Tag Archives: challenges

July 14, 2024 · 10:07 am

Sunday 7-14-2024

Men’s Health

I’m feeling a bit swamped this morning. I know I can’t control things happening in the world. I can’t even control much of what is happening in my own, personal world. I have to fight the urge to cover up my head and just escape.

The 20-year-old trying to assassinate former President Trump at the rally in Pennsylvania yesterday is the latest example of how lost our world is. We are filled with frustration and hate. We have forgotten how to communicate. We want freedom of speech for ourselves, but not for those who have views differing from ours. Once again, innocent people have lost their lives or have been injured.

I feel guilty that I want to escape. I want to insulate myself from all the bad stuff going on around me. Feeling helpless, I strive to find something that is beautiful, something that touches me, something that gives me hope. Me, me, me. Yes, I feel guilty.

I wish there were a “reset” button. A “reboot” button. A “wipe-the-slate-clean-and-start-over” button. While I’m wishing, I wish for a “listening-and-truly-HEARING” button. An “understanding” button. “Empathy.” “Compromise.” “Cooperation.” A “live-and-let-live” button. What about old-style values, such as “respect.”

“You never know how strong you are, until being strong is your only choice.” – Bob Marley

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July 11, 2024 · 10:33 am

Priorities

Poster My Wall

Lately our coffee hasn’t been as good. I’ve been mentally blaming it on my husband, who makes the coffee a lot of mornings. His hands shake, and I was assuming that was the reason we’ve had ‘grounds’ in the coffee lately.

I used a commercial pot cleaner, and then followed that up with a suggestion I found on the net to use baking soda. I made sure to run several pots of just water afterwards to clean out the cleaners. I ran the coffee pot carafe, lid, and filter holder through the dishwasher, as well.

The result is the same. This morning, as I was refilling my cup from our large coffee thermos – the thought occurred to me that maybe the THERMOS is the problem. I’ve cleaned it, of course, but we’ve had it for years, and maybe what I’m seeing isn’t ‘grounds,’ but bits of ‘stuff’ from the inside of the thermos.

I have thrown caution to the winds now, ordering another large thermos with pump from Amazon because my husband is really serious about his one cup a day of coffee (rarely two), and I EXIST on coffee all day long and into the evening until all the coffee is gone. (My only ‘limit’ is that I don’t make another pot). It is supposed to be delivered tomorrow.

We’ll start using the new thermos as soon as we have it and then will decide if we need to buy a new pot, as well.

Sometimes ‘priorities’ are very basic.

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June 23, 2024 · 10:09 am

Feeling Lazy and Stupid

Red Bubble

I’m feeling lazy and stupid right now.

I just went out to the well house to see when our two irrigation system water timers are set to begin today so I can monitor the watering.

We have two different models of the same brand, so the directions on creating the settings are different. I couldn’t tell when they were set to start, so I came back in, got the the directions for each, plus my glasses, and went out again.

I saw that the two units had two different ‘current times’ on them, so I tackled that first. I looked at the new system, trying to scroll through the different settings, and that was confusing. I then noticed that by scrolling through, some of the settings had changed, so I started over.

I now THINK I have the new system for the back set to start at 3pm. I THINK I have the system in the front set to start at 3:20pm, each of them running for 10 minutes automatically, every day.

I now have an alarm set so I’ll go out to check the watering starting at 3pm. WHEW!

I feel lazy because I have always depended on my husband to install and program stuff around here. Our situation has changed now. He installed the new system yesterday for the back, but didn’t think to check the batteries in the old system. It turns out that the old system was fine and just needed new batteries. So that’s the first lesson for me – check to see if there ARE batteries and see if changing them causes the system to work again.

We put the old unit in the well house on the shelf as a back up if we need it.

If I haven’t programmed the systems right, I’ll find out at 3pm and I can try again. If they DO work, I’ll monitor to make sure the water is going to the right places with no kinks in the hoses, breaks in the system, etc.

I’m feeling humble and stupid because what should probably be intuitive – (our son can look at something and start ‘messing’ with it, figuring how to program it faster than I can find the directions in the file cabinet) – ISN’T intuitive for ME. I have to read the directions carefully, taking them out there with me (remembering my glasses) and then painfully work my way through the settings.

I’m getting quite a few character-building exercises on how to be a functioning adult these past few days. I’m working on my attitude about it, trying to find a ‘can-do’ person in there somewhere, and the determination to make this work as it should. Fingers crossed!

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June 10, 2024 · 8:43 am

Lucky, Lucky, Lucky

We were extremely lucky that this was merely scary, rather than resulting in real damage. I’m HOPING it got my husband’s attention and it results in him making SURE the water hose is working before he burns trash again.

