Monday, May 31, 2021

May 31, 2021 Monday--noon

Happy Noon!


 It's a good thing Leah sent me some pictures because that was it for me this week...one sky pic.  Monday I made Annie's raw food (livers and heart).  My right thumb has been really bothering me with all the extra stuff I've been doing for the last couple of weeks.  So, I rested on Tuesday, but Wednesday and Thursday I did laundry...spread out the loads.  

Thursday Leah came for Craft Nite.  She worked on making cards she needed (graduation, baby shower, and Ian's birthday invites).  The base of my right thumb was really painful so I just kept her company.

Friday morning I woke up and BOTH thumbs hurt badly!?  No-no-no!  Not the left one, too!  Makes it hard to do much of anything without shooting pain.

So, I have been on hand R&R for three days.  Been taking Aleve, rubbing in Arnica cream, avoiding hand writing & typing--well, everything.  Mostly been in pajamas watching YT videos and various streaming shows & movies.  Annie is quite content to keep me company in my comfy chair.

Friday the results of my urine test came back.  Yes, I do have "invisible" blood that can't be seen with the naked eye.  White and red blood cells in there, apparently.  Dr. Kessler had wondered if I have stones in my kidney or bladder--so we will be setting up "imaging" (assume that is an ultrasound type test) for probably next week.  So that will be coming up.

This week will be a busy one again, but I will still be trying not to use my hands much as they are gradually a bit better than they were three days ago.  

Leah already dropped off a small Cashwise order for me this morning.  Even came in the patio door and put it away for me.  She's so good to me!  :)

Wednesday is a followup Zoom call with Elliot Overton.

Thursday Leah is bringing the dirt for the planters.  We plan to mix some of the city compost with some bags of potting soil.  Well, Leah will.  I can't help much.  :(

Friday Leah will drop off a Costco order.

Sunday Leah and I plan to make our trip to Baker Nursery to buy flowers.  Then we will pick up Ian (if he wants to come) and do the planting in my new planter boxes!  So, I should have pictures next Monday for you!

Meanwhile, I got pictures from Leah!  (Gramma does love to get photos and videos.) 

Ian is done with kindergarten!  They had a party at a local park.  Here's the whole class.

Ian and Mrs. Wolden, his teacher.
Liam playing on the park xylophone...
...and a little blue guitar.
Hard to believe that Ian will be in first grade and Liam will start Preschool this fall.  How time flies.  Would be nice if they could go to actual school.  Time will tell.

This weekend Dagan and Leah have been working on their deck.  First powerwashing!
Liam wanted to help and was carrying up buckets of water and splashing them on the deck--LOL!
Look at the difference!  Those power washers are something else!
Once they got the deck all ready they started staining the railing first.
Love that beautiful translucent color!
Can hardly wait to see it all finished.  This was as far as they got yesterday, but the hard part is done.  
Today they finish the staining and it's a perfect day for it!  Sunny and 65 right now.

Leah said her lilacs are blooming and they smell wonderful.
Could almost catch the scent through the photos!
Leah also made a couple trips last week to get city compost for her garden beds.  Still needs another trip for her garden.
She's been using the free city compost for a few years now.  They got a little planting done, but we had a freeze warning last week so couldn't do a lot.  After they are done with the deck she can finish getting her seedlings out there.
I love this pic of the boys playing under their umbrellas--LOL!  Looks like little boy mushrooms.
Lastly--Leah has been nurturing some brown rice sourdough starter to see if she can make some bread with rice flour (less oxalates).  I can hardly wait to try that!

So, that's what's been happening here the past week.  Mostly at McFamily's--LOL!  Not a heck of a lot happening here at my place.  Just Annie and I hanging out...and right now I need to go rub some more Arnica cream on my thumbs--LOL!  No spell check so whatever is here is what you get.  I am looking at this as a "thumb-vacation".  ;)  Am filled with gratitude for all the help I get from Dagan and Leah.  I am one lucky human being.  :) :)  Till next time...

