Monday, February 23, 2009

Long time, no write

I know it's been several days since I added to my "diary." And I know you are all wondering how the fat lady is getting around.

Well, all is not well, but all is not bad either. Fortunately, I have a husband who doesn't mind if I spend the whole day in bed, and since we're both on a diet (we've both lost 8 pounds so far), and I've told Alan exactly what he can and can't eat, and how often he can eat the food, he is able to get his own stuff, which is a big help.

Yes, I spent the whole day of Saturday in bed, and I slept almost the whole time, including into late Sunday morning. I think I slept for almost 36 hours. I must have needed the sleep.

I go through times of sleep and wakefulness, then sleep, then wakefulness. So after weeks of little to no sleep, I finally crashed.

I am in the midst of a fibro flare up which is very uncomfortable, but I'm pushing through it, since being in bed doesn't really help any.

We are coming up on a season of birthdays. Annie's was last Friday, Rachel's is on the 3rd of March, the new baby will be born in a couple of weeks, and Ellie's is the 20th of March. So, if I can, I shall get to the toy store. I have asked my shopper to do this for me, but I'm not sure she'll be able to do that for me this week. If she can, that will be great, if she can't, I'll stumble around the store and hopefully find what the children want in as few steps as possible

I am walking every day now, getting my stamina up for the boat trip we're taking in the spring. I am walking with mild pain all the time, but I push through that as well, because I know I have to do this.

Alan's back is doing better and I think it's because he's taking a muscle relaxer, which seems to help relax him and he doesn't tense up as much, causing him so much back pain. He's back in bed for a few hours each night, still spending most of his sleeping hours in the recliner. He is trying to find out how much time he can spend at the computer, in the recliner, and in the bed in order to relieve the back pain. He hasn't had much problem with the shingles pain lately, which is good.

Why is it that as we age pain increases? I have some neighbors who are 20 years old than Alan and I and they are spry as can be, no pain in their hips or knees, and few health problems. I have other neighbors who are my age or a little older and they are in the same condition as I am. We compare notes but can not find the similarity which would cause us to have such bad knees and hips. I have often thought the bad knees I have is because I was so active in gymnastics in high school and college. But I don't know if that is the reason or not. Sounds good, anyway.

On to something more cheerful. I have finished completely 3 New York Times crosswords. Yippee. And I read in the Times that a group of economist professors from Columbia U, Harvard, Yale, U of PA, and CUNY reviewed very carefully the new stimulus jobs package. They found that at most the stimulus will provide 127,000 jobs, not the millions that we're being told will be the result of the package. Something to think about.

ttfn

Monday, February 16, 2009

I put them all away

I put all the snowmen away -- boxed them all. I also finally put the three small trees away. I haven't had them lit at night for several weeks and they were just collecting dust, as were the snowmen.

What precipitated this activity? Well, the weather has been so spring-like and the herbs are pushing throw the soil in their pots on the sunporch, so I thought it was time.

I'm reading more Louis L'Amour. Love those books and they're a quick read.

I've asked around and am trying to find out why the New York Times -- a subscription to which we did not order, but appear to be receiving -- has a crossword puzzle everyday that has stupid, far out hints. I mean, one clue was 17 across led this campaign. Well, the whole crossword was about civil war battles, so "campaign" was in my mind as another battle. 17 across was Abraham Lincoln. You know what the proper response was? It was "republican party". Duh!

Today is another lovely day and I've really been enjoying the porch again. It's very dirty and dusty and I have another riddle to solve -- how does a room that is basically hermetically sealed from November 25 through February 10 become to dusty and dirty when it was cleaned very well on November 25. It's so dusty out there that I was sneezing almost constantly and had to come in, and no there was no pollen, and I'm not allergic to herbs.

Today I have to clean the furnace filter. I can smell the dust when the blower comes on, and I forgot to do it in January, so it's time again. A monthly chore I don't relish, but which I must do.

Well, I'm off to get my daily Bible reading in and then Alan and I are going out to dinner. Yippee!

ttfn

Friday, February 13, 2009

Valentine's Day

I used to hate Valentine's Day. You see, from the time I was in kindergarten, until about 5th grade each classroom had a box, all decorated in red and white with hearts all over it, and it had a slot in the top. It was the designated the class mailbox for Valentine cards, and each student who was giving cards to their friends were to deposit their cards (for giving away) into that box.

Usually, the boxes of cards we could buy at the 5 and 10 contained 20 cards, but we almost always had 30 kids in our class. So which 10 did you knock off?