You can’t see in this picture, but the flames were active all along the side of the shop and then down the hill. (This is also where the NEW working hose wouldn’t reach. We had to stomp the flames and I grabbed Amber’s water jugs from the shop to douse the flames before we could get the spray attachment on the new hose.

It’s on my list to weed whack the remaining greenery from around the trash barrel ASAP.

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June 9, 2024 · 8:42 am

Too Much Excitement

Montana Public Radio

Yesterday my husband yelled at me. “Linda. I have a problem!”  I went running all over the house, trying to FIND him, upstairs, all around the first floor, then down in the basement, then yelled out the front door, then out the back door. Finally I went outside onto the driveway pad and saw him kneeling down out by the shop. The grass was on fire!!!!

He was trying to get it out, but the hose we have out there wasn’t working. He was trying to hook up another one. Part of the fire was right beside the shop. He had been burning trash. One of the pieces of trash came out of the barrel, fell down onto the ground, and WOOOSH!  He finally got the hose hooked up and I used my thumb to spray it everywhere there were flames as much as possible. The flow wouldn’t reach the farthest flames, so he went out and stomped them while I ran to the shop to get some water jugs we keep for Amber in the shop. We used those to dampen things down. I went and got the sprayer attachment off the hose that wasn’t working and we got it on the replacement hose and I sprayed everything down again.

We are both okay and, other than the burned out grass, no damage.

He is NOW agreeing to check to make sure the water hose and sprayer are working BEFORE he tries to burn trash again. He also agreed to try to let me know where he IS the next time he yells for help. He did NOT agree to let me know when he decides to burn trash. ARRRRGH!  I can’t rest for 5 seconds without him deciding to DO something.

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June 8, 2024 · 9:33 am

Disdainful Detente

Jet likes the old woven bread basket I put on the countertop beside my computer. She jumps up on me, walks over my keyboard, and either settles down to sleep in the basket, or goes the other way to simply sprawl in the corner between my part of the L-shaped office counter or my husband’s.

Jet, and Amber, our 95 pound yellow lab are not babies. We adopted Jet recently. The only thing we know about her is that she is about 14 months old and had a litter of kittens. Amber is now 7 years old.

So they each have a history and have taken the better part of a month to achieve disdainful detente in the house. They can both be in the same room now without hissing or spitting (unless Jet is startled for some reason). I even found them yesterday both sleeping in the doorway on the tiles by the back door to the porch! I tried to get a picture, but Jet tends to jump up and follow me around, so I need to learn to sneak around a bit.

The cat door latch has saved my sanity. This ingenious piece of heavy plastic goes over the door knob on one end and has a screw-in metal piece in the selected hole on the other end, allowing Jet to go in and out freely, giving her access to her food, water, and kitty litter (plus a safe space if needed) while keeping Amber out. This is working really well. I still close the door completely any time Amber – or we – are eating, and at night.

Our previous sweet cat, Abby, liked to be outdoors. She was very happy with a cat cube on top of the woodpile in the garage for sleeping. We fed her out there, too, plus had a water dish. We have a cat door in the overhead garage door, so she could go in and out of the garage as she wished. We let her in the house and she stayed with us inside as long as she wanted, but was ready to go out at night and much of the day. My husband would like us to ease Jet into this, as well. I’m happy with things as they are. Since I’m the one doing all the extra work on this, I’m HOPING that I can be the one doing the deciding…

Jet initially was really unhappy when I turned on the hair dryer in her bathroom several days ago. Today she actually came in and started rubbing against my legs as I used the dryer. She is definitely adapting. :0)

Detente is a beautiful thing.

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June 7, 2024 · 10:54 am

Power Problems

All of a sudden yesterday our power went off. It wasn’t storming. The sun was shining. No power. Our generator is wired to come on automatically when the public power goes off, but it DIDN’T. (It runs everything in the house EXCEPT heat and A/C.)

Amazon.com

5 hours later (the public power was back on) but we couldn’t get the generator to work. We went to town, bought a solenoid and installed it. The generator still didn’t work.

This morning we bought another battery. We will wait until after lunch – when the generator is in the shade – to work on it again. Fingers crossed the new battery solves the problem. If not, I’m not sure what comes next.

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June 7, 2024 · 8:59 am

Quick Note 6-7-2024

Just a quick note to let you know it’ll be quite a bit later before I post much today. Our power went out yesterday, but our generator did NOT come on as it always does. We spent 5 hours working on things, trying to figure it out. We then went to town, bought a new solenoid (a switch type thingie that goes between the motor and the battery), but that didn’t solve things. We are taking the battery in this morning to get a new one. Fingers crossed that that is the last part to getting it to work again.