"How many times have you noticed that it's the little quiet moments in the midst of life that seem to give the rest extra-special meaning?"
Fred Rogers

Monday, May 24, 2021

May 24, 2021 Monday--10:15am

Good Morning!

Haven't posted a sky pic for quite some time.  I do love watching clouds.

More misplaced birds normally found by water...have had red-winged blackbirds here...

...along with the mallard couple.


Keeping watch over the patio visitors is diligent work...that calls for frequent sun-naps.  

I had another very busy week.  Monday Dagan dropped off stuff and took my trash out for me (because I could hardly move) while he was here.  

Tuesday Leah dropped off my part of our NDSU beef order (my freezer inside and in the garage are packed full) and I took a step toward purging food in my pantry since I've been off carbs for two years now.

Wednesday Leah dropped off a small CashWise order.  I did two loads of clothes.  Then worked all day on switching winter and summer clothes and purging the pantry.

Thursday I continued on the clothes and the pantry.

Friday was my appointment with Dr. Kessler, my new-to-me osteopath.  I filled her in on what I had been doing since October with her suggestions, the bad set-back with the vaccines am still recovering from, the zoom consultation with Elliot Overton, oxalate dumping, pondering Lymes, and the new recommendations from Elliot (tincture and less supplements).  She's wonderful!  It is so amazing to have a doctor who actually listens, understands what you are talking about, and is open minded.  

She thought Lymes (or even Bartonella) could be a possibility and was all for trying Elliot's tincture and other recommendations.  She totally agreed that it certainly can't hurt.  And if I have had Lymes for who knows how long and lived a more or less high stress life...maybe my system was wearing down and that's why I caught psittacosis in the early 90s...later mono in 1999...and why I never recovered after the mono, got progressively worse, and later got diagnosed with fibro and ended up housebound.  If I caught Bartonella from the barn cats that would have been late 80s and could also fit into the timeline.  The fact is--who knows?  Like I have said, these diseases are diagnosed mainly by elimination (not necassarily dependable testing for Lymes--tested negative years ago)...and they all can have similar symptoms, regardless.  

I had to hit the lab, too.  She wanted to check things like my calcium and potassium (normal), my kidney function (very slightly above normal but I had been fasting since the night before), test for blood in urine and sent home with another poop test.  Those last tests will find out later.  

After the long appointment Leah dropped me off at home and I collapsed while she picked up her brother and they made a Costco trip.  She dropped off a small order for me early evening.  Was definitely a pajama and R&R evening--LOL!

Saturday I started on the 1/4 tsp of the powdered calcium.  The citrates are supposed to help pass the oxalates.  I had been drinking lemon juice water off and on--have increased that, too.  So far, so good.  Oh, and Dr. Kessler wondered if I might have kidney stones that are causing me to have blood in the urine on occasion (came back but not as bad right after the first vaccine).  Well, we'll see how things go with the new regime.  Oh and I haven't had the acid reflux for a couple of nights now--knock on wood. Getting used to the tincture...or mixing in the citrate with it helps?

I continued to work on clothes and the pantry on Saturday.  Finished the clothing switch!  All the winter clothes were binned up and ready for the garage.  I used to do that in one afternoon.  How life has changed--LOL!  I really do live the snail life.  ;)

On Sunday McFamily came over again.  I thought they were just coming for a visit because I was too shot to make it over there but...surprise!
Took two trips to get them over here!  The new planter boxes are here!  I am so excited!  My little patio is going to feel so private!  Once we get it planted and growing it will feel like I have plant walls around me out there.  Whoohoo!!  

Timing...that neighbor lady from before was walking her dog and stopped to admire the big wooden planters.  Said she could hardly wait to see my flowers this year!

