Wednesday march 8 2017

Today it is International women day. It celebrates a special day for women in the family.

It should be mentioned that we should celebrate it  everyday, in particular it is today.

This morning I woke up early and in good spirit.

I had the day set for returning the receipt for my  money management.
This program runs in two phases:

- On Wednesday all participants are to return the receipt at the reception. (phase 1)

- On Thursday all participants get paid money for grocery and outing. (phase 2)

I am well taken care for my needs.

I called my mother in Italy. She is doing well and busy with some medical procedures.

She is in good spirit and working well with the local health system.

She sent me this image for her  women day.
It is a Spring composition. The letter in this picture is the one I sent her last week on March 1st.

She has received it today. I am very glad it reached her on time.
For this picture she also  added a few kiwis, some strawberries and radish  and a mandarin.

This morning I had my usual walking at the park.

At the apartment I voluntarily helped around by throwing  a couple of trash bags left on the staircase.

It is OK as I like to be helpful.  Whenever I can it is a good balance exercise for me as well. Stairs while I am  holding a bag. Nobody is forcing me to do it. Whenever I feel like I am gladly helping around.

I walked around the park. pushing from my heels and walking while bending my legs.

I am trying hard to maintain a good posture.

Yesterday evening after therapy I went to the gym by myself. I had nothing to buy at Personal Shopping. I am going there once  a month as otherwise I like going to the gym. Whenever I have food to cook at the apartment I let them know I am not going to the gym, and I cook for myself.
I like very much cooking. It is very relaxing cooking for oneself.
While I am doing so I typically take the time to write to my family.
A quick dinner with minestrone soup and avocado.

  I then went at the reception and filled a thank you note on behalf of James and Paul. They are working  at the maintenance department of the apartment.

They were able to  restore the Pellicano coffee maker that got wrongly cleaned in the dishwasher.

"Gives to Caesar what belongs to Caesar", gives thank and acknowledgement to the people that have spent their time fixing my espresso coffee machine.
So here is the form as a written thank you note.

 I signed out at 5 pm to go to the gym  and arrived at 5:30 pm
I greeted Karen. I had my body pump class with Ellie.
I stayed light and focused on repetition and range of motion while preventing to load my body too much. My aspiration to be a bulky person have quickly evaporated. I traded off bulkiness for wellness. Overall a good choice. Also I learned to stay light as otherwise my blood pressure become too high and my shunt hurts.

Later I had my Zumba class with Mike. It was a packed gym.

At 6:50pm I called CNS to let them know I was ready for pick up. It worked well this time. Miss  Chanel  -one of the  supervisors- came to pick me up and to  drive  me back to the apartment.
Then I signed back in.

My evening procedure ensured.  Shower and snack and my meds.
I slept very well and wake up early today.

Fully refreshed,  I  made   time to set up the  slow cooker at the apartment.

I quickly cut celery stalks, carrots,a full  onion and several Russel potatoes.

I used a large piece of pork loin that I had purchased from Trader Joe's.

I seasoned the meat with pyramid salt, pepper and dry herbs.

I also added a vegetable bouillon cube for giving extra flavor. I made sure the slow cooker top was firmly closed before leaving.

I  let  it cook on high setting  while I am going to be  in therapy today.
It  will be cooked by the time I am back at the apartment.
I should leave it  about 5 hours to cook
I called and let CNS know about it, it is fine they told me.

 When I am back today dinner will be ready and lunch for tomorrow  as well. It is going to provide protein and more than enough for the next several days. I normally do not eat pork meat. There is no particular reason but normally I don't. It is actually a lean cut of meat. I have not plan to use any type of meat sauce as I like to eat my food the way it comes out from the pot.

I had a quick lunch with vegetable lentil soup, a large grapefruit and a couple of slice of brown bread.

I had a quick coffee and then I washed carefully my teeth.

I called my mother in law back in Rome, Italy. She was at home. She was happy to receive my call.
I wished her a happy women day. She mentioned she appreciated my calling her very much.

She is going to be back visiting us in California soon. At the end of April it is Easter time. I believe she is coming to California to spend the holiday with us.

I am sure the whole family is going to be happy to see her.

While here Simona will have plan to move around for her job. She has to travel a lot while our kids are going to taken care by Anna.

Meanwhile Simona is giving a seminar at Harvard University.

Simona is in Cambridge Massachusetts
She has to travel because of her job at Caltech.

I am sure she is doing her best to support the family, as I am doing my best to make sure she does not have many distraction from her demanding job.

I know her job as  Professor at Caltech is very important for the whole family.

Enjoy the reading, it is dedicated to you mon amour