Cleaning

I took some valerian root tincture in a glass of water last night. After tapping, I looked up QOV requirements before composing a message to the community here to ask who wants to participate. One of the requirements is that the quilts not be tied or stitched in the ditch. Hmmm. So I sent a message to Yongsan Quilters yahoo group to see if they still longarm quilts of valor. Then I went to bed. I was almost asleep when Chris came home from picking up the latest arrival from the airport.
So I slept late and did not hear my alarm go off. When I got up, it was after 9. I read e-mail and swished and drank water. I printed out the QOV requirements. Then I called to see if the ladies were already walking. Nela said they were at EM's house, cleaning and she invited me over. So I got dressed and walked down. There were four of us cleaning and organizing. I worked with Tia in the diningroom, while Nela and Myra worked in the kitchen. We had a successful morning, and carried out bags of cardboard and plastic for recycling. Myra brought her car around to carry it off. Then Myra and I went walking up the trail. We stopped at the exercise stations. We talked about the sewing group and QOV group that we want to start. Then on the way back, we ran into Kristin, whom we were just talking about contacting. She was walking with her newborn and her mother. We had a productive chat about posting on the various Facebook pages. Then Myra went to her place and I went to mine. I made breakfast. Before I finished, Jane called to ask if she could come over while she waited for the Thursday night Bible study to begin. I was still eating breakfast and listening to an audio when she arrived. As I finished breakfast, she chatted with me. She requested a slice of bread, so I gave her one from the loaf I made for Chris. She REALLY liked it. She showed me how to make tea from the buckwheat that I bought in the market. And I thought it was just a crunchy snack. We ate some strawberries, and I dipped one in cocoa powder. She was interested in the ingredients of my breakfast and the supplements I took with it. So I let her watch me make up the next weeks' worth of capsules and gelcaps. She told me she had seen a doctor here who tests for food sensitivities and I said I wanted to do that, too. Then we spent over an hour on my laptop. She showed me a Korean website that she posts to. She combines pretty pictures and classical music on a background. She was so thrilled when people commented on her posts. Then she had to go to Bible study. I heated up some chicken soup. I made a salad with greens I got at the market. I had no idea what they were. Then I ate a piece of chocolate while finishing the interview. Chris came home late. We talked about what I learned today, and then he had to leave again. I went through a few more e-mails. I worked with a picture of me and my friends from Augusta. But when I had it the way I wanted it, it still would not fit I the hutch with the other picture. I made a mental note to find nails and hang pictures. I did tomorrow's puzzle. Chris came home and signed in to a conference call. I did the puzzle for the weekend. Then I put another package together to mail tomorrow. Then we went to bed.
* These berries from the market are sweet and too-perfect. *

Meeting new people

Last night just before I went to bed, I took two pitchers into the shower to fill from the filter. I forgot to shift the water from the hand held wand to the overhead shower and got soaked. I had to change my night clothes. The dripping water woke Chris up, but he went back to sleep.
I did not hear my alarm go off the next morning. But the increasing brightness of the room alerted to the time. I checked my watch and got up. I assembled the most voluminous of recyclables and took them out to the curb. The people next door had put out lots of boxes and I happened to notice one marked 'sewing machine'. Good. Another seamstress. Then I sat at my laptop with a quart of the water I got from the shower. I deleted a lot of mail, then got sidetracked on Quora. I spent some time with my phone, trying to assign a special text tone to the number that keeps sending me Korean texts. I typed the link into my laptop and it is some sort of Korean online market, possibly like Amazon. I was tired of jumping up to answer texts from a friend only to find spam – 4 or 5 times a day. I did not find a way to do that, but I was able to assign special tones to my friends. For some reason I could not assign a special tone to Chris, but then he doesn't message me so it's ok. I exercised to another audio in the Menopause summit. I messed with two wall units beside the heating panel. One of them controls humidity, but I have no idea what the other one does.
Listening to a second menopause audio (on perfectionism), I made and ate breakfast. I was mixing up a batch of seed crackers when Chris came home for lunch. I washed up, and worked today's Sudoku puzzle. I lost track of time. It was almost 1:30 when I put on my coat and shoes and grabbed the package. Soon after I walked out the door, Nela called and said they'd meet me at the ATM. I went to the post office and mailed my package. I talked to Kathy about valerian root. Then I met Myra at the ATM. We chatted a few minutes, and then Helen pulled up in her car. Nela and Karen were already there. It was my first time meeting Helen and Karen. Helen is Korean and she drove us to Home Plus, parking in the top deck. From there we walked to the five-day market. I did not need anything, but came away with a lot of stuff. Helen bought some rice crackers and gave me some – they have no sugar but are nice and crunchy. Then we stopped at the book store in Home Plus. We dropped Karen off to pay her cable bill while we checked another book store. Then we picked up Karen and came back to post. Helen dropped me off at my house and helped me bring in all that I had bought. Then I was faced with the task of putting it all away. I wished the fridge was bigger. I ate a pomegranate so I would have room to put the new ones in the fridge. The seed crackers in the oven were not crisp, so I turned the oven back on. I cooked up the rest of the mushrooms in butter. When the mushrooms were reduced, I added two eggs and covered the pan to cook. When it was done, I ate that and then cooked up the mushroom 'roots'. After eating, I read e-mail and jotted notes for my blog. I was listening to an audio when Chris came home from work. I told him about my day. I took the seed crackers out of the oven to cool. I watched videos on creating a vortex in water. Soon Chris had to leave to go to the airport to meet someone and escort them to the base. After he left, I called Kathy to see if I could borrow some valerian tincture. She said yes, so I bundled up and walked over to her street. I had some trouble finding her house and knocked on Kristen's door by mistake. But her husband redirected me to Kathy's house. I gave her a piece of seed cracker and she gave me a bottle of valerian. I walked home and put the valerian on the counter for later. I worked on the red project. About 10, I put it up and came out to drink water with valerian and vitamin C in it. Chris sent a message saying the plane was late. So I decided to do some tapping and go to bed.
* I saw this in the market. It looked like a loaf of bread but it was soybeans. *

