Cozy Chemo Memories

You may find it odd to hear the word cozy and chemo used in the same sentence; nevertheless, thanks to the wonderful care of my oncologist, I am truthfully able to say that.

When I first found out that I had to go through chemo, I was terrified. I had watched the movies and seen the shows where people walked out of chemo rooms looking like death warmed over. Prior to that first day, where I had similar feelings to a kid attending their first day of kindergarten, I was relieved when I was shown the circle of recliner chairs. They weren't exactly like this beautiful lounge chair that you see in the picture as the leg rest was connected instead of being separate; however, they were just about as cozy-looking as that. Doesn't that picture just beg for you to hunker down in that chair with a comforter and a book? It looks so inviting! You should see some of the other chairs they have on that website. They all shout COMFORT to the nth degree. If you click on the above link, you will see what I mean.

Little did I know how very lucky I was. Apparently, there is another oncologist in our fair city whose chemo room contains stright-back chairs. I would not have enjoyed that at all.

Instead, I was able to walk into that chemo room with a laptop DVD player, my comforter, a book, my prayer shawl, and my comfy slippers. I was able to sit in one of those cozy recliners to receive my chemo treatments. My husband brought me food after I got settled. And thanks to modern medicine and the anti-nausea medicine, I was able to eat and enjoy what he brought.

So although I am very grateful that I no longer have any necessity of having to receive chemo treatments or any other kind of cancer treatments other than my low-dosage chemo tablet I take daily for five years, I do have pleasant memories associated  with chemo thanks to those very cozy recliner chairs.

Home Office Renovations Day 3

My home office in our log cabin is being completely re-done. On day 3 of the renovations, the two handymen tore out the rest of the floorboards. It had rained in the night; therefore, there was a lot of damness in the room. Before they headed off to their other job, they indicated they would purchase some heavy plastic to line the room with before laying down the new floor. They also found a pipe that leads to the outside that needs to be closed off. Additionally, they found some problems with some of the logs. This may prove to be a much bigger job than any of us originally anticipated. I think we are going to look like that Hoarders Show for a couple of weeks. The end result will be both beautiful and functional. It will be so worth it!

Click HOME OFFICE RENOVATIONS to visit.

Home Office Renovations Day 2

My home office in our log cabin is being completely re-done. On day 2 of the renovations, the two handymen started to tear out the floor boards. They quickly discovered why the room bowed toward the center. Several of the logs holding up the floor were broken. They also realized that this job was going to take them longer than they originally expected. Sigh! In any case, I am so grateful and excited that I am going to get my dream home office.

Click HOME OFFICE RENOVATIONS to visit.

Office Renovations Day 1

Check out the home office renovations going on. I am so excited to get my office re-done. This is day 1 of the renovations. This is just one of the pictures from this day.

To see the rest of the pictures and read all the descriptions, please visit my hub on Hubpages.com called Ask DJ Lyons: Office Renovations Day 1.

Click HOME OFFICE RENOVATIONS to visit.

Office Renovations Before Look

Check out the home office renovations going on. I am so excited to get my office re-done.

To see the pictures and read the descriptions, please visit my hub on Hubpages.com called Ask DJ Lyons: Office Renovations Before Look.

Click HOME OFFICE RENOVATIONS to visit.

Product Review: Breville Juice Fountain Plus JE98XL

I feel positively healthy. About an hour ago, I drank my first veggie fruit drink made with my just-out-of-the-box (as of yesterday) Breville Juice Fountain Plus JE98XL. My drink was made with a few handfuls of Spinach leaves, a few handfuls of shredded carrots, and two Gala Apples. You can see the photo to see what my drink and the juicer look like.

Initial Cleaning

The juicer was very well packed. I removed all parts from the box and washed and dried all parts.

Putting the Juicer together

To remind myself how to put the juicer together, I re-watched the following YouTube video.

Out of the Box: Breville Juice Fountain Plus JE95XL 

Then I got in a bit of a panic as I didn’t see a froth catcher. I’m thinking, “Great! I am missing an essential part and can’t use the juicer.” So I called the Breville Customer Service line once they opened up at 8 am Pacific Standard Time. The guy was really nice who I talked with. When I told him that my froth catcher was missing, he explained that since that YouTube video was made, they had made improvements to the product. The froth catcher was now part of the pitcher cover. Sure enough, when I looked close, I saw he was correct. Phew!

The manual and one video I watched suggested you line the pulp catcher with a plastic bag for easy clean-up. I double-lined it with two plastic grocery bags since each of them had a small hole. It worked beautifully. When I removed the bags after making my drink, the pulp catcher was perfectly clean and did not require washing. Woo-hoo!