My husband was SURE we replaced that battery less than a year ago. He couldn’t find it in the computer log he keeps. We couldn’t find a receipt for it in the files, either. After a lot of looking and bad words, he FINALLY found a listing in the log that said the battery had been in there since 2019. Then he told me he was getting dingy and losing his self-confidence. I ‘calmly’ pointed out that he wasn’t getting older by himself, that I was there right along with him, and that we needed to work together to devise strategies for keeping track of things. I pointed out that when I drove him to get the solenoid (a very unusual thing for him to ask) I had to CONCENTRATE to remember where the place was. That seemed to help. Will write more when we either get things working again or take a break.

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June 4, 2024 · 9:52 am

More Freedom for the Cat and Me

Jet

This is our utility room. The big bed on the left is our dog, Amber’s. There is a dog gate between the utility room and the dining area/kitchen/pantry area.

Jet, the new cat, and Amber, our 95 pound dog, have finally reached detente, we think, though we still keep a close eye out for any problems. The remaining areas of concern at this point are protecting the cat if there is any kind of food involved – for her, for Amber, for us. Amber has NO sense of humor or compassion where food is concerned. She wants HERS, OURS, and the CAT’s. ALL. OF. IT.

My wonderful SIL sent me some pics of a cat door latch. I had never heard of one before. I researched it, then sent a link to several options to my husband, asking him to choose the one he thought would be the easiest to install and use. He ordered one and it came yesterday.

We didn’t even need tools to install it. It’s heavy plastic. One end fits over the door knob. The other end has several holes into which you can screw a metal thingie whose other end sits in the hardware of the door. It is easily ‘used’ or ‘not used’, so I can shut the cat inside, if needed (as when we’re eating), or at night, when we don’t want her wandering around. Otherwise, it keeps the door propped open enough for Jet to come and go easily, but strong enough that Amber cannot ‘nose’ it open to get in and eat Jet’s food (or used kitty litter.) With its use, this is also another ‘safe space’ for Jet.

I shoved her in and out several times yesterday, but wasn’t really sure she would use it on her own. This morning I was cleaning the bathroom and used the latch. Jet came in, wandered around while I cleaned the area. I put more food in her bowl and she went out with me. I set the latch. She started to follow me (as she does a lot), but then went back, walked through the opening, and started to eat. HOORAY!

I left her ‘in’ there with the latch set. I came into the office. Suddenly, Jet jumped up into my lap. :0) HOORAY!

Now Jet and I have much more freedom. I don’t need to figure out when she needs to be put in the bathroom in order to do her business, or be let out again afterwards. She is going in and out at will, except when it’s dangerous. Win/Win. THANKS, ML!

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June 1, 2024 · 9:56 am

Saturday 6/1/2024

Pinterest

My SIL wrote this morning, telling me about a ‘cat door latch’ that can help solve some of our problems trying to get Amber and Jet to co-exist. We’re researching the various options (I didn’t even know these existed) and we’re excited about Jet being able to go in and out from the back bathroom (and her food, water, and kitty litter) whenever she would like without Amber being able to go in and wreak havoc.

My husband immediately wanted to cut a cat door in the bottom of the door, but I would really rather not. We don’t have anything to go over the door and the optics would be less than great. I’m hoping that my husband can look at the options, decide which one would be sturdy and easy to install, so we can get one ordered. I would still need to shut her in there – without egress – when Amber (or we) are eating, but that’s a minor detail.

IT’S NOT RAINING! I’m thinking about spending some time in the yard this afternoon, weed whacking, spraying, pruning, etc. I’m hoping that the man who specializes in greenery removal will call sometime soon and come to give us an estimate we can afford for clearing up the driveway. The trees on both sides are attempting to merge…

UPDATE – My husband has chosen a cat door latch that will be easy to install and use, plus still gives me the option to actually prevent Jet from coming out when it might be dangerous for her. He is ordering it now. HOORAY!

Have a good first day of June!

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May 31, 2024 · 10:04 am

When You Seek Escape

Beaver State 3 – Fiza – BoredPanda.com

I love the fact that “when the world is too much with me”, I can mentally and emotionally escape for a bit –

It may be looking at a gorgeous photo like this, where I can imagine being there, walking beside the lanterns on the stepping stones in the beautiful green, wooded area.

It may be diving into another world provided by one of my favorite authors or the joy of finding one who is brand new to me, replacing my worries with the situation of other interesting people dealing with issues totally different than mine.

It may be doing one of my hobbies – like I escape to my art room. I can visualize what I’d like to create, or even just take some time to straighten up the materials I have..

It may be wandering around outside in the fresh air, tending my plants, planting new things, seeing how things have grown, enjoying new displays of scents and colors.

It may be listening to music, enjoying someone’s breathtaking talent, reacting viscerally to the lyrics, the story, the emotion, the sound –

I feel very lucky that I have so many “places I can go” when I need to get away for a while!

