Tonight I made Beef Stroganoff for dinner. I used an instant pot recipe and it was so good. We were both pleasantly surprised with how good it came out.  I’ve shared the recipe after the break

I’ve really been getting into cooking lately. Over the weekend I made Fruit Salad for both of us for the week as well as Raspberry & Yogurt parfaits for Mark to take to work. This week we plan on having Salmon Patties with Homemade Cole slaw, Home made Hamburgers & Fries, Freshly battered fish fillets and I would like to make a corned beef brisket and cabbage over the weekend.

It’s so nice to finally have a decent kitchen to cook in and I’ve been really enjoying it.

So, it’s been a while since I posted, but in that time so much has happened for us. I finally earned my Associates degree (YAY), Then I started working for home…which I’m thrilled with. It was hard for us with me having to go into the office because poor Mark was sacrificing his lunch breaks to drive home and take me to work. Now that I’m working at home that’s obviously no longer an issue.

We bought a house!!! My cousin is a real estate agent and she helped so much, I honestly don’t think we could have done it without her. But we found a nice 1200 sq ft. 1 bathroom, 2 bedroom, 2 car garage with basement that is perfect for us and we both adore it. I also finally got my drivers license again. I didn’t have it for a really long time due to being sick, but no more! I’m finally driving again! Speaking of driving, we now have a new car. I mean we had a brand new one we bought right before the Pandemic started, but then a week after we moved into our new house (The End of October, 2021), the front driver side axel broke! Well as luck would have it, we were just at the point where the dealer was ready to offer us a trade in. So we took them up on it and and now have a 2022 Chevy Trax. It’s a nice car and we both enjoy driving it.  So a new car and a new house within two weeks of one another.

Thanksgiving was good, My Parents, Sister, 2 Nephews and a Niece came over and I made a big spread. We all feasted and just enjoyed each other’s company. Then at the beginning of December we got the call that Mark’s Dad had been hospitalized with Aggressive Lung Cancer, and on the 8th he passed away. It was indeed a difficult time. Also I worked on both Christmas & New Years, so we didn’t do much for those between my working and losing his father.

Since then things have seemed to calm down and nothing truly exciting has happened. Mark’s Mom is moving down here from Syracuse New York to be near us at the end of April and we’ll be seeing My brother & sister-in-law for the first time in over 12 years or so. We’re looking forward to that.

We have plenty of plans for the summer, like building a patio area in our backyard with a barbecue pit and picnic/grill area.  So I’ll probably be posting about that, but that’s pretty much everything that’s happened recently. Anway…until next time!

It’s official Mark and I are finally home owners!!!

I worked over this holiday weekend but had both Friday and Today (Monday) off. Today I took the opportunity to make some fresh salsa for snacking, as well as some Broccoli and Cheese soup for lunches. I love broccoli and cheese soup it’s super tasty. I’ve included the recipe after the break.

Work has been great. I can’t believe I’ve already been there three months! I’m working in telecommunications support at Trihealth. Which basically means I’m a telephone operator. So when you call the main number there is a chance you’ll talk to me to direct your call. We also manage in house calls for the Trihealth hospitals. It’s a neat job and the people I work with are super nice, I like them all. I feel great knowing I’m helping people and that’s been the best part about the job.

I’m going to try and write more often on my blog, but I have no idea how that will work out as I’m always dipping my hands into something. For instance, I’m attempting to grow an indoor herb garden at the moment. I have Sage, ,Basil, Thyme, Oregano, Cilantro, Rosemary, Dill, Italian Parsley, Chives, and catnip. Some of it is growing quite well already. Others I’m still waiting on to sprout. I have my fingers crossed.

Well I’m off to enjoy some down time. I’m going to game for a little while….

Well ever since school started I’ve been driving myself crazy trying to keep up. You see I’m almost done with my associates degree in Medical Administration, and having already completed my computers applications certificate, I thought I should add a coding specialist certificate as well. However, I think I bit off more than I could chew. In total I was registered for 13 credit hours and I was having so much trouble keeping up. It was showing in my work.

