Monday, August 31, 2020

August 31, 2020 Monday noon

Well, I am here today.  
Grab a cuppa and let's chat. 
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Over 14 years of blogging and I have never needed a break before...but I'm thoroughly a believer in if you can't say something good...and I was too sad and upset to want to talk.  The state of the world and adding my own health issues on top of all that just got to be too much, honestly.  I needed to crawl away under the porch like a sick dog needing to be left alone.
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I have watched less news.  (Need to know what is going on, though.)  Oddly, YouTube suddenly quit giving me any email notifications whatsoever a couple of weeks ago.  I get all my news online because I don't have regular TV or cable. Now I have to go find my subscription list and scroll so turns out it actually helps me avoid the news--LOL!  I can focus on my narrowboaters, crafters, book binders, world travelers (now doing other things like rebuilding old RVs), bullet journalers, card makers, etc.  Fun and not stressful.  ;)
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We've had beautiful cooler days, then hot sticky ones...now back to gorgeous fall days again this past week with occasional rain/thunderstorms all along.  
I am back to being in a better state of mind, I guess...for several reasons.  I am having issues with uploading pictures on to blogger now that I have been forced on to the new format while I was gone...so these aren't in the order I would have liked them to be but I'm sure you can follow my meanderings.
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You may recall that a year ago Dagan and Leah picked up new IKEA cabinets for a studio update.  Last September I took these pictures of where the new table with two cabinets underneath would go...
...and where the new tall cabinet would go. 
Then last November Leah did get the new table put together and in place.  (Note I haven't been able to open the taboret drawers holding watercolor supplies since then because the table leg was blocking them.)
We had planned to wait until after the holidays to get the cabinets together...but we are slow and didn't get around to it before Covid hit.  (Below--shall return to this exciting subject.)  
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Annie and I spent lazy, endless, identical days where I just binge-watched The Good Wife and The Good Fight and lots of other stuff.
I made one trip over to visit McFamily before we had our mid-month exposures (Dagan to work, Leah to Costco, Caroline over here to clean) and then our subsequent quarantine.  I've not been over since.
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I was missing LIFE on my patio so I started to put out seed again.  Wasn't half an hour and a partridge showed up!
I have so missed their clucking! 
Since I started putting out a cup of seed every day a covey of eight has returned several times, a single one (that first one), and a pair. 
Gangs of noisy grackles!
And even a baby cottontail!!
I have missed them all.  I didn't realize how much.  Annie is very happy for the critter company, too.  :)
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Health...
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Well, turns out both times I was told I had a UTI there were no bacteria in my urine cultures.  And I was still having issues.  So, I had Leah check on Facebook (I'm not on any social media) in the Keto/low carb groups if anyone else has had bleeding from oxalate dumping--since I have been fiercely dumping since I started last June.  Yes!  Others have had blood in urine.  Also treated for UTIs and even scanned--nothing.  So, I decided to see if I could mitigate the oxalate dumping by adding some lower carb foods with high oxalates--like spinach, beans, almonds, etc.
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I have been making bean soup for a couple of weeks now and eating a big bowl every day.  Making it a little differently--using Leah's homemade bone broth...
...adding extra black beans... 
...and lots of roast beef! 
 Delicious!  
I have missed my bean soup.
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Already I have a lessening with the dumping issues.  May be TMI for some people--but the UTI-type symptoms are calming down--and no more blood so far (knock on wood--I had some even during and after the antibiotics).  My eyes are watering even more like they did in the beginning a year ago, but clear and not gritty.  I have had less of the hard crystals getting stuck in my tear ducts.  My sinuses are calming down and I can usually breathe through one nostril--occasionally both for short periods of time.  The crusty white buildup I have been getting inside my nose for months and months has almost quit!  (Oxalates are hard and white.)  The all-over pain that was more than my usual fibromyalgia pain has lessened noticeably and is more tolerable again.  And peeing is less irritating and cloudy.  (Big way you pass oxalates.)  All in a couple weeks of adding oxalate foods so that my body isn't trying to dump them as fast as possible--LOL!
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Funny.  When you are always adding a lot of oxalates your body chooses to store them when it can't keep dumping the excess fast enough.  Some people's bodies are better at that process than others.  Mine has pretty much had free reign to dump the storagehouse of oxalates for over a year and was going at it harder and harder.  Adding a few high oxalate foods has slowed it down for now and I should have thought of this a long time ago--LOL!  I am still dumping, never fear.  When I think of the amount of oxalates I could have in my body--no wonder I have been feeling even worse since I quit carbs and started dumping.  They may even be the cause or one of the causes of fibromyalgia and even arthritis.  Hasn't been studied enough.  Can take a person years to dump enough to be back to a normal range of oxalates and to get them out of all the places they have been stored.  And I have been in terrible shape for a couple of decades so I could have years of dumping ahead of me.  But I also could end up feeling closer to normal again after dumping enough oxalates.  Never know?!    
