road and back (he probably walked 2 or 3 miles).  I mean, this guy was not in shape, but every day he'd push passed our windows & I would think to myself 'Good Job Man! You're Awesome!'  I was just totally impressed with him - the fact that he was out there every day, clearly exercising, trying to make his life (& health) better was awe inspiring. (we still see him every once in awhile, looking leaner, I'm guessing he's changed his route).

Now, I never shouted out the window, "Good Job!" 'cuz that might be offensive or freak him out, but whenever I see ANYONE doing something good (like exercising), I always become their cheerleader, especially if it looks hard.  I always tell them Good Job, whether or not they hear it.  (Of course, we're usually in the car driving by). I figure the Universe hears it & maybe takes that energy where it needs to go.

Yesterday, still tired from chemo and an MRI scan, Tracy and I went for a walk.  Now the thing you need to know about chemo-fatigue is that it takes EVERYthing out of you.  Seemingly simple tasks (like walking to the kitchen and back) can completely do you in. So yesterday, when I went for a walk, I was only able to go a little way before my legs got all wobbly and we had to turn around.  At that moment, Tracy turned to me and said, "You didn't see them, and you can't hear them, but a car full of people just drove by shouting 'Good Job!'" (I nearly cried).

Day 15: Enjoy the Sunset

Saturday: Enjoy the Sunset.

This weekend, my friend Glenn Blakeslee hosted a Day of Sunsets over on Facebook. The purpose was to gather and appreciate that day's sunset from all over the globe. (Same sun, same globe, millions of view points - how extraordinary!)

Capetown, South Africa

Kunsan AB, South Korea

Muscat, Oman

Mohave Desert

Day 14: Celebrate Something, Anything

Thursday: Have a Celebration

Today, I had something to celebrate. It was my final Chemo treatment, so we took ourselves out for a nice Linner (Lunch/Dinner).  But growing up, whenever my family needed to have a celebration (either to erase a bad day, or if we just needed something fun), we'd walk up to the corner grocery store and get a cake and some candles and declare it someone's UNbirthday. These usually popped up several times a year and were always a surprise. And they always ended in laughter, sighs (& sugar highs).

You can make it as elaborate, eclectic, or simple as you like. Pull out the china and have a Mad Hatter's tea party, with slanty, imperfect yet yummy homemade cakes; OR go to the bakery/grocery store and pick up one of their creations (if they have a cake wreck, all the better). Invite friends, make it a family ordeal, or just a party for one - whatever you need. And it doesn't have to be something big - it can just be a celebration of the fact that you made it through the day (Good Job!).

So, a very merry unbirthday... to you, yes you.

Day 13: Write a Letter

Wednesday: Make someone's  day, send a card or write a letter (& mail it).

One of the things I'm realizing as I'm going through this ordeal of cancer treatment is that it is REALLY nice when I go to the mailbox and pull out good mail (not just bills).

What I also realized was that I like to write letters. I have always had the intention of being a letter writer. So much so that I have drawers and drawers full of cute cards that I've picked up over the years, but somehow, even if I've managed to write a letter, more often than not it doesn't get sent (wrong mailing address, no stamps, gets hidden under a stack of other stuff, yadda' yadda' yadda') - we've all been there, right?

Well, this week, I opted to step away from the computer (especially Facebook), and write a couple of cards a day. I start out by addressing the envelopes and getting stamps on them; write even the briefest of notes (Thinking about you). Then make an intention to walk to the mailbox each day with letters in hand. (So far, so good).

We just don't spend the time these days to reach out like we used to.  Sites like Facebook make it easy to catch up, but the thought that goes into a hand written note is just so nice, and it has the ability to make someone's day.

Day 12: Listen to the Rain

Tuesday: Listening to the rain.

I think it was W.C. Fields who, while going through withdrawal for alcohol, could not fall asleep without the sound of rain on the roof.  Of course, living in L.A., a city where it never rains, made it difficult. It got to the point where someone would have to stand outside his house, with a hose aimed at the roof, to mimic the sounds of rain in order for him to fall asleep. (btw, how nice was that person to ease his pain by standing outside & spraying the roof with water? Seriously, humanity can be pretty great). These days, there's a whole industry built around mimicking soothing sounds (I've no doubt that there's an app for that).

Regardless, nothing compares to the actual sound of rain. The little plicks and plops, as drops hit tree leaves, structures, or ground, do something to the nervous system. Somehow I breathe easier and my stress levels abate.  So last night, as I was falling asleep, I was pleased to hear rain outside my window, and equally lovely was waking up to it.

Listen to the rain:

Day 11: Pay attention

Monday: Pay attention and the magic finds you.

I made it to the end of my day and was all prepared to call it a day sans magic.  It was a day full of frustration as one of our computers is trying its best to throw in the towel. Granted, it's a 10 year old refurbished lap top (mac), but still.... We spent a good 8 hours trying to breathe life back into it and may've been somewhat successful in extending its life span another month or two - but that led us down a dark financial path.  Where, I ask, will we find the moolah to buy another computer? 'cuz let's face it, we gots to have a computer.