I was thinking about dropping the certificate classes. However, in order to even receive a partial refund I needed to drop them before September 6th, obviously we’re beyond that date. But Mark made some valid points, he told me there was no since in beating myself up and suffering in GPA. So in the end I dropped both the certificate classes, and honestly I’m glad to not have as much stress. But I still feel guilty over paying for courses that I now I won’t be taking. That’s something I guess I’m going to have to work on.

Due to my disability I rarely get out of the house. It’s not unusual for me to go two or three months without going out. In the beginning it was truly difficult to be so isolated all the time and I did in fact suffer with depression. But it’s been 13 years now and, in that time, I’ve become creative at figuring out ways to deal with it. Given everything that is going on now I thought I would share some of my tips with anyone who might be interested.

Getting social

Luckily, we’re in a digital age so there are many options for getting social these days that don’t actually require leaving the house. Aside from the usual Facebook, twitter, & reddit. There is also Gaming. Over the years I have made many friends through gaming, especially MMORPG’s, since most Guilds, clans etc. utilize some sort of voice chat system. In my early years It was TeamSpeak and Ventrilo, these days most people just use Discord. It’s easy to hop on to an MMO and meet people. Over the years I’ve played World of Warcraft, Guild Wars & Guild Wars 2, Lord of the Rings Online, Rift, Neverwinter Online and quite a few others. I have made some very good friends through these games, people who are there for me, who I can talk to when I’m down and who are always up for a good laugh. So if you’re looking for a way to get social and hang out with folks, get some of your other isolated friends together on a Discord channel and try out a few games, or just hop into a game and meet people on your own. Aside from the ability to be social with people it also gives you something to do when/if you’re bored. You can also check out the MMORPG subreddit and see what games people over there are chatting about.

Expand your mind

Reading

Reading is a great pastime you can escape to many different locations through the pages of a book (or the screen on your reading device). You can also pick up new skills or information. For some free eBooks check out the Free eBooks Subreddit.

Audio books

These are also a pretty nice way to help keep your mind of things and you can get some decent recommendations over at the Audiobooks Subreddit. Podcasts are also a nice way to distract yourself.

Documentaries

I love a good documentary, there are so many good ones. I prefer Animal and Historical documentaries, but I’ve also watched a lot of other good ones. The Documentaries subreddit is always linking to good ones and there’s plenty of discussion to be had about them.

Learn a new skill:

With websites like Udemy and Coursera it’s pretty easy to take a class from the comfort of your own home and learn something new. Over the years thanks to these various services I’ve learned to build websites and picked up some coding skills. Also, the Cincinnati Library offers many E-library services to members so if you have a card you might want to check them out. Over the years thanks to all these various services I’ve learned to build websites and picked up some coding skills.

Hobbies

Pick up a new hobby or resume an old one:

Personally, I really enjoy crocheting and doing so while listening to a good podcast or audio book is a really nice way to pass the time.

Coloring:

Yes, you read that correctly, coloring, if you have access to some crayons or colored pencils, can be quite calming and fun.

Meditate:

YouTube is full of guided meditation videos as well Mediation mood music and I find that it really helps sooth anxieties and worries.

Yoga:

This is a great low-key way to keep yourself in shape without having access to a gym for myself I normally do some chair yoga as I can’t stand for long periods of time. There are plenty of yoga videos on YouTube for every level from beginner to expert.

Cooking:

Try a new recipe out, the internet is chock full of recipes find one and give it a try, you never know you might surprise yourself. Personally, I hang out in the Cooking subreddit for tips and recipes.

Random other activities I’ve recently discovered

The Cincinnati zoo is doing home safaris since they are currently closed. You can watch them on either their Facebook page or YouTube channel. So far, I’ve watched both the Hippo and Porcupine ones. They aren’t very long, but they’re pretty neat.

These are just some of the ways I’ve prevented myself from going stir crazy over the years. I hope this list will help some of you to get through this stressful time.

I had a wonderful evening babysitting my Grandson tonight! He’s such a sweetie!