August Mishmash

The one where I tell you to eat all the corn

Hello! It's been a hot month! I love summer and have been getting a lot of hammock time in. I'm already dreading winter just a little bit, but trying to stay positive and focused on the present.

Food!

• One of my favorite lunchtime feasts that is so easy I should make it way more often. Tuna melts! Take a can of tuna, mix it up with some mayo, diced red pepper, diced onion or scallions, salt and pepper. Lightly toast whatever bread you like or have on hand, then pile the tuna on, smother it with shredded cheese, and put under the broiler for 5 minutes. Super customizable too, add some finely shredded cabbage to make it extra crunchy, add some diced pickles if you love them, cut the mayo with avocado for extra creaminess, add some lemon zest or fresh herbs or sliced tomatoes! You can’t go wrong with this, I promise.

• Corn is so good right now, and I would like to implore you all to just shave corn off the ears and eat it raw, every chance you get while the corn is good. Here is a great recipe and here is another. Again, super customizable: add a can of white beans or chickpeas and call it dinner! Add avocado if you have it! Add some dried up bread/aka croutons! Just don’t skimp on fresh herbs! This is a side dish that goes with anything you might be throwing on the grill and is SO delicious.

• Another delicious corn feast, if cold corn is not your jam. We love farro and this is very good! I added some chopped up and sautéed poblanos to the mix too. Corn Butter Farro from Smitten Kitchen and it is very delicious.

• p.s. This brings me a lot of joy and is corn related!

Books/TV/Movies!

• https://bookshop.org/shop/michelleflook Disclosure: I am an affiliate of Bookshop.org and I will earn a commission if you click through and make a purchase.

  • Tomorrow and Tomorrow and Tomorrow by Gabrielle Zevin is a book that I loved right away and cried when it ended. A charming (without being too twee) story about friendship, love, the power and beauty of creating things with and for people you care about. It really made me miss one of my favorite tv shows, Halt and Catch Fire. Highly recommend reading this book!

    

• We watched The Rehearsal on HBO (Nathan Fielder's new show). It's very hard to explain, and is one of those things that starts with one premise and then changes and keeps changing and by the end you're like what the hell is happening?! A fascinating study of human psychology, particularly Nathan's own brain. Brilliant, funny, and bizarre. Only 6 episodes, and there's a cute kid named Remy! 🤓 Terrifying image aside, it is worth a watch!

  

• We watched The Lost City which is a really fun adventure rom-com with Sandra bullock, Channing Tatum, Brad Pitt, Daniel Radcliffe. I laughed a lot and it's pretty cute.

  

Projects!

• Started 2 new quilts! One for us (in-progress pictures below) and one (secret and super speedy) commission! It's always very exciting and a bit nerve-wracking to start a new project! Cutting into pretty fabric is just a tad stressful to me every time, but I love seeing the designs come together into something magical and useful!

  

• Started to finish the Puff Quilt, which means I pinned the puffy top to a giant piece of fabric, and started sewing little Xs at each puff corner to attach it together. It's a bit tedious but necessary. Then I'll have to do the binding to close up the edges, which will be another type of chore. This will all definitely take some time to finish but I'm hoping to get it done to keep us warm and snuggly thru winter. So many Xs to hand sew!

  

Miscellaneous!

• At the very end of July I got some new hair! I have only really been wearing it for work calls, but Matthew and I went out to lunch and dinner on one of my good weekends and I think it looks pretty good. I will likely be getting another one to have another style option, since it may be a long while before I have an actual hairstyle of my own, and it helps me feel like a regular human.

  

• Have you signed up for BeReal yet? Do it and add me as a friend! It’s a neat idea and I am enjoying it. It’s a mobile app that prompts you once a day to post to your BeReal feed. You take a photo facing out and a photo facing yourself, and it shares to your friends only (or you can also post it to the ‘discover’ tab) and the photos are only available to be seen for that day. There are no filters, no ads, no hashtags . You can leave comments and you make your own emojis with your own face. A very stripped down social media app for real time connections. I like it!

Medical!

• Chemo #2 went off without a hitch. No complications, no horrible days following, just a little tired, and some pretty annoying bone pain in my hips, lower back, and knees.

• Chemo #3 also went fine, no issues during the treatment. I had a bit more lethargy and general blah-ness for the first few days, and feeling a bit slow in the brain, slightly longer processing time and foggy-headed, along with manageable bone pain from the injections, but everything is working as it should. I am so very thankful that I have not experienced any nausea throughout these treatments, as that seems to be one of the more common side effects that people struggle with, and it hinders eating, which I also haven’t had a problem with even though I miss my tastebuds on a daily basis and can’t wait to re-experience delicious savory flavors someday in the future.

• I only have ONE MORE CHEMO on 9-15! The best news of all.

• Some other good news: the nurse let me know that my blood counts are doing well, bouncing back by the end of each cycle as they should. I can take

• Ibuprofen, rather than just Tylenol, which should help with the bone pain, and I can return to my trusty sleep aid, Unisom, which I had been advised not to take, but the nurse said it's fine, not dangerous or anything, might just make me extra groggy on a couple of the days when I am taking some other meds. So, hallelujah I can sleep through the night again, or at least return to sleep after I wake up at 4 a.m. Sleep has been a struggle, so this is very good news for me.

• I also got a bit more info on the timeline for the rest of treatment. I have a planning session scheduled at the end of September with the Radiation team, and then we can get the 20 radiation treatments scheduled. Radiation will be every day M-F for 4 weeks, but from what I have heard/read it’s a very quick treatment, and the travel time to and from the appointment will be longer than the actual time spent getting radiation. About a month after radiation is over, I’ll begin taking the anti-hormone, menopause-inducing meds. I'll be taking these pills daily for years but I am hoping a sense of “normalcy” will return after radiation is over, and I won't be quite so worried about catching any sort of illness or infection once chemo is over, so I'm looking forward to more socializing!! Bring on the holiday parties!!!

Remi!

The little monster is back to normal after last month’s scary raccoon attack, just waiting for the hair to grow back on her leg and belly! She's still the best.

I love your comments and messages! Feel free to reply to the email or click through and comment on the post itself!! How has your month been?

Goodbye, until next month!

xoM