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May 25, 2024 · 1:33 pm

Defeated for Today

Nature is Amazing – @amazingnature on X

This is how I feel after fighting with trying to get my ‘subscribe’ or ‘follow’ button to show on my blog website. I just checked and it SHOWS on my iPhone, so I have no clue why it doesn’t show here on my regular computer.

I will keep trying to figure it out, but I’m feeling pretty defeated right now. I’m going to go get a cold drink, stretch out in my recliner, and read a book. Maybe some solution will occur to me.

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May 21, 2024 · 9:21 am

Jet’s New Cat Tower

The new cat tower was delivered – to the HOUSE – yesterday by Fedex about 2:30. It took us both working together until about 5:30 to get the thing assembled. We joked about remembering when we were up most of the night of Christmas Eves putting toys, bicycles, etc. together for our son…

The fur on the pieces made getting each screw started really difficult, but we finally developed some techniques that made the job go a bit easier. There were at LEAST 5 million screws (maybe a slight exaggeration).

The tower is well made with a sturdy design. It JUST went in the place we wanted to put it – to the side/under a mounted music speaker beside the entertainment center and beside the fireplace. We used a bungie cord to attach the tower to the heavy mounting of the speaker, so it won’t go anywhere no matter how strenuous a jump Jet makes getting on it.

Some of the spacers are wrapped in rope for good scratching posts. There are places to sleep in the open or inside cubes, if privacy is preferred. There are a couple of balls-on-strings to catch the attention of a cat.

We were thinking that it might be another safe space from our dog, Amber, too. We now have a chair in front of it to try discourage Amber from getting really close to the tower.

You can see Jet actually sitting on the larger cube! She, of course, immediately jumped down when I put her on it last night, choosing to sprawl on the fireplace bricks, instead. I had almost given up when she decided to jump back on it. She explored quite a bit, going up and down, batting one of the balls when it moved as she passed.

I really have no clue how much the cat tower will be liked or used, but I’m glad we got it for her and put it together. She is already finding safe spaces in the entertainment shelves, and I assume she will find many more places to get places to snooze as time goes on.

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April 6, 2024 · 6:04 pm

One Dog – Two Gates

This is an old picture of Amber and me. It gives you an idea of her size.

I told you that she has been getting into trouble lately and causing us a bit of grief. I am taking her out late at night as her last outing of the night NOT on the leash, as my husband was doing, since she pulled him into the planter and caused a lot of grief plus an all-nighter in the ER. I am simply letting her out, telling her to ‘hurry up’ and hoping she won’t be gone long, if she leaves the area. So far, so good.

The other problem is that we had taken down baby gates, leaving only one between the tiled areas on the first floor and the carpeted ones. She has a nice bed in the utility room right next to the garage. Suddenly, she was stealing food off the counter in the kitchen, or grabbing not-yet rinsed dishes and taking them to her bed, etc. We finally re-installed the baby gate between the dining/kitchen/pantry areas and the utility room.

The problem THEN was we installed it so the gate opening part got in the way of the door to the garage. We go in and out of that door all day long, so we were TRYING to adapt to the difference. We finally decided today to turn the baby gate around so it opened the other way – AWAY from the door to the garage. It took us a bit of time but we just accomplished it. This will save us a bunch of problems, as I found myself with the gate part open, the door to the garage open, the dog trying to bull her way past me to get OUT and the cat trying to sneak past me to get IN – all at the same time with me right in the path.

Hopefully we can now separate Amber from any food that needs to be out to thaw, or the chance to take a breath after dinner before cleaning up the kitchen. I’ll be able to let Amber out without getting trapped between the doors and the cat streaking her way in.

Life gets complicated sometimes, but we – as our animals’ people – are supposed to be smarter than they are…

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April 3, 2024 · 11:23 am

It’s Done

Enis Yavuz-Unsplash.com

We have always changed from snow tires to regular tires and back again ourselves in our shop. We had snow tires mounted on wheels so that it’s just a case of taking the current wheels with tires off and putting on the other set, already on wheels. It has always been laborious, but quite doable.

Now we have had to admit (my husband more grudgingly than I) that now that we are older than dirt, it’s better to let the people set up to do this do it for us, rather than struggle to do it ourselves.

To be completely honest, it took the TWO of us to get each tire into the back of our truck this morning. By the time we got the four regular tires into the bed of the truck and found the lug nuts and special one lug nut and wrench addition needed to put it on each tire, we were both a bit short of breath.

I took my Kindle so that I could read while I waited, but didn’t actually use it for more than a few minutes. There was a constant ‘show’ going on with people coming in and out and things happening all around, so I put my Kindle away and just watched what was going on.