The car has come

I woke up in bed alone. My heat source was up. Then I heard him skype his parents to wish his mother a happy birthday. So after a little while, I roused myself and came out to say hello. They are coming for a visit, either for Chris' birthday or for the cherry blossom festival. Chris got dressed and went to meet the van to Daegu to pick up his car. I drank water, then swished and exercised. I listened to an audio on exercise in menopause. I spritzed water all over the house. It was very dry and I thought maybe my throat is not sore so much as dry. Nela messaged me that we would meet at 10 to go walking. The temp was below freezing so I had my doubts. I ate the rest of the seed crackers. I read about a new baby item called Taggies, There was a tutorial so I saved it to my file. When the audio was over, I washed up and dressed warmly. I met them walking up towards my house. We walked the trail up the mountain, then around and down. We saw a place where the wild pigs dug up the ground under the trail. When we came around, we stopped to see the MWR classroom. It seemed like a good choice for a sewing class. But it is usually busy. We also checked upstairs (round tables) and in the chapel. The chapel classroom was very nice. The chaplain was there so we talked to him about the room and he was in favor of us using it. Then we looked in the MWR office building, mostly just to see what's there out of curiosity. Duffy's was having a sale on all their fixtures and stuff since they are moving. One young man proudly bought a huge fish head mounted on the wall. He couldn't wait to take it home and I figured he wasn't married. I wish I had taken a pic of it. We looked at all the glasses and wall fixtures and decorations, etc. I was somewhat interesting in the large beer umbrella but there was no way to make it stand up in the middle of a patio table. We saw Paul who is in charge of MWR so we talked to him and he was excited about our idea since he wants to start a program of leisure arts classes. Then we went to our respective homes. I made and ate breakfast, and listened to more interviews. I read e-mail. I finished one priority mail box and took it to the post office. I picked up our mail while I was there and came home. I did the Tuesday Sudoku puzzle but made a mistake somewhere. Chris came home from Daegu and then went to work. I spent the afternoon working on the red project and listening to selections from the Nutcracker. When Chris came home, I told him all about my day. Then we ate supper and read e-mail. I tried the Sudoku puzzle again. I prepared a box to go in the mail tomorrow. Chris ran the dishwasher. We tried to watch a VHS tape, but it wouldn't play. I took the case apart and back together, almost. Then we watched a movie called Johnny Mnemonic. A little gruesome for my taste. Chris went to bed and I tried to finish the puzzle but could not see well enough so late at night. I posted to my blog and went to bed.
* This is the part I assembled today. *