Or, if you were rich enough, your mom would buy two boxes and save the left-overs for the following year. That never happened in our family. Mom bought one box per child, and we had to make do.

The main reason I disliked this holiday was because when the cards were distributed by the designated "mailman" (which could have been a girl) you really hoped you would at least get 20 cards back, not 16, not 15, not 18, but at least 20. After all you had sent 20 cards.

However, year after year I came up short. And year after year I went home depressed knowing who in the class didn't really like me. It was a time to find out if your friends were truly your friends. Of course, on the other side I guess, some classmates discovered that they weren't on my top-20 list as well.

Well, tonight we had a Valentine's banquet here at our Community Clubhouse. It was a catered affair. The average age of the attendees was 70! Alan and I are the kids of the group. But we had a really, really good time. We laughed, we played games, and we ate. And there were no cards distributed, no mailbox to even put cards into, and therefore, I know that all the people there are truly my friends.

Missing, though, were some who have passed away and therefore their respective spouses didn't come. I can understand that. I don't think I would go either if Alan was called Home before me. But, I can't say that for sure because I truly enjoy all the planned events here at Chardonnay, and would miss them and the camaraderie if I didn't attend. I have to say, one of the newer widows was there tonight and was the "life of the party." But she has always been that. And, she attended many events when her husband was so ill.

We have several widows here, and a few widowers. They seem to stay here after they lose their love one, which is nice, and I think that's because this is a caring community where neighbors look after their neighbors, and "everybody knows your name." We don't think of each other as couples. In fact, most of the time the men sit on one side of the room, and the women on the other.

Tonight, however, the "couples" sat together. The singles sat together -- men on one side, women on the other!

It was a really nice event.

ttfn

Wednesday, February 11, 2009

It's windy out there!

Well, we are under a high wind advisory, still. It started early this afternoon, and once again I feared for the back porch windows as they bowed inward with every gust of wind. We lost power three times, which means I have several clocks to reset, but I'm waiting until the wind calms down. I already set them twice. Two times is enough for one day, right? You know what I mean? There's the stove, the microwave, the coffee pot, the alarm clock in the bedroom, the alarm clock in the office, the clock on Alan's desk. I think the ones in the car are safe. At least my watch didn't lose power!

Not much else going on today. I received a passel of Louis L'Amour books last night at Life Group. Yeah! There were only two in the bag of about 30 which I have already read, and I've read a lot of LL's books! Three of them are short story books, which some of my grandchildren love me to read to them. I make good horse noises!! (and good gun shot noises)

So, maybe, this weekend, I'll get a couple of the older grands over and read them a couple of LL's stories of the wild west. There just something about his books that draw me in.

During the day, when I'm between "jobs" I read Louis L'Amour. His descriptions of the west are amazing and I want to go back West and enjoy it without either Alan or I being ill. We had such a great time for five days until he got sick, then the trip was rather one-sided, and I don't really enjoy one-sided trips. I prefer his company, even if it's just sitting in a rented trailer looking at the majesty of the Tetons.

ttfn

Tuesday, February 10, 2009

I know, I know

I know I haven't written in this "journal" for several days. I've been laid low. Figured it was the weather, which went from cold and icy -- to which I was getting accustomed -- to warm and balmy, to which I was not accustomed.

Sunday was not good for either me or Alan. His back which has been giving him fits of late, was at a really high pain thresh hold. I was just as miserable he was so I just didn't walk much. Laid flat that day and suffered through another migraine. Where are they coming from? I know it's not what I've been eating, because after learning what not to eat in order to prevent those blasted things, I have avoided certain foods --no matter how much I love them -- like the plague.

But headache I had added to the joint pain and muscle pain. I was sure I was getting the flu. But on Monday I arose and was fine and didn't even have the normal first-in-the-morning walking pain.

I pray that God gives me some wisdom and knowledge about why I have good days, so I can work on having relatively pain-free days all the time. It's hard to plan anything because when you never know whether you'll be able to move, you can't say, "Yeah, I'll see you next week on Tuesday" because Tuesday might be a day when the pain returns.

Monday was so beautiful - weather wise - that I decided I would walk to the mail box -- a total of 248 steps each way. I decided to count the steps (that's 248 for each foot). And I didn't get winded, and I didn't fall (walker was included in the walk) and I didn't hurt. Yeah!

