Last week seemed like a longer work week than usual even though it was only 4 days. Even with my sleep routine in place, I slept until 9am yesterday, and then took a nap in the early afternoon.... too stressed and I do not know how to make it better.

Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday I did not get to the gym, but the other days I did, even if it was just to do the treadmill. Today I am going to do some weight training there also.

I have a stack of cooking magazines that I have been working on going through and taking out any recipes that I might be interested in trying so I can throw the magazines out. I am probably about halfway through the stack, so I am happy about that. It is funny how I may look at a recipe and think it would be good to try, but then now look at it and say it does not even sound good. I am getting more discriminating in what I keep as I try more new things. Like I know I do not like fruit with poultry, so I do not keep those recipes anymore.

Dad had his cardiologist appt last Thursday, and of course his blood pressure went up just going into the office. After conversing and laughing a bit, the doctor checked his blood pressure again and the top number dropped 10 points. By the time they got home, it dropped another 20 points. At first the doctor wanted to give medication until they started talking about what dad normally runs at home, and the night when he just cried how the numbers dropped after that, so the doctor decided against blood pressure meds, but rather noted in his chart that dad needs something for anxiety/stress. The doctor is not going to stop the surgery because the hernia is 'very large' and needs to be taken care of. He also told mom and dad that if at the surgical appt tomorrow they have a problem with dad's numbers, they need to look at the cardiologist's notes. Dad does have thick heart walls because he has been dealing with stress since he was at least 15 years old with a mean, drunk father and then went into the army. His heart is also weaker on the diastolic side (which is the better of the 2 sides to be weak on), and it pumps out 80% of the blood which the doctor said is very good. The cardiologist said that it would be good if they can get the systolic number down a little bit, if dad's body can handle it. The sad part is that where the cardiologist would like to see the number is where dad was when they first tried to get the hernia fixed and get nerve/stress medication, but the primary care doctor kept pushing blood pressure medications (at least 8 different ones) which have only raised the top number and increased the hernia size. I am glad they are over one hurdle, just a couple more to go, but hopefully tomorrow's appointment will bring about a surgery date.

My garden is growing; I will for sure have peas and onions. The green peppers, carrots, and other 2 things have not started showing yet, so the seeds might have been too old. If they are too old, then I will throw the rest of what I have of those. Next year I think I will do zucchini again, and will probably be due for more pumpkin since I am almost out of what is in the freezer.

Last weekend I had gotten some veggies to use in meals I made to freeze. Since I had some left over, I blanched them to freeze for later use, but cut some up for us to keep in the fridge for snacking. I did not want to keep too much, so kept a dozen carrot sticks with 4 celery sticks. Once they are gone I will get some more to cut up. It is definitely much easier to grab a stick than have to clean and cut every time I want something to eat. I am finding that the home-frozen veggies works so slick once they are in the freezer. I could buy pre-packaged, but things like broccoli are usually more stalk than the crowns, so at least I know what I have by doing it myself. Freezing cut up celery and green pepper helps me also because it does not go bad and I can grab however much I need for the recipe. I won't cut up onion though because it will make the whole freezer smell like it, that I just do as I need. This reminds me I have spinach in the fridge, so I need to have a spinach salad today since it has been warmer the past week.

I better get off to the gym since they opened at 8am. It would be so easy to not go today because of how tired I feel, but I have to do the treadmill. I can do some weight training here at home if I do not do it at the gym. Hope all have a good Sunday.