Alphabetizing the movies

I put some lavender oil on the back of my neck hoping it would help me sleep. But I guess the vetiver is an essential part of the falling asleep effect. I woke up early and my throat hurt but I realized it had something to do with breathing. Everyday the pain goes away while I am drinking water and does not come back until the next morning. I got up right after Chris left. I drank water with vinegar and ginger and turmeric. Maybe some vit C, too. I boiled water for coffee. I exercised and drybrushed. I read e-mail, and listened to audios. I found some vetiver on Amazon but did not complete the order, hoping to find something else to order to qualify for free shipping. When my Monday routine was finished, I cleaned up the kitchen. I called Myra to see if she wanted to go walking. She came to my house and I gave her some chocolates. We walked up the mountain and around to the post office. I picked up some priority mail boxes. We went to the Bx looking for Command hooks, but there were none. Then we stopped near her house, talking to her neighbor. When I got home, Chris was here for lunch. I swallowed 5 packets of Vitamin C, then made breakfast. While eating breakfast, I read about flax seed and pumpkin seed for balancing estrogen. So I ate a bag of my seed crackers. I looked up the lowest temp for cooking eggs so next time I bake my crackers I can apply the least heat necessary to the seeds. I watched a Quilts of Valor episode of TQS. It was very interesting. Three quilt 'coaches' taught three newbies how to make one QOV. I wondered if we could do something like that here.
I tried to put together an Amazon order of essential oils for a sleep formula I read online, and a detox formula. But even though each item was marked free shipping, when I went to check out, some shipping charges were still in place. So I figured I needed to get the same brand of each. But then I ran into shipping restrictions. How in the world is it ok to ship rosemary oil, but not geranium oil?
I assembled one priority mail box and put stuff in it. As I was deciding what else should go in, I got distracted somehow and ended up alphabetizing our entire movie collection. Chris came home from work just as I finished up. He made his usual burrito and I heated up a bowl of chicken soup. I filled out a customs slip for my box, and wrote some checks. Then we watched Footloose. It was hard to hear all the dialog, possibly because it was a VHS tape. But I liked the music. By the end, I was up and dancing. Chris would not dance with me. Then I sat down to write up my blog. I ordered the oils that Amazon would permit and e-mailed Chris about the geranium oil. He says his coworker might be able to get it. Finally I was ready for bed.
* I did not take any pics today, so here is one from the market in Masan. *

Staying home to rest

I woke up with a sore throat. I had not slept well. I stayed in bed when Chris got up for breakfast. It was frustrating to be sick. I knew Jane would be disappointed if I did not come to church, but I did not want to spread germs. Also I thought about Soyoung, who was expecting us for an eel soup dinner. I did not want to miss that or to disappoint her. I felt miserable, but more emotionally than physically. When I did get up, I swallowed 5 grams of vit C, followed by a tablespoon of colostrum. Then I settled down to watch an interview on menopause and essential oils. That prompted me to mix some oils together with jojoba and dab it on pressure points around my face and chest. The speaker mentioned that she uses a mixture of lavender and vetiver on the back of her neck and she can fall asleep in 5 minutes. I immediately put vetiver in my Swanson's basket.
I listened to another interview in the menopause summit. I made and ate breakfast. Chris came home from church. He said Jane would call after her service to see if I wanted to go to lunch. I laid down on the couch to rest. Jane called and Chris told her I was napping. So he said he would go to lunch with her. From there he expected to go to Soyoung's place. So he got out the brownies to take along. He insisted that I try a bite and they were rock hard. I think he invented brownie brittle. So he microwaved them to get them out of the glass pan, and he put some in a tupperware container. Then he walked to the Korean church for lunch. Soyoung called to see if I wanted to reschedule and I said I did, not wanting to miss out. Then Jane got on the phone to say she grabbed a rice cake from the church lunch for me. Chris said they were all going for a walk in the park, and then he would go to the commissary. I put down the phone and continued to rest and meditate. I felt like something should get done around here but I did not feel like getting up. I did a couple of meridian passes, then got up and got dressed. The wall basket in the bathroom had fallen down again. Thinking Command strips might work, I looked through my bag of Command stuff, but all I had were strips, no hooks. And the strips were not marked with how much weight they would hold. Chris came home after walking in the park with Jane and then going to the commissary. I spent the afternoon in my sewing room sewing red scraps together. Chris made chicken soup (at Jane's suggestion). I ate two bowls of it and it was very good. I checked e-mail, and one had a link to a clip of fireworks taken by a drone. That led to other videos of fireworks. I enjoyed them and wondered if they'd be even better on a larger screen. For our movie, we watched Ivanhoe, then looked up several of the actors who looked familiar. I finalized my Swanson's order before going to bed. I was dismayed to see that the vetiver was deleted from my order due to shipping restrictions. Grrr.
* The red project *