Today is Tuesday and I'm still enjoying the warm, balmy weather, and the freedom of movement I enjoyed on Monday. While the weather is warm we are having on and off showers, so I don't know if I'll get to the mailbox today on foot, that is. We will be passing it on the way out tonight as we head over to Bible Study, we'll probably pick up the mail then.

2-10-ttfn

Saturday, February 7, 2009

Another balmy day

It's 11 p.m. and it's still in the mid-50s. Alan and I should go for a walk. Nah!

I've been having too much trouble walking around the house today, let along trying to maneuver around the snow mounds that are still around. 18 inches of snow doesn't disappear during the first warm day.

I tried working the New York Times crossword puzzle today. I was able to work two of them this week. Alan somehow got a "free" subscription to the NYT (not a paper I endorse or enjoy reading) so I've been trying to do the crosswords. Well, I just couldn't do them today. I guess my brain was disengaged or something.

It's been a day of low concentration ability for me.

Alan got all the trash out today -- lots of boxes and lots of bags. Since the garage was frozen we didn't worry about getting the frozen bags into the dumpster, but with the weather warming up, it was time to get them out of here. I think there were 10 bags of trash, not all garbage as I've been disposing it in the garbage disposal (GD)a lot more than I used to.

There's a long story connected with why I hadn't been using my garbage disposal and I don't feel like rehashing it here. Let me just say, lesson learned. If you have a cheap (inexpensive, builder installed) disposal, don't try to grind up potato peelings, they clog up the whole thing and and drains. I never had such trouble with any GD before I moved here and I figured out it's because we always bought the best Sears had to offer.

Well, I've really got to get in touch with a few of my friends from whom I haven't heard since before Christmas. So, TTFN.


Friday, February 6, 2009

What a lovely day

Here in Northern Kentucky it's a balmy 37 degrees -- it's that WARM that Alan said I wouldn't need a coat when I went outside. I guess we're getting used to the cold. It does feel warm today. The porch got up to 82 degrees. My office is 75 degrees, and usually it's 65 degrees even with a small heater going 24/7.

Well, the roofers came today to inspect the wet spot on our living room ceiling. They can't get up there to check it out or fix it because the roof is still covered with snow. Maybe next week. It's supposed to rain on Saturday. Hopefully that spot has been there for a long while and I just haven't noticed it, and when they fixed our roof after Hurricane Ike went through, it really did fix the leak. Well, when it rains, I'll find out.

Health wise? Alan is in bad shape today. His eye (he went to the surgeon today) is not healing as quickly as it should, and so they can't give him a prescription for glasses, so he's still seeing out of only one eye. The new cornea eye he can see from, but not real well. His back is also bothering him a lot.

As of me, I woke up feeling like I was starting another flare-up because sleeping during the night was so painful all over. I did get some sleep, but not a lot. And after I took my pill, I started feeling better. Thing is, I took one of those pills just before I went to bed. So what happened? I don't know, but I've gotten quite a bit accomplished today, and I'm very happy about that.

Our neighbor has offered to help Alan clear out the garage so we can get the car into it. I'm not holding my breath. Alan doesn't see the need to clear out the garage. I on the other hand see it as a fire hazard. But, what do I know?

ttfn

Thursday, February 5, 2009

Sunporch

I was out on the sunporch today for about one hour just sitting and looking at the snow which is melting very slowly. Today is another cold day -- right now it's only 16 degrees outside.

It never ceases to amaze me that the porch can be so toasty while just past the windows it's so cold. The floor of the porch is really decking and without the "rugs" I have out there the cold air would seep up and make the room a lot colder.

I recall as a child that on sunny, winter days I would go out on the back porch -- which was unheated and got only the heat the sun provided on cold days -- and played school. Dad had put up a blackboard. It was a nice size. I had an old school desk. You know the kind that has an inkwell hole in the right-hand corner, and the seat that goes up and down on hinges? Ours had a back seat and a front seat. In front of the front seat was a children's table. There was also a bookshelf out there where I was able to "store" my "supplies". We didn't have Rubbermaid containers back then, so I had a box in which my supplies were stored.

I think my father was happy I was playing teacher and school all the time. He was a teacher, at heart, and his teaching was something I wish I had appreciated more when I was younger. It wasn't until I was in my late 20s, away from home, thirsting for teaching from the Bible, that I realized what a treasure my father really was.

I must say that I have rarely heard Bible teaching as in depth and thought provoking as my father's teaching. He would give the background to almost every word in the text, whether it was Hebrew or Greek. He knew both. And while I found that rather boring as a youngster, today I recall a lot of his teaching including the Hebrew and Greek sources he quoted.