I only had to wait about half an hour for them to get to our truck. The changeover went quickly and they only charged us $32.50 for the job.

When I got back home, I got our mail and dragged the empty trash can back up to where it lives without falling on my head. (I’m trying to train myself to put my phone in my pocket so that if I fall, I can call for help.)

We managed to get the snow tires OUT of the truck and stored – with their lug nuts – in the shop until probably November.

As we drove from the shop to the house, my husband asked, “Do you really think it’s a good idea to have this job done for us, when we could do it ourselves?” My answer – an enthusiastic, “YES!!!!”

HOORAY!

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March 31, 2024 · 3:14 pm

Accountability

quotesgram

I’ve been logging in at MyFitnessPal.com daily for 40 days, trying to be more mindful of what I’m eating, my exercise, my water drinking, etc. I’ve been following the keto eating plan for approximately half that time.

I’ve decided to make myself accountable once a month to keep my head on straight and stay on my way to many goals. I don’t have any particular goals on weight and measurements. I need to lose my lard – a lot of it – but I’m making mini-goals in 5-pound-increments to keep it doable in my mind. I’m trying to practice my yoga daily for half an hour, adding working in the yard outside, or heavy days of cleaning inside, lately, or future plans of using my elliptical machine in the garage when I can, or adding exercises with dumbbells to add strength, all in an effort to be stronger, more flexible, with better balance, less apt to fall.

Toward these goals, I am down 23 pounds since my heaviest. I have two pounds to go to meet my latest 5-pounds-lard-off goal.

February yoga practice
March yoga practice

Today I measured, since I have finished a full month of daily yoga in March plus another several days starting in February. (Can you tell that the sparkly stars on my calendar are a big motivator for me?)

Measuring shows a loss of .3 inches from my hips and a loss 1.5 inches from my waist.

So, bit by bit I’m making some slow progress. (I have to tell you that last night my husband and I were so grateful that we were still alive, relatively in one piece, and relatively healthy that we ‘celebrated’ with a dish of no- sugar-added vanilla ice cream. My husband added some fruit to his and I added some chocolate syrup to mine. This will be the last celebration for the foreseeable future. :0) )

I am now promising myself (and you) that I will report progress – I hope – again at the end of April.

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January 30, 2024 · 9:14 am

Beautiful Tuesday

Viacheslav Lakobchuk – 123RF.com

Today our weather is absolutely gorgeous. I’m about to go do several errands, and it will be a delight to be outside. It’s 44 right now, and the forecast is for 65 this afternoon. The sun is shining. GORGEOUS!!!!

My husband and I are learning to function on very little sleep at night. We’re lucky to be able to catch cat naps during the day, so things are improving there, as well.

So far, my husband has not tried to do things he shouldn’t, so I’m beginning to think I MIGHT be able to spend some time in my art room this week. I’m going to see if I can find another good video on techniques for wood burning to get the juices flowing. :0)

I hope things are going well for you today.

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January 28, 2024 · 8:36 am

Sunday 1-28-2024

Charlie Harris – Unsplash.com

Good morning. I need to warn you that you’re reading the words of a zombie, pretty much, since it’s been a week now since I got a regular night’s sleep. A week ago today my husband fell on the ice at the bottom of our driveway, breaking his collar bone.

We catch cat naps as we can, all day and all night, trying to sleep in our recliners. Sleeping well was a challenge before my husband hurt himself because that seems to go with becoming more ‘mature,’ but now we’re pretty much hopeless. We’re just glad for whatever we can get.

Each day is a bit better. He’s now saying he wants to quit wearing the sling. I simply told him I thought that it would slow the healing process and increase his pain, but that he, of course, could do whatever he wants…

Our son researched healing from bone breaks, bought and sent some high doses of Vitamin C and D-3. I’m giving these to my husband morning and night now.

I hope that your Sunday is a nice one.

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January 27, 2024 · 9:18 am

Soggy Saturday 1-27-2024

dallomoantonella.wordpress.com

I’m so glad we’re dealing with rain, rather than ice or snow.

My husband, who broken his left clavicle on the 21st, is now talking about not wearing his sling after a couple more days. I – having lived with this man for some 54 years now – simply told him it would take longer for healing, but that it was up to him how long he was incapacitated. Meanwhile, I’ll try to contact the orthopedic nurse on our portal to see if I can get some backup.

Our son, who lives across the world from us, bought and sent us two kinds of supplements to help him heal. I’ll start incorporating them into his meds today.

My husband is basically just moving from one room to another on the first floor until further notice. He’s doing that more easily now, plus sneezed and told me it didn’t hurt nearly as bad as previously, so there is definitely progress. We are still trying to sleep in our recliners.

He requested spaghetti, so I’ll make that for tonight.