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Anyways, I am kind of experimenting right now.  So far, so good.  I am seeing improvement.  I figure that if I felt better and had less symptoms over time that it was probably oxalates but if I got worse...then it was probably something else and I needed to go back and have them find out what is going on.  But I don't think it was UTIs.
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Meanwhile, I am also finally going to see the new doctor, Kate Kessler, who is both a regular physician and also an osteopath!  You may remember I had an appointment to see her as a new client (osteopath) that I had to cancel due to Covid.  Now I have an 80 minute new client appointment set up for October 9th.  (Yes, she is that booked up and popular.)  That lifted my spirits, too.  :)
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 Leah came over on August 12th for a Christmas card planning night.  We had made up several sets before Liam was born but he's three years old on Thursday and we have used them all up.  So we planned out three year's worth that night.  I have been working on them since then and I also brought supplies with and we worked on them the one day I visited on the 16th.  Once I get done with a set of Christmas cards I can start working on sets of birthday cards for myself.  :)
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We started on the card bases.  First cutting.  Blue set.
Gold set.  We're keeping the sets on different trays to keep them organized.
Black and white set.  There are 100 in each Christmas set for Leah and me together. 
Next came the creasing to make them easier to fold. 
Then I folded.
On the blue cards--had the double-sided tape on the fronts so added those.  We have half the insides corner-punched.  Leah has the rest at her place.  Once the insides get taped in this set is done! 
Gold set.  About 2/3 the way through adding fronts and insides.  But then I have 100 green die cuts to make and glue to the fronts.  This set will likely be second done. 
This one will take the longest.  Need to black emboss the stamp on the white front piece and then color each one, then add the tape, and then attach the front and the inside piece.  This one will definitely be the last one.  Coloring while I watch TV is in my future...for some time...plan to color some birthday cards, too. 
Anyways, having projects to do and being creative (even if it is assembly-line work) lifted my spirits.  And the beautiful fall weather--my favorite time of year. 
Then--to really keep me busy (and delighted to be so after waiting a year) Leah and Ian came over for the day yesterday to work on the cabinets!!!
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I had figured that, since we are still in a tentative double bubble, we should try to finally do that while we can.  So...yesterday was a big day!  Leah, with some help from Ian, got ALL THREE of the cabinets together!!  They were here till almost 7:30pm and went home in a thunderstorm.
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Out of order, but this is what it looks like right now.  Beautiful chaos!
 The taboret is under the window table...
...and the low cherrywood cabinet is in the middle of the room for now until they both get emptied out and go to the garage.
 There is stuff piled everywhere...waiting to be sorted and find new homes.
The two new cabinets under the die cutting table!  They fit perfectly!  IKEA really does have accurate measurements, that's for sure.
The new tall cabinet fit, too.  Comes out a bit further, but I love it!
Ian had an important task that he was determined to do on his own.  He took out all the drawers in the old cherrywood tall cabinet and piled them on my bed.  Mama moved the cabinet to the hallway and then Ian put all the drawers back in by himself.
It was very exciting to see all Gramma's wooden stamps.  Each drawer he had to show me and/or Mama and talk about the treasures within--LOL!
I told him that he is old enough now that he is starting Kindergarten to start learning how to use stamps.  Soon.  I will bring over some kids stamps and ink pads I got for him like a year ago that he wasn't interested in back then when I go over for Liam's birthday on Thursday.  I hope the ink pads haven't dried up!  I'll have to check them.
Ian took his job with the drawers very seriously, as you can tell.  He was a very proud workman standing before the refilled cabinet.  ;)
A couple random pics from last night. 
  
Leah even made chaffles for dinner.  Was the closest thing we've had to a Gramma Day since the pandemic.  A very nice day.
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Meanwhile, while I was writing this my dryer broke.  Luckily the clothes were dry enough to take out, sort, fold, and hang.  I think a belt broke or something.  Scared the bejeebers out of Annie and me.  Really loud!  So, I will finish up here and call maintenance.  
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Not going to make any promises as to when I'll be back, but let's just say I am going to try to get back to my Monday posts.  Between making cards, critter cafe reopening, easing of oxalate dumping, an appointment with the osteopath, the cabinets together, and a bit of visiting...I think I have regained a lot of my positive balance...for now, anyways.  ;)  
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 I have been reading blogs, even if I hadn't been commenting for quite a while.  Been more of a lurker--LOL!  That's been changing some, too.  Crawling out from under the porch.  ;)
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Until next time.
*love and hugs*
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"Where does it all lead?  
What will become of us?...
It leads to each other.  
We become ourselves."
Patti Smith