If anyone ever says to me, why teach a child anything from the Bible, I retort and say, "Because when he is older he will remember it." And that is so true. I remember the things I learned from my father, and other teachers in that small church he pastored, and I know I am not alone because several of my long-ago friends are still able to quote verses we all learned in Sunday school when we were 7 or 8, or even younger, and I can still talk about my father's preaching and they concur and will say, "Remember when your father said ....." or "Remember when you father said ....".

So you see, the sun porch is a place of reminiscing and remembrance for me, and I know I've bored you with this before, but I'm getting old and boring people is something I'm allowed to do, because that's what old people do -- they become repetitive to the point of boredom. Sorry 'bout that!

ttfn

Tuesday, February 3, 2009

It's back!

Well, some of the snow melted, then refroze, leaving us with a four-inch coating of ice around our car. All that snow I pushed off the car apparently puddled and didn't run off and so we have this ice. We did finally get our salt bucket, though. So now, I can at least salt the ice occasionally.

Alan is out and it is SNOWING so hard right now I can barely see the building across the street. They say we're going to get snow at a rate of one inch plus per hour for the next few hours. And i can tell it's sticking already. I'm praying Alan will get back okay.

My home was cleaned today, and I spent some time with my wonderful aide telling her what I had been doing a toothbrush, and we pondered over how to get the stains out of the flooring. We think we have a solution and I'll work on it just as she did today. Hopefully between the two of us we'll get the stained floor looking like new.

Frankly, I would love to have new tile put in there. When you move into a new place and you can pick and choose what you want, how do you really know what you want? I checked out floors for a couple of months and thought I knew what I wanted, but now that I have it, I want to get rid of it. What I really want is those small glass tiles that come in all kinds of colors and I would get them in a mix of sea green, aqua, off white, etc. But I don't think that's going to happen. Alan doesn't see the need for an unstained floor. He knows it's clean, just stained.

I also discovered today that we have or had a leak in our roof. When Ike hit we lost several shingles, but not the entire roof, and they came in a few days and repaired the roof by replacing the lost shingles. Well, apparently they must have miss a few because the stain in the ceiling in the living room is now visible (it wasn't a couple of weeks ago) and I think it's because of the snow and ice pulling on the unrepaired part of the roof. Well, it's Association's problem, not mine. That's something that's covered in our annual fee.

I'm feeling weird today. Not hurting, but funny. Maybe I need a nap. I think that's what I'll do now, take a nap.

ttfn

Monday, February 2, 2009

It's melting

Well, after one week of being "housebound" I finally went out yesterday. It did get up to almost 50 degrees and a lot of melting occurred. I started working on my car, certain I would find that the roof was crushed with all that snow and ice on it. The roof and hood were fine.

My driveway was and is still a sheet of ice, so I took the walker and carefully walked with a broom in hand to the car and started working on rhe snow removal. I used the broom and broom handle as far as I could reach from my "stance" to remove the snow and ice and got the mix off the hood and part of the roof, as well as the driver side doors. Then my back was hurting really bad, so I went inside, figuring I'd return to the job in a couple of hours after I laid flat for a while.

Low and behold a nice man, whom I don't know, came over and finished the job for me. His name was "Bob" -- that's all he would tell me. He was visiting his daughter who lives across the street. He wasn't happy at the way my drive and walkway were not salted and that walking on them was very treacherous even for him. Oh, well.

Tonight I will get to the driver's door of my car, put my scrapbooking supplies (minimal) into the car and go to the clubhouse and have a great time with "my ladies" while we scrapbook. I'm going to make cards instead of pages, that is, if I get the chance. Usually, I'm so busy "teaching" that I don't get a chance to do any scrapping.

I have it fixed so that all the "big" items are already at the clubhouse. I put duplicates of everything into the scrapbook clubs bin and we just pull it out and use those cutters, pens, papers, punches, etc.

I'm looking forward to tonight and getting to talk to someone other than Alan, bless his heart. He had a really bad night -- his back. I finally got him to the recliner where the pressure was relieved and he was able to sleep.

I thought I'd be hurting a lot today because of the cleaning effort from yesterday, but I'm not. Yeah! And I put more boxes in the attic, the ones I was avoiding moving because they were the really heavy ones, but the mess is really getting to me. I still have to put my snowmen away -- procrastinating on that one.

So I'm moving on now to get this day's "chores" finished before I leave for some fun!

ttfn