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January 26, 2024 · 10:14 am

Friday 1-26-2024

Hans Isaacson-Unsplash.com

I have absolutely NO complaints about our gray, rainy weather. It is NOT ice. It is NOT snow. I can drive up and down our driveway without risking myself or my vehicle. I can do what I need to do. :0)

My husband is getting around better since breaking his collarbone on the 21st. He is at the computer now, watching YouTube videos. He’s a bit better each day, and so far is being careful not to hurt himself further. I’m staying close by, since he only has the use of one hand and arm.

I will make a dash today to get supplies, lunch from the deli (my husband’s request) and our mail. That’s it for ‘out’ today. I called our friends about not being able to come to Lunch Bunch and about my husband’s fall.

I’m grateful we can handle what happened ourselves. In fact, all I need to do so far to keep my husband in line is tell him that I am happy to try to hire someone to help him. :0) MEAN woman….

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January 25, 2024 · 10:18 am

Amber

Amber is worried. She senses something isn’t normal around here, and she is following one of us – and then the other – closely, trying to be everywhere at once.

BEFORE injury

She cries if I put her on the other side of the dog gate. I only do this when I’m trying to help my husband get out of his chair or back into it, etc. (He broke his collarbone falling on the ice Sunday, January 21st. He doesn’t need surgery and recovery time is approximately 10 to 12 weeks. He is learning how many things he does that affect the muscles in his left shoulder, how much he uses his left hand, and how MUCH it hurts to sneeze, cough, or laugh.)

He insisted he wanted to sleep upstairs in our bed last night. Nothing would convince him to change his mind. We went to bed around midnight. I basically lay there with my eyes closed, but was trying to stay alert to help him if needed. Around 2 am he said I was right (!) :0( and that he couldn’t get comfortable in the bed. He then learned that he uses is left hand to hold onto the stair railing. We slowly and carefully got down the stairs and back into his chair. We basically slept – where we could rest – from 6am to 8.

He is stronger this morning and was able to get out of his recliner carefully by himself. He looks more alert. I’m hoping he will take several naps whenever he is sleepy.

Again – BEFORE injury

Amber wants to sleep right in front of his chair. We have already made it VERY clear she is NOT considered a lap dog (97 pounds) and that my husband is very happy with her beside him, rather than in his lap right now. If we insist she get in her “place” on her bed across the room, she watches him, alert to any movements. (usually she does this only when he has food, but now it is really concern for him.)

I keep trying to reassure her. I guess in this case, seeing is the only way she will be believing.

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January 24, 2024 · 11:20 am

Figuring it Out

Bowditch & Dewey-LynettePaczkowski

It’s been quite the night and morning.

Since my husband broke his collarbone falling on the ice in our driveway Sunday morning, we’ve had x-rays and seen an orthopedic surgeon, who said my husband could heal without surgery. With surgery or without, the recovery time is 10 to 12 weeks.

After fighting with my husband (we don’t even use the same salt :0) ) he has agreed for now that we will stay downstairs. He’s still in quite a bit of pain on ANY movement and only has the use of his right arm and hand until further notice, making any normal activity quite difficult. We are sleeping in our recliners, getting as much rest as possible, which so far isn’t much. Thank goodness we can both take naps any time we need it.

Breakfast, morning chores, sitz bath, change of clothes, meds, and back in the chair took until 10:30 this morning. He is taking a nap in his recliner right now, and seems to be as comfortable as possible. While he’s doing that, I’m doing laundry, cleaning up the kitchen, figuring out food, etc.

It’s amazing how quickly your life can change. I’m so relieved this wasn’t any worse and that we can let this heal on its own. We are adapting slowly to the new normal. I’m walking kind of a tightrope right now, between helping and stepping on pride. I’m wishing I had a magic wand to make him feel better.

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January 23, 2024 · 10:24 am

Verdict

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This morning we drove through rain and pretty heavy fog in places to try to find the orthopedic surgeon’s office in Fort Smith by our 7:50 appointment. After driving like a rat trying to find the cheese with my poor husband agonizing each time we hit a bump, pothole, railroad track, speed bump, etc. due to his broken clavicle, we found it and checked in with a minute to spare.

We were seen quickly – amazingly quickly. We had two choices: 2 surgeries or none. The 2 surgeries would have included one to place a positioning plate and the second surgery to remove it later. Recovery time – 10 to 12 weeks. The surgeon told us the break would heal and would take almost the same amount of time, doing what we’re doing now, with NO surgery. The only difference is cosmetic – he’ll have a knot where the break was on his shoulder. He told the surgeon “he was old and didn’t mind getting uglier” so we will continue what we’re doing now, making him as comfortable as possible and letting him heal. The doctor said sleeping in our recliners was probably a really good thing until my husband can get up and down by himself without so much pain. He will get a follow up x-ray and see the surgeon again at the end of February.

