Living on the frontlines

My dad and his wife have been gone a few days now and gradually Fin and I are working into the rhythm of a new normal. I think it might take months to find a home for everything. If I did nothing but put things away, it would probably be finished in a few days, but I have so much else to do! There is so much ahead that if I think about it, it is just overwhelming. So, I’ve been putting tasks on small note cards. I pull one out, work on it until it is finished, and then enjoy the satisfaction of ripping up the card. It might not be a permanent ritual, but it is working for now. My allergies have been horrible! My eyes water. My nose is stuffy and running. I’m coughing again. I itch from head to toe. I’ve been truly ill in my life, and I’m here to tell you allergies can make you down right miserable! The four allergy medications and three inhalers I’m using to keep things manageable do an okay job, but I’m not sure if that’s because they help, or if they just make me so tired and loopy I...

This past month has been nothing short of a saga rolled into an  odyssey . I have so much to blog about it isn’t even funny! I had wanted to blog along the way, but by the time I finished the move-related tasks of the day, I was simply too tired. Part of the move I didn’t want to blog about until we were through it because being public about it, or publicly critical in any way, could have jeopardized the people who were trying to quietly help me. So, needless to say, I have a lot of stories to tell. But, for right now, I just want to post to say Fin and I are well and safely in our new apartment in Arlington Va. The apartment, as I expected, is very small – just 540 square feet. It is the size of the apartment I lived in when I was first in Kansas City. The problem is back then I was 22ish, and owned almost nothing. Now, I’m 41 going on 42 and I have stuff! I gave a LOT of things away as I was leaving, had various charities come to get bags and boxes of things, as well as furn...

I have been so busy working on the move, that I haven't updated this for a bit. We have three new HPSers on the patient registry. So far this year, most of our new people are coming from outside the US - an interesting trend. This puts us at 91 to go for this year's Hundred People Search (H.P.S.). 

I never seem to get these to come out just like mom’s cookies, and I don’t know why. But, again, to be sure I don’t lose the recipe, I wanted to get it down so am posting it on the blog. Ingredients 1 and ½ cup confectioners’ sugar (powdered sugar) 1 cup butter 1 egg 1 tsp vanilla ½ tsp almond flavoring 2 and ½ cups flour 1 tsp baking soda 1 tsp cream of tartar Mix sugar and butter. Add eggs and flavorings and mix well. Measure the flour by sifting or using the dip method. Stir in dry ingredients. Refrigerate 2 to 3 hours. Heat the oven to 375 degrees F. Scoop out a handful of dough and roll it out on a lightly floured surface. Cut with cookie cutters and then bake 7 to 8 minutes or until light brown.

I got this recipe from my mother. I am posting it because I have a few recipes I really like, but are on scraps of paper. I want to be sure I don't lose it in the move, so here it is! Grin!  Ingredients 1 small can of mushrooms 4 cups of chicken broth 2 large skinned chicken breasts 2 cans Italian-style tomatoes cut up 1 block or 8 ounces of cream cheese 1 bag frozen cheese tortellini 1 small bag of spinach Put all the ingredients, except the tortellini and the spinach in a crock pot on low and cook until the chicken is cooked through and breaks apart easily with a spoon. Add the tortellini and spinach and cook a half hour more. It will seem like too much spinach, but the spinach cooks down quite a lot. Serve.

I have an update on the Hundred People Search! I was so busy last week I didn't get to post it. We added two new HPSers to the patient registry. This puts us at 95 to go on the Hundred People Search or H.P.S. Grin! We are still going through the records from the Puerto Rico conference. It has been a hard job for Valarie because some of the handwriting is hard to read. Lesson learned from next time - we want to have a tablet of some kind for people to sign in. I have SO MUCH to blog about, both Network news as my own news, but doing things for my move is top on my list just now. Hope to add more later. 

The move saga continues. Finding an apartment in Arlington has proven to be a huge job. It would be easier if I were moving like a normal person. The options would be wider. Instead, I’m trying to find an apartment in a very specific price range to qualify for a housing grant. I need something Ryan can get to if he needs to and it can’t have too many stairs (although some are okay.) And then there’s the laundry. I’m trying to get something with a laundry in the building somewhere. I think finding one with a unit in the apartment just isn’t going to happen in my price range. I think I am going to have to go ahead and go to Arlington and put all my things in storage. This has been pretty upsetting for several reasons. First, it just adds more cost to the move. Second, it means Finley will have to go to my mom. If he doesn’t get shipped soon it will be too hot for it to be safe to ship him. I have no doubt my mom will do a great job of caring for him, but I hate so much to be parted from ...