Catch Up Time

So forgive the picture, already. Okay?

First, I have to report that the recovery from the cataract removal continues to go splendidly! I had a check-up appointment twenty-four hours after the surgery and the doctor was very, very pleased with my progress. I was seeing halos around light with the operative eye and he said that would go away and by the next morning it had. I see the doctor again a week postop.

It has been so easy that I have already scheduled the second eye for mid-July! The thing is, there's this blurriness. The operative eye is great for distance without glasses, better than the nonoperative eye with glasses, actually. But with glasses on, there's a slight blurriness, although the nonoperative eye has been impressive in its ability to take over and disregard the blur. We tried taking the lens out of the glasses for the operative eye, but then I saw double, and I really couldn't deal with that at all. There is a complicated eye drop regimen, and Joe is very proficient at their administration. I don't know how long this continues, but we are being conscientious about it.

Summer is a good time for me to be doing all of this; I am on shorter hours at work, and the work itself is less demanding. After the second procedure, I'll need glasses for reading and likely for the computer, but not for driving or walking around!

Second, cooking a cardiac diet has actually been fun. I am in the process of moving my Silver Palate and other marvelous cookbooks downstairs and have only my American Heart Association cookbooks and other light/low fat cookbooks on the shelf in the kitchen. We are both doing okay with this way to eat. When we go out -- like last night -- we enjoy something from the regular menu. The theory that red wine is good for the heart hasn't hurt either!

Third, and this is a real achievement, I'm not overscheduling! Being out for some reason one night per week is plenty. Most of the time. And for the weekends, we are not cramming them full-full of stuff. This weekend, for example, all we scheduled was my attending a meeting for an hour on Saturday afternoon and then dinner out Saturday night with Amy's parents. We went to church this morning and the rest of the time have been at home.

Fourth, my concentration is somewhat better. I put away the book that was flummoxing me and have since read 1-3/4 different books and can actually tell you what they were about! I was putting my leader-ender project blocks up on the wall a couple of hours ago, and notice that even on these super-simple jewel boxes, I've made a lot of mistakes during my non-concentration period. Fortunately, I have some good seam-rippers.

Fifth, and I think last, I've been sewing and am about an hour each away from the completion of Sunday Best and my version of Meadowbrook Farm. For the latter, butting the blocks up next to each other wasn't a good thing. My seams are not that perfect and the secondary pattern was blurry -- like my operative eye with the glasses! And I really wasn't crazy about all those triangles around the outside. So I've made scrappy lattice and cornerstones, and then a narrow containing border and then a generous border. It doesn't look anything like the pattern anymore, and I'm liking it quite a bit. I think, however, I should change the name to Meadowbrook Pasture or something so the pattern designer doesn't protest. Pictures of these two projects will appear soon -- perhaps even by tomorrow!