My husband isn’t happy about the long recovery time, but he’s delighted that he will heal without surgery. He griped about my driving on the way to the appointment, but subsided after I bit him verbally. I just asked him to consider riding with me a character-building exercise, and to remember that I don’t say a word when HE’S driving, even when he scares my hair off.

Our doctor appt was so early that our mail hadn’t been delivered and the trash was still down at the bottom of the driveway when we got back. I’ll make a trip for groceries in a bit and will check those two things again.

We are relieved. This could have been a lot worse. We have agreed that in the future, we will just leave our trash in our garage, waiting for our driveway to clear, before risking anything like this again.

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January 23, 2024 · 5:52 am

On the Way to the Surgeon

Even with the ice storm (the bulk of which seems to have missed us, thank goodness), we were able to get my husband’s shoulder x-rayed yesterday. They prescribed pain meds, cold packs, a sling, and we have an appointment to see an orthopaedic surgeon this morning at 0-dark-30. The x-ray showed a broken left clavicle. We’ll know more after the surgeon sees us. At least we should be able to control his pain better now while we find out what is next.

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January 22, 2024 · 9:01 am

Covering Up My Head

Prostock-Studio – istock photo

Suffice to say, this is an awful day. I have a call in to our primary care doctor, asking if they can take an x-ray of my husband’s shoulder. We got about an hour of sleep last night. He is in pain.

The ice outside makes it so that we can’t get to Fort Smith to the ER even if my husband would agree to go. He HAS agreed to go to the clinic if they’ll take the x-ray.

The schools are closed due to the weather. The clinic won’t open until 1pm. All my appendages are crossed that they will call me back, tell me they WILL take an x-ray, and we can GET there and get him more help than I’m able to give him.

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January 21, 2024 · 4:03 pm

Oops!

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Well, it got above freezing. We drove the trash down to the place in the driveway where we have the trash can. I got out and started to roll the trash can down. I immediately started slipping badly. My husband drove on down to get the mail, then stopped to get out to help me, when he saw I was having trouble.

I waited, but he didn’t come. I kept creeping down, inches at a time with the trash can. I finally got down to the street and left the trash can. He had fallen and was trying to get into the truck. He made it back inside the truck just as I made my way over. His left foot had gone out from under him and he fell backwards, hitting his shoulder. He almost couldn’t get into the truck. He insisted he could drive, so we drove down to the church, turned around with lots of pain for his left shoulder, then made it back up the driveway and to the house.

I had him take some aspirin and got him settled in his chair with the heating pad wrapped all around it. I got him a drink. He’s watching TV and I just checked on him. He was holding the heat pad close to his shoulder. He says it feels a bit better.

We should have driven all the way down to the road, then he could have gotten the mail while I tried to walk up for the trash can. Shoulda – woulda – coulda. Now we’re supposed to get an ice storm starting tonight-into-tomorrow. We’ll just stay up here until further notice – until we can get wherever we need to go without getting out of the truck on ice, assuming we can get down the driveway in the first place.

Did I tell you I’m ready for spring?

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January 20, 2024 · 9:27 am

Waiting for Tuesday

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All my life I’ve been waiting – for something.

As a kid, I waited for Christmas, or my birthday, or…

I waited for school to be out.

I waited for summer.

When I fell in love and my to-be husband was in the Marines, I waited for him to come home on leave. I waited for weekends. I waited for him to get out of the Marines. I waited for him to go to the same college as I did. I waited for him to ask me to marry him. I waited for the wedding.

I waited for our children to be born.

I finally decided that I was wishing my life away and that it probably wasn’t the best way to live. I decided to try to live more in the moment, cherishing all that I have.

Now I find myself waiting again. This time it seems kind of silly. I’m waiting for Tuesday. Why?

Our weather is supposed to get above freezing. Things are supposed to start to thaw out. That means we can finally get down our driveway – and back up again. It means freedom to plan our day around what we’d like to do, rather than making the best of things.

My life is a good one. We have gotten through this cold spell, stuck up on our hill, just fine. But I’m WAITING for more – being a greedy lady.

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January 16, 2024 · 10:22 am

Weird Start to Our Morning

McLaren Health Care

Besides being 4 degrees (update – we’re now up to 7 degrees) with a wind chill of -22 this morning in ARKANSAS – this has been a weird morning BESIDES the robocall we just received.

When we came downstairs this morning, I made a quick check to be sure our animals were good and that the water was still dripping in our sinks. Our security system was beeping a rhythmic beep. I went around checking doors and windows and couldn’t find anything wrong. The beep was driving me nuts. I didn’t see anything listed on the system control pad, so I just started pushing buttons. I finally got the system to be quiet, but that was followed immediately by the phone ringing – our security system folks.