This, of course, led to me sorting through medical bills (talk about your good times), and getting depressed. If I'd had a pint of ice cream in the freezer, I'd have crawled onto the couch in my pjs and eaten it.

In lieu of ice cream and the couch, I crawled into bed & a very subtle, yet miraculous thing happened.  The street we live on (which is quite busy), got REALLY quiet. So quiet that I could hear the crickets put on a symphony for a good 5 minutes. It was amazing. I realized that magic is happening all the time, you just have to be paying attention, and for most of the day, I'd forgotten to pay attention.

So thank you Universe, for both the reminder and the symphony. It was pretty great.

Day 10: Sing

Sunday: Singing Meditation (& some banana bread).

Because we played for most of the day yesterday & part of the day on Friday, we had to buckle down and do some work today. Which really meant, have a leisurely breakfast, watch some cooking shows on PBS, go out and run an errand that really didn't need to be run today, come home and eat some lunch, watch another cooking show on PBS, bake some banana bread (both with and without chocolate chips).... AND THEN do some work. But only for like an hour before making dinner and going out for the evening.  Yep, it's hard work buckling down, but you gotta' do what you gotta' do.

After dinner we went to the monthly singing meditation at the UU church. Nothing like an hour of melding voices, chants, and good company to make you feel warm and fuzzy. Except maybe coming home to warm banana bread....

Day 9: Do Something Different

Saturday. Do something different.

Yesterday, whilst running our errands, we saw a sign for an estate sale (like an actual estate sale, not someone running a yard sale & calling it an 'estate sale'). So we thought it might be fun to check it out.  (loads of other people thought so too). We thought we might avoid the crowds if we went in the afternoon (silly us).

When we got there, people were trying to outbid each other for a patio set on display in the driveway (very exciting to watch - almost like performance art). We made our way inside, where people were acting like line backers, blocking you in case you found the good stuff first.  One woman, kept side stepping to keep me from looking at the cookbooks along an entire wall in front of her (she used the same moves on Tracy, when Tracy was looking at stuff on a table).

Another (babushka type) woman, with her three young children used the, "I'm not budging, and there's no room to get around me, so you'll just have to wait until I decide to move" tactic.  I ran into her in the hallway, and again in several bedroom doorways, where she just decided to keep sentry until her husband showed up.

We didn't see babushka leave with anything, but side stepper left with a stack of cookbooks, a decorative sheaf of wheat, and a brownie camera (still in the box). So kids, the next time you're at an estate sale, it appears the side stepping move reaps rewards. (Just in case you needed a strategy).

Now, you have to understand that this kind of human behavior is extremely entertaining to us. Rather than be annoyed, we just watched things unfold - again, it's like performance art (and so much more fun than getting your ire up).

Oh, and we bought something! a box full of "vintage" bobbins and quills. Not that we do any weaving or spinning - they just looked so freakin' cool:

Oh, right, and as we were leaving, I was trying to take a picture of Tracy on my iPhone - which, for anyone with a camera phone (which, just might be everyone), you'll know that it's a wide angle lens - in order to get a good close up, you need to be, well, close up. So I'm standing maybe 2 feet from Tracy, holding up my phone in the universal "I'm taking a picture" pose - when some guy from the sale walks right between us.... TWICE! He got ten feet beyond us, turned back around, and followed the same path back.  Now, this wouldn't be unusual, but we were not the path of least resistance. We were tucked out of the way, so he would have had to've made an effort to loop toward us, then back out to his destination. I watched him cross our path both times, and he had NO IDEA!  Talk about the Theater of the Real! It was AWESOME.

Day 8: Buy a Stranger a Cuppa' Joe

Friday: make someone's day.

Today's magic was accidental.  Prior to running errands, we stopped for lattes & they made us an extra. So, we decided to give it to the next person we saw (who looked like they might be in need of a coffee).  Turns out to have been the woman behind the counter at the 5th Season (gardening supply) store, whose words were "That NEVER happens, thank you!"

So now I'm thinking, over this retail holiday season, why not surprise total strangers (working their pah'tooties off at some retail job) with a $3 cup of coffee? How cool would that be?

Day 7: Laugh

Thursday: writing & laughing.

Today we had an appointment with the oncologist. A man of few words, he poked and prodded, looked at my lab work, proclaimed that he thought my tumors were smaller, then sent us on our way. Not very magical.  In fact, we were hard pressed to think of / create magical things until this evening, when I tagged along to Tracy's Journaling Workshop (which she teaches once a month through Hirsch Wellness Network).

While I didn't wow myself with my attempts at writing, I had a tremendous amount of fun, once again, with the people who showed up and shared their stories (most of which were funny). So I spent my evening laughing out loud, something I LOVE doing, but don't do nearly enough.

Day 6: Let Your 7 Year Old Fashionista Out

Wednesday: Ice cream & striped socks.

