Happy New Year! Welcome 2024! Please don't disappoint us

I have been feeling out of words to write recently. Thinking about closing the blog sometimes but, I have been blogging for so long that, I cannot bring myself to do it.

Anyway, here is what has been happening in my neck of the woods.

My SIS and BIL were supposed to come to Istanbul for celebrating the New Year but, SIS got COVID and they could not come. My uncle is visiting so, we had a nice dinner and did our own thing the rest of the night.

My bestie in the US is a bit overwhelmed these days with so much going on in her life, her husband, her daughter and other things, she asked me if I could go help her a bit. So, I am going to the US next week and will return late February. I am still planning to go in late Spring again because, my SIS wants to go too. We will see how it all plays out.

SIS is ready to pull the trigger on her retirement but, she just doesn't know when to do it. She is determined to not be working at the bank by her birthday this year, which is in April. Not a long time to go.

I have been concentrating on my health, fitness and weight loss for the last 4 months and for the first time in my life, I have been consistent. I found my inspiration in K-Pop believe it or not. Who knew?

It is a long story so, I will leave that out but, I am doing rather well. Just had a recent check-up and found out that my insulin resistance is getting better and the doc told me, it may be possible to get off the med if I continue this path. Also, my cholesterol is at a normal level due to tons of exercise. Fatty liver is getting better too. I have been pleasantly surprised to see so many positive gains in my medical report. Now, I know I can do this. 

I am at a point in my life that I only want to be happy and content so, I will keep on doing things that keep me happy. 

No new year resolutions because, I have set goals before the year end and doing well so, all is good. 

Closed the books on last year and financially, I have done well. Budgeting carefully always helps and some unexpected expenses did not really hurt because I made some money through my part-time consulting although, I am not going to be taking more projects this year due to planned travel. I still need to tweak 2024 budget a bit though.

With my travel date approaching fast, I looked through my clothes and purged some items which no longer fit well. This way, I also know what to get from the US. I need mostly tops and some exercise gear. When I come back, I am going to work with a Personal Trainer at a Gym close by. Cardio is easy on my own but, I want to strengthen my back and arms. As we get older, we need a stronger upper body. It is easy to hurt oneself without proper instruction.

I hope 2024 brings much joy, contentment, health and happiness to you all. 

I am leaving you with a wonderful romantic song of my favorite band. It is a bit softer than their normal vibe but, they are experimenting with a lot of genres. There are English captions for Korean parts.

HAPPY HOLIDAYS!

I cannot write much these days but, I am here and well. Will probably post more after the New Year's.

Wishing you a wonderful, happy, healthy and prosperous 2024 with all your loved ones...

Here is a fun Christmas Song Video by another Korean Group: Stray Kids 

They write and produce all their songs and this one below pretty much sums up what they had to sacrifice to make a future for themselves. The youngest is 22 and the oldest is 26. They debuted in 2018. This much cuteness and talent should be illegal. Lol!

They collaborated with a well known singer and song writer LiSA of Japan.

Just when thinking there is nothing happening...

On Sunday, I felt that my left arm was aching and there was also a tingling sensation. On top of that I was feeling as if something was squeezing my heart. For a while, I decided to ignore it but, then all sorts of weird thoughts started filling my mind.

SIS is retiring come next year. This means we will be able to see each other more, travel and have tons of fun. If I die due to a heart attack, that would be such a bummer. I will not know what the heck happened to me but, SIS will be heartbroken and sad. Also, there are so much I want to do. New songs to listen to, new destinations to travel to and all sorts of fun things to do.

Besides, I have been improving my health lately and I couldn't understand why I was feeling what I felt? 

Then I think, I started feeling a slight panic attack as well. 

I took a shower, packed a small backpack with a couple of underwear, nightgowns and my daily meds and drove to the ER. I was relieved when I checked in. After all, it is much safer to have a heart attack at a hospital right?

I reached out to a High School friend who lives 15 minutes from where I live. Gave her my sister's phone numbers just in case and promised to update her. She wanted to come to the hospital right away but, I stopped her before I learned what was going on. 

Anyhow, they gave me an EKG, took my BP and drew some blood. The doctor told me not to worry because the EKG was fine and my BP was lower than usual. Then, the blood tests came and the doctor assured me there was no indication that I could be having a heart problem. My CRP was elevated and he thinks may be I was having a slight infection but there was no need to do anything just yet. He also encouraged me to keep exercising.

I was relieved and came back home. 

I am still thinking of seeing a cardiologist soon. 

And I was thinking there was nothing new or interesting going on in my life. They say to be careful what we wish for. I think, we need to be careful about all our thoughts too.

Lost Mojo

Lately, I have lost my mojo to blog. Don't know why but, perhaps due to lack of interesting things to write about.