I was able to remember our password and my name (always a good thing) and assured her we were not under attack. She wanted to know if she should send someone out. I told her that the only way someone could come and SEE us today was if they came in via parachute (explaining about our steep snow and ice covered driveway.) We agreed that we should all not worry about anything and get on with our day.

It’s good to know that there really ARE people on the other end of our system and that they WOULD send people to try to help us if we either didn’t answer the phone or couldn’t give the password.

This morning I’m going to make sure I have the emergency number in my cell phone and that I find the emergency necklace they provided – just in case.

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January 13, 2024 · 11:05 am

Fun Ahead!

Lowe’s

I’ve told you that I’m trying to learn how to do wood-burning, or pyrography. It’s difficult, to say the least, because you can’t hold the tool down close enough to the tip to allow you to feel in control, plus each tip does certain things best, and it takes a LOT of experimenting and practice to be able to choose the right one and use it effectively.

I have a tool now, and tips, and a holder, and safety stuff. I’ve been experimenting, and sometimes get excited about the results and many more times hit stumbling blocks. Example: I’ve learned how to transfer a design – should I choose to do something NOT freehand – but had a really hard time trying to do lettering around it. Needless to say, I have a LOT of practicing to do.

I got a fun package in the mail today – I ordered some different sizes and shapes of wood so that I have something to do the pyrography ON when I can –

I now also have a couple of different wood stains now, plus varnish.

SO – the only thing holding me back is

  • courage
  • practice
  • ideas
  • practice
  • time
  • practice
  • energy
  • practice
  • learning – videos
  • PRACTICE
Wikipedia

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January 8, 2024 · 1:57 pm

I Prevailed

Izzy Park – blue_jean – unsplash.com

It would seem that refilling a prescription should be a simple thing. You order, you pay, you receive –

Except when your provider decides to quadruple (that’s right) the price of your prescription. You look on the net for other providers. They’re as bad, or worse. No generics, either.

I finally found a source outside the country. I’ve used them before and was delighted to find that their price is 1/4 of ours. Then my doc said they don’t provide paper prescriptions anymore. When I explained my problem – detail – she relented. We picked it up, sent an image to the outside pharmacy, as well as all but our first grade report card, paid, and then also mailed the prescription. We received it just fine. End of story? NO…

The next time they were out. So was everyone else. A generic was offered. HOOORAAAAAY!!!!!! I ordered, paid, and we waited. We got the box, but instead of 100 tablets, we got 10.

I went on chat and told them about my problem. The department that handled problems would call me last Thursday – or Friday – or…. of COURSE they called when we were out this morning.

I called. They were too busy. I called back. A nice lady is now expediting a replacement of the order for which we have already paid. We should have it in a little over two weeks – keeping all appendages crossed.

It would be NICE – when your husband’s life depends on a prescription – if it didn’t cause you to have to hock the dog in order to pay for it and jump through countless hoops in order to get it. Just NICE.

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January 7, 2024 · 11:27 am

Figuring It Out!

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I want you to know that I’m not as dumb as I look! I figured out TWO things recently that I’ve been TRYING to do it seems like forever –

THING ONE – I used to add captions and credits to pictures on my blog with no problem. Then – the people who get paid to keep the website up to date, make it easy to navigate, and on the cutting edge, came in and ‘improved’ WordPress (this host) and disappeared my ability to caption or credit the way I used to. I tried and tried, and finally gave up, just putting the credit on the next line as close to the picture as I could. Suddenly, in the middle of nothing, I right-clicked ON a picture instead of elsewhere, and a box for caption and credit popped up! Yureka!!!!! I am newly ‘en-franchised’ now. :0)

THING TWO – I told you that I have been working to improve my Etsy site. I have fought with making and installing a banner across the top, have made and installed a new logo, and have mostly finished describing my products in a different way that SEEMS to be slowly increasing my “traffic” (visits to the site).

I’ve been unhappy with the names of my product sections for a long time. I have also been upset that I couldn’t reorganize the categories in a different order on the page. I fought and fought this morning, after having added two of my new wood-burned earrings to the site, trying to change the name of the earring section and also to figure out a way to have the three types of earrings I offer to be listed as sections one after the other to the left of the page, instead of having people have to scroll down to SEE I make stud and clip earrings, as well as dangles. I FINALLY found a place that allowed me to change the names of the sections and reorder them! HOORAAAAAAY! :0)

I’m not as dumb as I look, nor am I dead yet!!!!!!!! There is still life in the old girl!

Now that I’ve done that, I need to take a gazillion pics after putting the hardware on the rest of the earrings I wood-burned and add them to the site. I hope to be able to finish that today.

It feels so GOOOOOD to have finally made some progress.

Pixabay

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