Prime rib at Gilda's

The last couple of days it has gotten really hot here really early so Brodie and I haven't been able to go on a very long walk.  Wednesday evening is prime rib night at Gilda's so pretty much the old neighborhood, about 10 of us, decided to stroll down there and have dinner, it was so nice to be able to sit down and talk to everyone, usually it's standing in the middle of the street or just a quick hello as we walk by.  I think are going to try to do it once a month.

Have you ever noticed that sometimes on the days when you stay home to do nothing end up being the busiest?  Today is Susanna day off so I was just going to stay in bed and watch some movies.  My mom gave me some coffee and some breakfast before she left for Los Gatos, she was taking Rosie to his doctor's appointment.  My uncle came by to make sure everything was OK, he was up on the roof and needed a break.  After he left my aunt called and asked if I needed anything from Costco, I told her if they were going to get a hotdog I would love one... they have the best hot dogs.  My uncle came back with a hot dog and a pink lemonade and then told me that he did not get one because he was supposed to be eating better, I felt a little guilty but I ate it anyway.  About an hour later Cassie to see if I was hungry and she hung out for a while and watched Will and Grace with me before her soccer game... it was about 90° outside.  About an hour later Heather came by and we visited for a while and she brought me some Keller mashed potatoes, I can't remember what she said she put in them but they were awesome.  I heard the front door open so I looked up, there is an alarm on the doors and windows so I can tell when they are opened and I have surveillance cameras in my room.  I see Brodie walking out the front door, who thought it would be a good idea to teach her to open the door?  She has never done that before unless I go outside without her.  I think that it had been a while and she needed to go to the bathroom.  I saw her walk down the driveway so I called my aunt and pulled her to be on the lookout for a visitor, Brodie likes to go over there because they have a big yard and a lawn.  She found Brodie and started to bring herback and apparently my mom's dog also went out the front door, went to the bathroom and was waiting outside my bedroom door.  Autumn came over because she was taking Yoda, their dog, for a walk to my aunt took Brodie and went with her.  My uncle came by again with some stew that they had made so I had a bowl, it was delicious and I ate WAY too much today... I will start my diet tomorrow.

I got an e-mail from Corinne, she got her haircut and she really look a lot older, she is so cute.

The final papers...

Pat came by with a final papers to close escrow on my ex-house in San Jose, I am really glad to get rid of it.  She brought by the gentleman, Floyd, who took down the rails for the ceiling lift and did the maintenance, his son as ALS and he is painting, patching, repairing and fixing everything at my old place in exchange for the rails.

By the time they left it was already 80° outside so unfortunately Brodie and I did not get to go for a walk.  I ended up just sitting around all day and I thought I was going to go crazy, I cannot believe that when I used to live in San Jose I sat around a lot and it didn't bother me.  I can not get over how lucky I feel to live in Santa Cruz where it is so beautiful, whenever we go cruising around I just can't stop smiling.

Heather came by to hook me up for a couple of days, she made Pork loin marinated in hoisin sauce, spinach and cheese raviolis with sausage, brown rice, sautéed spinach with arugula, roasted eggplant, another chicken and monster cheese wrap... that should last me until I see her again on Thursday, I'm sure it will last me through the weekend.

Cribbage

On Thursday Brodie & I went for a walk to the lagoon, it is so beautiful there.  We went on the trail that led to the top of the hill past the tennis courts, past the playground and through the park.  I wanted to go a long the trail that leads to the boardwalk and wharf but Brodie started limping so we came back through the lagoon and came back home, I hope this is not an indication that she's not going to be able to go on long walks anymore because it breaks my heart to see her limp and it breaks her heart if I leave her home.  The fillets that Heather made were awesome and the sauce was killer.  I have never put sauce on anything, gravy, ketchup... I always thought it was covering up the taste of what you are eating but ever since I started tasting Heather's sauces I am addicted, her sauces just make everything tastes better.

Friday night was the last night of the concert on the boardwalk and the band that was playing there was The Tubes, of course I didn't notice until after I was already in bed, I would have loved to have seen the concert.  Next summer I'm going to go to every concert that I can now that I know I can do it by myself, with Brodie.

On Saturday my uncle and my mom made a HUGE pot of chili and we were supposed to have some friends over to play cribbage.  At was 7:30 a.m. and Susanna wasn't here so I gave her a call on her cell phone and she said that she called and left me a message at 5 a.m. to let me know that she wouldn't be in because she wasn't feeling good.  After she said that I remembered my cell phone waking up and somebody leaving a message.  My uncle came over to tell us that one of the couples that was going to come over was sick and not going to be able to make it so I decided to just stay in bed and they could just play without me.  They decided to wait and do it on Sunday instead.

After I got up on Sunday I took Brodie for a walk and we decided to try a new route, this is going to be our new routine.  I came home and Heather was cooking.  I had talked to her yesterday and I told her that I really needed to start losing some weight and she said that she would help me out.  Tonight she made this awesome fish, bustle sprouts and some kind of grain thing thatis supposed to be really good for you, it looked like couscous and it actually tasted really good.  She also made me a big salad and a wrap for tomorrow.  She's coming back over tomorrow to set me up for a few days and hold me over while she is at work.

A short visit and a killer dinner...

Stanley and Corinne left on Sunday afternoon at my mom went to the San Jose Airport to pick up David Sunday evening.