The Brownie experiment

I woke up with a really sore throat. But Chris did not, which surprised me since he had a tickle yesterday, and as far as I know, he did not do anything to treat it. So I drank my usual quart of vinegar water and added clove and ginger essential oils. I boiled my toothbrush before using it. I swished. I listened to an audio while sucking down 5 grams of Vitamin C. I made and ate breakfast. I saw a news story on adult coloring books craze. Firefox announced an update. So I let it update. But then it would not run. So I had to reboot my computer. We took a walk down by the gym and then up the mountain. I did not want to push myself too hard while being less than 100%. When we got back, I listened to an interview on grounding. Chris took the tree out to the shed, without folding it back in the box. Chris gave me a coconut oil massage. I stayed in bed, holding the grounding cord and dozing. When I got up, I could smell pork in the oven. Chris stripped the bed and washed the sheets. I ate some pork with black pepper (having read that it is good for congestion). I meditated. I drank some ginger/turmeric tea. I worked in my sewing room on the red project, sipping water. Chris decided to make brownies for tomorrow. But we did not have enough butter, so he used coconut oil. When he took the brownies out of the oven, the cake part was swimming in chocolate coconut oil. Chris poured it off. What was left looked not so good. We left it in the kitchen and got bundled up to go to a movie. Chris said that Star Wars episode VII was playing. Well, when we got there, no one was there. Chris went to the ticket counter and they told him that it was next week. Tonight's movie was The Secret at the Heart of the Sea. Chris did not want to see that. On the way back, I told him that if I died of pneumonia I would never speak to him again. He seemed to think that was ok, so I tried to think of something he would not like. I threatened to come back to haunt him as a mushroom. That struck us both as funny.
When we got back, we checked on the brownie experiment. It tasted fine, but the look and texture were really off. I checked e-mail for a little while and then decided to sew again. I did not get very far before he was ready to watch the rest of Arabian Nights. When that was over, he used my laptop to play a DVD with episodes of Big Bang Theory season 1. After a few of those, he called up some dueling cello's on Youtube playing Star Wars music. Ha, ha, but I still want to see the movie.
And then it was bedtime.

First FRG meeting

I woke up with a full-on sore throat. So I stayed in bed long after I would usually get up. It was 9:30 when I boiled water for making warm salt water. I skipped the vinegar because it might be loaded with histamines. I also heated up the coffee pot with ginger and turmeric. I drank 2 quarts of water. I deleted a lot of e-mail and started reading the rest. I put hydrogen peroxide in my ears. There was no crackling. But it did crackle on the skin outside my ear. I massaged the lymph nodes under my arms. A man from our church in Huntsville sent out a message telling everyone that none of his cancer treatments worked and that he is contacting hospice. I felt so badly for him and wondered what to say. I did some tapping. I started watching The Vitamin Movie. Chris came home for lunch. He had two boxes from the post office. One of them held what I ordered for Christmas presents. He showed me how to run the dishwasher. He went back to work and I took a shower. I got dressed and called Nela. I met her halfway down the street. She handed me two strawberries from the market. They looked just barely ripe but they tuned out to be sweet. We went to the FRG meeting at the Housing building. Roughly 8 people showed up, including the commander and executive officer and their wives and young kids. It was very interesting to hear what was going on, and what could go on, and finding out how things worked. After the meeting, a few us talked while walking out. Someone mentioned that shopping online is a problem here because the sites can detect that our isp's are not in America and we are shown a reduced selection and higher prices, even on Amazon. I was shocked and concerned. Am I paying more on Amazon because I now live in Korea?
When I got back, I emptied the dishwasher, and ate lunch and Nela's strawberries. I checked e-mail, and finished and closes windows in my browser. I finished watching The Vitamin movie. I checked out Chinhae-related Facebook pages. There are at least 8, no wonder I am so confused. I opened the Swansons box, and put the items away. I did the weekend Sudoku puzzle. I went to my sewing room to try the technique I saw on Pinterest, but worked on the red project instead, sewing red scraps together to make larger pieces. It got dark. Chris came home late. We discussed things I heard at the FRG meeting. We continued talking while Chris prepared a burrito and salad for supper. I listened to an interview on essential oils, but Chris did not like what the man was saying, so I put on headphones.
When it was over, Chris still wasn't ready to watch a movie. So I checked Target online. I was surprised to see a pop-up welcoming me as an international customer and giving the prices in Korean won. Maybe we do need a VPN. I'll have to get a recommendation.
I drank another quart of water. I read e-mail, following links to sewing projects. I was waiting for Chris to finish with e-mail, but it got late and I just went to bed.
* Since I did not take any pics today, here is one of me noticing that I match the 'flooring' of the exercise station. If I died here, no one would find me. *