Massive Vertigo Attack

Last night, or rather early in the morning, I was dreaming and turned from right to left in my bed and all of a sudden I was wide awake with the world spinning real fast. I haven't had such a bad attack in quiet a while. I actually was scared that the spinning would not stop and started panicking. I then calmed myself down and finally the world stopped spinning gradually. I took my pillow and went to the recliner. I took a pill that helps and fell asleep till late morning. 

Today, I am spending most of my time in the recliner and walking like a badly constructed robot when I have to prepare food or go to the bathroom. 

Sigh...

Hope everyone is having a better day than I am. 

When you think long and hard enough...

Lately, I have been thinking about getting rid of old comforters and buying new ones. I am also pretty tired of the sheet sets that I have. 

I kept checking a few online stores to see what they had. Sizes are pretty standard with the exception of IKEA comforters. I have two thin ones which are perfect to use these days but, the standard duvet covers are too big for them. I was thinking of getting IKEA covers but, it just dawned on me that, mom probably had those. She also had a bunch of bed linens still in their packages. So, I have decided to swap some of my bed linens with the ones in the Ankara home. I shall ask my sister if that is OK with her but, I am sure it is. Mom had plenty of comforters too. So, next time I am in Ankara, I will check those out as well before I buy anything new. 

I usually make quick decisions but, this time it took me a long time and I arrived at a frugal solution.

My house guest gifted me a TV blanket but told me to exchange it with whatever I would like. She gave me the gift card. I have TV blankets coming out of my ears so, I will exchange it for something else that I need. 

I have also been contemplating about signing up for YouTube Premium for a while. I finally decided that it is worthwhile to do so, because the frequency and length of commercials were getting ridiculuous. I like to listen to audio books, old radio shows in bed so, it made a lot of sense to sign up for it. I signed up for the whole year saving me two months.

I have decided to make a chicken and veggie casserole and an Asian imitation soup tomorrow. I will also go out for a long walk in the neighborhood (I hope). 

On Wednesday I will work half a day for the medical association I consult for.

I am being lazy when I am on my own so, I should make a list of chores and exercise. The weather is awesome and I should walk as much as I can while it lasts.

This and That

I had a house guest last week. So, the week was filled with a ton of activities. On Thursday we got together with two College mates. One lives in the US. She is originally from Pakistan. It had been 32 years since I had seen her but, we found tons to talk about. We met around 3 p.m. and by the time we said goodbye, it was 9 p.m. My friend left on Friday.

After dropping her off at the train station, I went to a farmers market and bought some tomatoes and eggplants. I have run the tomatoes through my food processor and froze them. I had bought 6 big eggplants and halved them. I brushed them with olive oil and baked them. I am going to stuff them with sauteed chopped meat and freeze them for easy meals in winter. I hope, I can fit everything. My small freezer section is almost full. That is all my prepping for the winter.

I washed all the bed linens and put the guest room back in order.

I found some frozen cheese in the freezer and since I wanted to make room, I baked a pizza for dinner. I love my homemade version better than all the commercial pizzas. There is some leftover for tomorrow or the next day.

I also have tons of salad fixings I need to use up and lots of frozen chicken I had roasted the week before. So, this week's meal plan is "use what you have, don't let anything go bad".

Today I walked to the nearest grocery store since I was running out of salt, red pepper flakes, bread and milk. I could smell the Fall in the air and the low temperatures make it very pleasant these days after several weeks of scorching hot weather.

Wishing everyone a nice week.

Concerts

During my time in the US, I have been able to go to two concerts with my friend M, and two other friends.

The first concert had a warm-up band of a group channeling Elton John. The guy who was the pretend EJ was actually pretty good so, we enjoyed the songs. I am not going to name the other band but, they were singing Queen songs. They were so out of tone that it gave me hope for a career in the music world. It looks like even I can sing in a band touring the country. Despite being tone deaf that is.... It was absolute torture. M is a great Queen fan and she knows all the songs. At one point, we found ourselves looking at each other with eyes out of sockets trying to figure out what song they were playing. When we hear the lyrics, we were like: Really!!??

We left early because I told my friends we should not wait to hear how they butcher Bohemian Rhapsody which they hadn't sang yet. 

In any case, we had a good time laughing.

The other concert was at Bethelwoods. I always thought the Woodstock concerts of 1968 took place in Woodstock, VT. I know, silly me but, I was only 1 year old back in '68. 

It was the real CHICAGO! I like their music very much and the band was great. 

Before CHICAGO, Brian Wilson took the stage. It was a bit sad to see him using a walker but on the other hand, it was nice to hear some Beach Boys songs.

Here are some pictures. All my video files are larger than what Blogger allows. I am so sorry, because they were so cool.

When you're having a good time...

I am back from my long US vacation. I did not think that I would be able to post while I was on vacation and I was right. 

The friend I was visiting came over after 4 days of my arrival for 10 days in Turkey. We had a blast! 

I am now back home in Istanbul and I promise to write about my time in New York and our vacation here in Turkey.

I need some time to do laundry, put some stuff away and just relax a little bit. Since May 4th, I have only spent a little time at home. I am now ready to sit back and enjoy my home. 

I also need to catch up on my favorite blogs.

"Talk" to you soon!