I let my 7-year-old fashionista self have free range over the closet and this is what she chose for me to wear (yes, those are orange pants):

In addition, Tracy took me out for ice cream at the Brusters around the corner from us.  On the menu: bright orange, pumpkin ice cream!  I had to try it, even though my taste buds are all wonky (thanks to the chemo). Amazingly, it tasted JUST like pumpkin pie - my all time favorite (followed closely by sweet potato pie, you know, in case you ever wanted to make me a pie. just sayin').

Day 5: Go For a Walk

Tuesday: appreciating the fall colors.

We went for a walk today and got horribly, terribly excited by the fall foliage. It's just amazing what nature can do.

Day 4: Bake Bread

Monday: making home made bread.


Today I missed the smell of my Grandma's house - a mixture of percolated coffee and baked sweet bread (usually Vetebrod - a Swedish cardamom bread, that anyone else is hard pressed to get a piece of because I hardily devour its toasted goodness). Of course, that recipe still resides with my grandmother, so today I tried a Portuguese sweetbread recipe - which was super easy, thanks to my bread machine (bought at the thrift store for $8. go me.)

Portuguese Sweet Bread:


3 TBS Instant Potato Flakes
1/4 c. sweetened condensed milk
1/4 c. water
1/2 tsp. vanilla extract
1/4 tsp. lemon extract or grated rind of one lemon
2 eggs
3 c. bread flour
1 tsp. salt
4 TBS. butter
1/3 c. sugar
Pinch of ground nutmeg
3 tsp. active dry yeast
1 egg white, lightly beaten


Place all ingredients except egg white in bread pan, select Dough setting, and press start.


When dough has risen long enough, the machine will beep. Turn off bread machine, remove bread pan, and turn out dough onto a floured countertop or cutting board.


Grease an 8 or 9 inch pie tin. Gently roll and stretch the dough into a 30 inch rope of even thickness from one end to the other. Starting at one end and working to the other, gently twist the rope. Place one end of the twisted rope of dough in the center of the greased pie tin; carefully coil the rest of the rope around the center, filling the pan. Cover and let rise in a warm oven at least one hour until doubled. (Hint: To warm oven slightly, turn oven on warm setting for two minutes, then turn it off, and place covered dough in oven to rise. Remove pan from oven to preheat).


Preheat oven to 325ºF. Brush dough with egg white. Bake for 50-60 minutes until brown. Remove from oven, cool on rack in pan. When cool, remove from pan, thinly slice, and serve.

[From: Bread Machine Magic, Linda Rehberg & Lois Conway]

Day 3: Create

Sunday: attended a creativity workshop & watched an old movie.

All sorts of tired, but the second part of the bookmaking workshop started at 1pm & I wasn't about to miss that.  I set Tracy up at the studio and I found my way back to the workshop, where I almost crawled onto their nice comfy couch to take a nap (but, again, did not because I was having too much fun).

Sunday Night:

We went out and bought White Christmas just so we could sing along to "sisters." Spent the evening watching that and eating comfort food.

Day 2: Do Something For You

Saturday.

Tired started to set in, but there was a bookmaking workshop I wanted to attend. So I pulled at all of my reserves. I told myself that if I got too tired I could leave (which, of course, I did not because I was having too much fun).

Saturday night.

We watched the first wintry themed movie of the year: Serendipity (with John Cusack).

Day 1

Day one started very simply with sleeping in. It was typical, drizzly, chilly fall weather and the flannel sheets were just too all-over inviting, so we gave ourselves permission to lounge about. The cats (of which we have two) also found this to be absolutely fabulous and were soon pushing us out of the way with their deep, twisting (and abnormally powerful) stretches.  Somehow we ended up bent around the cats, in awkward positions, so's to maintain their comfort (amazing how they do that).  Eventually, we had to admit to our discomfort level and leave the bed - but it was nice while it lasted.

I should first say that Day one was a Friday & fell on a 'post-chemo' day.  I'm receiving treatments for breast cancer that was detected over the summer. My treatments began in August, and I am now nearing the end with just one more treatment left before moving on to the next (somewhat terrifying) step of surgery and radiation. With this much scary stuff on the horizon, we really felt the need to focus on happier, more magical things. It started out with us just trying to capture some of the early holiday spirit, since we really don't know what our holidays will look like, but it's really much more than that. It's finding and holding on to the joy that makes life so wonderful - whether at Christmas time or beyond.

Next, as silly and consumer-ly as it sounds, we treated ourselves to a fancy cup of coffee - then took ourselves window shopping at Ten Thousand Villages, where we smelled (and bought) some lovely soaps, played with musical instruments, petted the store dog (Lizzy) - who was so soft, you didn't want to stop petting her - and touched everything.

Usually, this would be enough to do me in, but we then decided it would be great to make our own Christmas cards this year. So we went out and bought paper and supplies, took everything home, laid it all out and basked in the creativity of it all. Too tired to do anything else, we made plans for the cards, then went off to our respective corners to work a bit.