On Monday I had an appointment in Watsonville the wound care clinic and while I was there I met a doctor who specializes in spinal cord injury.  She was there because she was trying to open up a wound care clinic at the hospital where she works.  As it turns out she works at Dominican Hospital in Santa Cruz.  I had heard of her through a girl I met in my support chat room on AOL and I had written her name down so I could look her up, small world.  She is going to set me up for a wheelchair evaluation so I can get a different driving system for my new chair.

On Tuesday Heather came by to visit for a while.  She was tired of thinking all weekend so asked us what we would like for dinner, David suggested something with chicken, we decided on chicken Parmesan.  Heather brought over two of the biggest chicken breasts I have ever seen in my life, she cut them in half and they were still huge.  She made the best chicken Parmesan, mashed potatoes, roasted vegetables and salad any of us have ever tasted.  My uncle and aunt came over for dinner and I still had leftovers for two days.

When we got back home David was working away on Multimedia Max, I still was not able to adjust the thermostat or turn off the lights in my bedroom.  Monday evening we went over to our new favorite Mexican restaurant to eat and my uncle and aunt stopped by to join us.

I dropped my new chair off yesterday so they could fix the leg rest, apparently when my nephew was helping me move it he ran into a parked car.  I have had a problem with it beeping a lot when I turned it on and believe it or not it actually happened while the chair was in the shop, usually it never happens when you want it to.  The guy called the manufacture and they told him how to fix it and he thought he fixed it up when he was taking it out to the van it did it again so they decided to keep it at the shop, the guy said he could not look at it until next month so luckily I have my old reliable backup chair.

Charlie, Angie & Parker came by today, Parker is getting so big and he is so cute and happy.  Terri needed a new car so they picked one out yesterday and wanted to take it for a drive so they drove to Santa Cruz and stopped by.  Unfortunately I stayed in bed today so I couldn't go outside and check it out but from what I could see in the surveillance cameras it was gorgeous.

Yesterday was Alex's, the guy across the street, birthday so Heather fixed him a filet, mashed potatoes, salad and I'm not sure what else.  Tonight she came over and brought me a filet for tomorrow night and made the killer sauce to go over the top, I tasted it and it really is over the top.  She also made her red roasted garlic potatoes... I can not wait for dinner tomorrow.

Our final weekend with Corinne

 

On Friday Corinne and I cruised over to Ross to see if we could find a birthday present for Jack, the little boy across the street.  It is really cool cruising around with Brodie on my left and Corinne standing on the back of my chair, I'm just sorry I couldn't get a picture of it.  We were invited to a birthday party for him on Saturday.  I don't really know him very well and I also don't know what to get seven-year-old so I decided to make him a card and put $10 in it, he loved it.  After we got back Heather called and said that she had some time and she was going to come over and make a couple of dishes for us.  She brought over some  Sea Bass and made some of her killer lemon, butter and caper sauce, some roasted garlic potatoes, sauteed spinach and some rice.  She also made some wraps to last us through the weekend.

The Gin Blossoms were performing at the boardwalk on Friday and I really wanted to go.  I was hoping my brother would come down on Friday evening but he had something to do so we ended up going over to my aunt's house and watching The Bucket List and it was a really good movie.  Corinne said that she would go to the concert with me but I really could not see her sitting still for an hour or two, however long the concert was but it was really nice of her to offer.

I had a lot of fun at the birthday party, Autumn and Alex have some really neat friends.  Carrie, by massage therapist, was there and it was really nice to actually get to talk to her, usually she is telling me not to talk and to relax.  They barbecued hot dogs, as bad as they are for you I LOVE them.

Today what kind of a lazy day.  I got up and Stanley fixed breakfast, Stanley came last night to take Corinne home, and we just kind of what a couple of movies and sat around.  My mom is leaving later on to pick David up at the San Jose Airport, he will be staying until Wednesday morning.

Running into old friends...

Yesterday Corinne and I decided to spend the day at the boardwalk.  I felt kind of bad and I wish that she had somebody to go on the right with but she said she didn't mind going by herself, the only ride she wanted somebody to go on with was the log ride.  Eventually she did find somebody so I think she got to do everything that she wanted to do.  We ended up coming home early because I was getting overheated, in the late part of the day there's just no shade at the boardwalk.  I was waiting for Corinne at one of the rides and I heard somebody say "hello Tammie" I looked over and saw a familiar face but I didn't recognize who she was, she had sunglasses on.  She said " It's Kimmy Anderson".  When I was in eighth grade and living in the Santa Cruz Mountains we were really good friends.  We have had to eighth grade reunions and I got to see her and talk to her again.  She is such a nice lady and I hope we run into each other again.  She was with her daughter and I tried to talk them into going on the log ride with Corinne but her daughter didn't want to go at the time.

Running into old friends...

Yesterday Corinne and I decided to spend the day at the boardwalk.  I felt kind of bad and I wished that she had somebody to go on the rides with but she said she didn't mind going by herself, the only ride she wanted somebody to go on with was the log ride.  Eventually she did find somebody so I think she got to do everything that she wanted to do.  We ended up coming home early because I was getting overheated, in the late part of the day there's just no shade at the boardwalk.  I was waiting for Corinne at one of the rides and I heard somebody say "hello Tammie" I looked over and saw a familiar face but I didn't recognize who she was, she had sunglasses on.  She said " It's Kimmy Anderson".  When I was in eighth grade and living in the Santa Cruz Mountains we were really good friends.  We have had to eighth grade reunions and I got to see her and talk to her again.  She is such a nice lady and I hope we run into each other again.  She was with her daughter and I tried to talk them into going on the log ride with Corinne but her daughter didn't want to go at the time.