The headhunting project started and then, the customer decided to put it on hold for the time being. Honestly, I am not surprised because, the position is somewhat vague. It feels like the position was created for someone whom the company did not want to lose at one point. Now that he has left, they probably thought he needed to be replaced and then started having second thoughts. The company also seems to be going through some form of re-organization. I think it is better for them to think thoroughly about this.

My days are pretty much the same. I am exercising regularly lately and listening to tons of new music I was not familiar with. K-Pop is my new interest and I started following and loving many young Korean artists. 

I have also watched a few Korean rom-coms and they are hilarious. They are as good as cheesy Hallmark movies.

Here is a sample of what I have been listening. These young men are so talented. I am thinking they are making their parents proud. This tiny concert was during COVID. They are already famous internationally but, I recently became aware of them. 3 of the members are now in the military for the 18 month compulsory military service in South Korea. The rest will soon be enlisting too. So, we will not be seeing their new work until the end of 2025. I hope, they continue to make music together after serving. They have solo careers too.

Projects projects

Once upon a time, I had bought a cute Christmas themed fabric panel while in the US. It had been sitting among my hobby pile forever. I have decided to finally finish it so that, I can hang it up. I sew the backing and filled it with some polyester filling. I put small knots in certain places to keep the filling in place. It is not finished yet. I need to go out and find a stick so that I can hang it up. I will share the finished product hopefully soon.

I also have another fabric panel that is Fall themed. I was going to work on it too but, my remaining backing fabric was not long enough. Bummer. I need to purchase some fabric to get that done.

Long time readers know that I sometimes take on headhunting projects for technical positions. I was not planning to take another project but, my friend who owns the company called me for a very specific C- level position which will be reporting to a CEO whom I have known from a previous job as a colleague. I thought about it for a whole day before I accepted it. During the past 10 months, I had two pleasant, one highly irritating project. Luckily, that project has ended well after a lot of back and forth as well. So, please wish me luck with this new one.

I need to keep busy during the cold months so that, I can stay away from food. Boredom is the worst enemy of a healthy life.

This weekend, I want to tackle two kitchen cupboards and my kitchen towels. Need to get rid of some stuff and re-organize.

It is time for a steaming cup of Linden Tea. Wishing everyone a wonderful weekend.

The Chickpea Recipe

I had promised to share the recipe of the chickpeas if it turned out to be tasty. I loved it. It is a Vegan recipe so, a broad number of people may enjoy it.

It is normally a very hot dish but, I cannot tolerate too much heat and I modified the recipe. So, here are the ingredients:

4 cups of boiled chickpeas (you can use canned but I soaked them and boiled them)

2 cups of chopped peppers (any kind you like, you can also mix hot peppers)

1 cup of thinly sliced onions

3-4 big cloves of garlic

1 large diced tomato

1/3 cup olive oil

Salt/Pepper/Red pepper flakes

You mix these all up in a baking pan. Use a large pan and spread the mixture evenly.

Heat your oven to 390 F and put the pan in for 45 minutes. Every 15 minutes mix the ingredients well.

This is a main dish and I served it with salad. In Southeastern Turkiye, people wrap this in pita or tortilla type bread and have it for breakfast. I think that is too many carbs so, I had it for dinner with salad.

I used sweet red and green peppers but, added red pepper flakes to make it a bit hot. It is a perfect Fall dish. 

I finally put all the bags of the extra clothing I decided to purge, in my trunk so, next time I take my car out, those will go into a donation box. 

There is a pile of laundry that needs to be folded and put away. and a small pile of papers I need to sort through and I also need to straighten out my bathroom and the kitchen a little bit. So, these are today's chores. 

Hoping that it will be a productive date for everyone.

Settling In

Today, I took care of some bills and banking business. Then I put away my beach things, and started swapping out warmer clothes and summer clothes. Was able to purge a few things here and there which felt good.

I also filled my pill boxes, and started a shopping list. Tonight I am going to try a chick pea dish I have heard so much about. If it turns out yummy, I promise to share the recipe.

I have been having too much red meat recently, so I want to stay away from it for a while. I want to get some fish but, knowing that on Saturday, it will be very crowded everywhere, I am not sure whether I want to go to my favorite fish monger tomorrow. I also want to buy a whole chicken next week to roast. That yields a good amount of meals for me. The weather is getting chilly and may be it is time for a nice chicken soup. I have some veggie scraps in the freezer and using them up sounds like a good idea. After all, this is the season for chillies, chowders and hearty soups, right?

I sorted through lots of paperwork and tossed most of the pile I had as well. The central heating hasn't kicked in yet so, drying laundry is crazy during these days. It will take a while to get rid of the laundry I have. I has washed everything in my suitcase in Ankara so, that made a big dent in the laundry pile but, still there is a lot to wash.

This has been a productive day.