What I’ve Been Up To

I have not posted for quite a while. I just checked and my last post was the 13th, almost two weeks ago. I’m okay, but I was going back and forth on a lot of issues, trying to make decisions.

I’ve been dealing primarily with two concerns - neither of them is a crisis but each must be handled.

One concern was my Etsy shop. I am sure I will be closing it before the 31st. You must sign up for Etsy Payments for your checkout process if you want your shop to stay open. There are reasons I cannot do that. I’ll explain later, but for now, this is one thing I’ve been going back and forth on. I’ve checked with other Etsy shop owners. I’ve searched, researched and re-searched the Etsy Help pages, FAQs and Forums. This all takes time and focus.

The other concern is continuing to ensure that my food can be easily, safely and happily consumed (after being easily, safely and happily processed by me) while I am without lower dentures.

Pureeing food is always an option. It also retains the vitamins, minerals and fiber content. However, it is not satisfying in that it does not have that feeling of being “full” that we get from chewing our food. So I’ve been trying to find ways to add chewable but soft and healthy food to my days.

My main Friday morning charity crafter member is also a good friend. We talked last Friday and with her suggestions, I added sweet potatoes and steamed cauliflower once again to my fridge. I hate paying big prices for a head of cauliflower when I’m eating about one head every week or ever two weeks. I remembered that both the 99-cent-only store and Dollar General have good prices on that, so I finally added that to the fridge.

Now, I’m a foodie. Sometimes I’m so hungry I can’t make up my mind what to eat. That’s this morning. I need to spend an hour or so, stapling our monthly community newsletters. I know I want to pick. SO, I made a tuna/avocado/egg salad (makes two days of servings) just now. I made a little bowl with: 6 slices of red beets (quartered), 2 steamed cauliflower florets (picked apart), 6 black olives and 6 green olives (halved), 2 tablespoons of black beans, some diced cooked sweet potatoes, and topped it with the day’s serving of tuna/avo/egg salad. NOW I’m ready - it’s 8:11 a.m. PDT as I write this. And I had my oatmeal (with raisins, nuts, diced apples) around 6, so I do need, and now have, my protein and veggies ready. I’m chilling the bowl while I’m typing this.

Let’s go, world - I’m ready for you!