5 Random Thoughts on the last few weeks...
1. Chicago was a blast! B and I flew out of Boston early Saturday morning, landed, checked into the hotel, and started exploring. We managed to pack soooo much stuff into just 36 hours... spotted a stikman in the street (see below), took an architectural boat tour of the city (very cool), walked around down town, saw my cousin's play (and had a great time hanging with her after the show), saw the bean, had a great time at the Art Insitute of Chicago, and had some really good food. I highly recommend the Amalfi hotel... great amenities, comfy bed, great concierge, super location, free continental breakfast, and free (yes FREE) happy hour with great drinks and italian hors d'oeuvers. There was even a little downtime in the room featuring some lingerie. (B wore, not me!
Though I may have videoed myself doing a running flip onto the bed in my undies. haha)
2. Saw Metric in concert... Emily Haines has some great stage presence and the band put on a pretty solid show.
3. Went to my Babchi's (that's grandmother in Polish) 88th birthday party a few weeks ago... we had the party in the rec room of her Nursing Home, and I was a little worried going in because a. she hasn't been doing too well, and b. this was the first time B was meeting most of my family. But it was a great time! Babchi was in really great spirits and everyone loved B and she really liked my family too.
Of course, it didn't hurt that the night before she made a really delicious chocolate pound cake with a chocolate glaze, and garnished it with fresh strawberries and raspberries for the party. If you want to get in good with my family... bring delicious treats. (And it certainly was delicious!) Case in point... no one told me my Auntie J was making Golabki (a Polish dish which is basically a cabbage leaf stuffed with rice and meat rolled into a little loaf and baked in the oven. one of my favorites!) I must have had four of them. So yummy!
Recipe - Can't Vouch for it though
4. Which reminds me... nursing homes really suck... though it was much worse before. Babchi was at a different nursing home a few months ago, but she kept getting sick which would give her really bad health problems. We checked into it a bit and found out that her nursing home was very poorly rated. Which makes sense... there were always people left unattended, the whole place reeked of the most foul smell imaginable (part shit, part piss, part vomit, part death, and equal parts lysol to cover it up). I think we just assumed all nursing homes were like this one... but after digging a little deeper, we were able to move her to the current home which, while not perfect, and still a nursing home, is much better. At least the smell isn't as bad, there seems to be more staff around, and they are actually helpful. Still... seeing Babchi in the home is one of the most depressing things in my life. Growing old sucks...it's really sad to see the most caring, thoughtful, sweet person I've ever met depressed, unable to remember a lot of things, unable to eat much food, or get around on her own, or hear when people are talking to her... it's sad and frustrating. Though I'm not sure the alternative is much better.... I just wish life didn't end this way.
5. We might as well continue on the depressing trend... (I'm so fun tonight!) frigging Cancer is all around lately. One of the reasons I was so surprised that Auntie J made the Golabki for the party was because she was recently diagnosed with pretty severe Cancer in her lungs and liver. Bleh! I guess it's incurable but treatable... though I'm not quite sure what that means. It doesn't sound good though. I found that little news out the same day that B learned her dad's liver cancer returned. The poor guy has been waiting for a liver transplant for a while, had everything cleared for the transplant with the final hoop being to make sure there was no cancer and... there it was. Now it's going to be another year minimum for the transplant. (I'm not a doctor obviously, but kind of thought it wouldn't matter since they were taking the liver out anyway.... no such luck.) All this was after my boss was diagnosed with pancreatic cancer (the day after Patrick Swayze died from it no less!) and she hasn't been back to the office since.
Bleh... I'll try to be more positive next time. Leave some love.
1. Chicago was a blast! B and I flew out of Boston early Saturday morning, landed, checked into the hotel, and started exploring. We managed to pack soooo much stuff into just 36 hours... spotted a stikman in the street (see below), took an architectural boat tour of the city (very cool), walked around down town, saw my cousin's play (and had a great time hanging with her after the show), saw the bean, had a great time at the Art Insitute of Chicago, and had some really good food. I highly recommend the Amalfi hotel... great amenities, comfy bed, great concierge, super location, free continental breakfast, and free (yes FREE) happy hour with great drinks and italian hors d'oeuvers. There was even a little downtime in the room featuring some lingerie. (B wore, not me!
Though I may have videoed myself doing a running flip onto the bed in my undies. haha)
2. Saw Metric in concert... Emily Haines has some great stage presence and the band put on a pretty solid show.
3. Went to my Babchi's (that's grandmother in Polish) 88th birthday party a few weeks ago... we had the party in the rec room of her Nursing Home, and I was a little worried going in because a. she hasn't been doing too well, and b. this was the first time B was meeting most of my family. But it was a great time! Babchi was in really great spirits and everyone loved B and she really liked my family too.
Of course, it didn't hurt that the night before she made a really delicious chocolate pound cake with a chocolate glaze, and garnished it with fresh strawberries and raspberries for the party. If you want to get in good with my family... bring delicious treats. (And it certainly was delicious!) Case in point... no one told me my Auntie J was making Golabki (a Polish dish which is basically a cabbage leaf stuffed with rice and meat rolled into a little loaf and baked in the oven. one of my favorites!) I must have had four of them. So yummy!
Recipe - Can't Vouch for it though
4. Which reminds me... nursing homes really suck... though it was much worse before. Babchi was at a different nursing home a few months ago, but she kept getting sick which would give her really bad health problems. We checked into it a bit and found out that her nursing home was very poorly rated. Which makes sense... there were always people left unattended, the whole place reeked of the most foul smell imaginable (part shit, part piss, part vomit, part death, and equal parts lysol to cover it up). I think we just assumed all nursing homes were like this one... but after digging a little deeper, we were able to move her to the current home which, while not perfect, and still a nursing home, is much better. At least the smell isn't as bad, there seems to be more staff around, and they are actually helpful. Still... seeing Babchi in the home is one of the most depressing things in my life. Growing old sucks...it's really sad to see the most caring, thoughtful, sweet person I've ever met depressed, unable to remember a lot of things, unable to eat much food, or get around on her own, or hear when people are talking to her... it's sad and frustrating. Though I'm not sure the alternative is much better.... I just wish life didn't end this way.
5. We might as well continue on the depressing trend... (I'm so fun tonight!) frigging Cancer is all around lately. One of the reasons I was so surprised that Auntie J made the Golabki for the party was because she was recently diagnosed with pretty severe Cancer in her lungs and liver. Bleh! I guess it's incurable but treatable... though I'm not quite sure what that means. It doesn't sound good though. I found that little news out the same day that B learned her dad's liver cancer returned. The poor guy has been waiting for a liver transplant for a while, had everything cleared for the transplant with the final hoop being to make sure there was no cancer and... there it was. Now it's going to be another year minimum for the transplant. (I'm not a doctor obviously, but kind of thought it wouldn't matter since they were taking the liver out anyway.... no such luck.) All this was after my boss was diagnosed with pancreatic cancer (the day after Patrick Swayze died from it no less!) and she hasn't been back to the office since.
Bleh... I'll try to be more positive next time. Leave some love.
VIEW 17 of 17 COMMENTS
chatterer:
hey! thanks for the FR!
niobe:
You should post a new blog!