As for the pulp, it was nicely dry. This shows me that most of the juice was extracted from the food I added. Since I don’t have a compost heap and there was no recipe I was making that I thought would benefit from this particular mixture, I simply threw the bags containing the pulp away.

Making first Veggie-Fruit Drink

For my first veggie-fruit drink, I decided to use three things I had on hand: spinach leaves, shredded carrots, and Gala apples. In the directions, it was suggested that I do not place the spinach leaves in alone as they needed some other veggie to help get the juice extracted from it better. Unfortunately, I didn’t have anything that I thought would work. I decided to go ahead and use it anyway.

I turned the motor on to the low setting and added several handfuls of spinach leaves. I did not get a huge amount of juice. Next time, I will find something to add with it.

At one point, the motor got extra loud and I panicked and thought I had overheated the unit. But when I realized that the overheating light had not come on, I realized that perhaps it gets loud on its own. So warning: Don’t make this drink if somebody in your house is trying to sleep.

Next step, I added several handfuls of shredded carrots.

Last, I added two Gala apples that were washed but still had a stem, core, skin, etc.

My juice mixture was green – as you can see in the photo.

I placed some ice cubes in a glass and poured the juice in the glass. I smelled it. It smelled like apple juice. I must admit that I was a bit nervous to try it at first. Of course for me, the litmus test is the smell factor. If I don’t like the smell of something, I refuse to put it in my mouth. Since the smell was good, I was willing to take the risk. I actually took several sips before snapping the photo as this drink was tasty. Yum!

I enjoyed drinking the entire glassful. I would definitely make this combination of fruit and veggies again.

Final Clean-Up

Clean-up was a cinch. I took the juicer apart and rinsed off all parts. Then I used the special hard-bristle brush that comes with the juicer to wash the filter. Then I washed all parts with warm, soapy water. It took very little time to clean-up. That is another litmus test of mine.

Final Conclusion

I think this juicer was a real bargain. I can easily visualize myself using it every day.

Since I am now cancer-free aka in remission from breast cancer, I am extra motivated to make certain I stay that way. So making healthy drinks that actually taste good is going to be part of my strategy to look and feel healthy.

My final litmus test is aftertaste. That juice drink has left a very nice aftertaste in my mouth. I actually look forward to being able to partake of this drink again.

I'm excited about a juicer I've ordered for health reasons

Now that I am in full remission from breast cancer aka cancer-free, I am very involved in taking active steps to keep it that way permanently. I am working out some; however, I could and should do a lot more of that. I am also finding more and more ways to eat healthy-type foods.

I bought one juicer from Wal-Mart that worked fairly well. It was called a Ninja Master Prep. You can watch these two Associated Content.com videos watching how to make snow and how to make one particular juice drink I like.

How to Make Snow Using Ninja Master Prep 
Mixed Berry Slush Drink Using Ninja Master Prep 

The juicer works fairly well; however, it does not make the juice as fine as I would like. I end up almost eating my drink rather than drinking to some extent. So I made up my mind that I would like to order a juicer that has more bells and whistles.

After doing a lot of research, I decided to order a Breville Juicer Fountain Plus. It has an 850 watts motor. The juicer sells for $149.95. My husband isn't totally thrilled that I bought one that is rather on the expensive side; however, when you take into account what I have been through and never wish to go through again, than the price is much more worth it.

Out of the Box: Breville Juice Fountain Plus JE95XL 

I found this YouTube video that describes how you put the juicer together. It looks relatively easy to do. Ease-of-use was one of my considerations. I also read a lot of reviews on-line of this juicer and several others. This one seemed to have the most positive reviews. That was really important to me as well. It also sounds like clean-up won't be too bad.

I found this video to be helpful as well:

Breville - Juice Fountain Plus Electric Juicer - Silver 

One site suggested that I put a plastic produce bag inside the pulp catcher. That sounds like a great idea.

My current thoughts is that I may use the Ninja to make the snow. I use the Breville Juicer Fountain Plus to make the juice. Then I pour the juice over the slush and have a really healthy slushy to drink. I may find, however, that I enjoy the juice without having to have a bunch of ice mixed in. I will have to wait and see.

Now the countdown begins. I ordered the juicer the evening of December 6th. The expected arrival date is either December 13 or 14. I am hoping, of course, that it will arrive sooner than that. I will keep you posted.

I wish all of you good health and a very happy day!

With love,
Healing Seeker aka Debbie