I had bags to go to the dumpster from the pantry purge.  Dagan hauled them out and then the clothing bins to the garage.  Leah asked if she could help me with purging the pantry.  Yes, of course!  So that got finished, too!!  Hurray!  

I had been running Tupperware containers and mason jars through the dishwasher for days.  Dagan and Leah stuck the clean empties on the shelves in the pantry for now for me.  I can see my kitchen counters and table top again!  Dagan brought more bags to the dumpster.  Truth--there were some items that had expired from 2013 through 2019!   

I did take pictures before I started...
..of both sides.  Can see the shelving on the back wall but I forgot to take a full on shot.
After step one (food purging).
Back wall...
...and both sides.

Do I have enough jars?!  LOL!
So next is step two.  I have to repackage things I am saving into jars and Tupperware containers.  Then I will decide which of the empties are going to make a trip into garage storage.  

Step three will be completely reorganizing everything and getting as much of my paper goods on the shelves as I can.  Feels like a new move type of task, you know?  Be so nice when it is done.

Leah ran to pick up dinner for us again!  Then since the boys were doing artwork projects (Ian started, of course)...Dagan and Leah joined in, too.  Leah made a heart maze for Ian to do and then Liam wanted to try so she made a copy for him, too.  Liam had never tried a maze before.  He got the hang of it and did well!  Dagan made a big heart for Leah that Ian then cut out.  I loved seeing everyone doodling and playing with markers and paper.  :)

I had them put their mazes on the frig...and they will each have a piece of artwork, too.  Liam's is top right... 
...Ian's is drying in the bedroom on the gatefold table.
He made this design with glitter glue.  When he comes for an actual Gramma Day (soon...like in a week or two...after school is out) he is going to color all the sections.  The ream of paper to the left of it...
...I was using to press a dandelion Ian picked for me.  The boys were making runs down the sidewalk to the cottonwood tree and back.  Ian stopped to pick a pretty white dandelion for me.

I had shown him what I was working on in the studio and told him I would put his dandelion on my dandelion page.  How I will actually manage to do that remains to be seen.  Might have to use packing tape to secure this delicate pressed treasure that is now coming apart in a million pieces--LOL!  But I will figure out a way to glue it into the art journal, you can bet on that.

I absolutely love the fact that Ian automatically equates a visit to Gramma's with doing arts and crafts!!  

To end this post I have a picture Leah took of my patio boxes (I know, huge, right?!).  Just love looking at them--even empty!

Oh, and I didn't know that the city makes compost from grass clippings, branches & whatever and then gives it away for free!  Leah is going to get city compost for my planters!  Hopefully this week.  Then next is a trip to Baker Nursery!  Can hardly wait!

Also a couple videos of Ian in the lake.  On Mother's Day weekend it was the first time Leah's family could all get together because all the adults were fully vaccinated!  

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H7FaDN1MvcY

Ian couldn't resist the water even if it was pretty cold. 

https://youtu.be/RtGztbKYnnk

Okay, I just spent an hour trying different ways to embed these short videos and couldn't find a way for love or money.  I am going to just put links up and I have no idea if those will work either.  Let me know.

I am getting extremely tired of Google's way of running Blogger.

Now I have to go back and see if I can get all the format centered and the font sized uniformly.  Oh and I have lost spell check somehow along the way, too.  Whatever I can manage is what you will end up with--LOL!

Do you think I can change my attitude toward Blogger/Google?

I hope so.  ;)

****

"Not everything that can be faced can be changed, but nothing can change that is not faced."

James Baldwin

Monday, May 17, 2021

May 17, 2021 Monday--11am

Good morning! 

We had a mallard couple wander past this last week.

Everyone is looking for nesting places, I guess.

With all the construction that is going on around here there are less spots left for our feathered couples.

Such a busy week I can hardly move today.  I did more coloring samples but that was put on hold by the Silks.  Unlike my other acrylics that fared well, the Silks have dried up a lot.  So I will be adding distilled water to each one and stirring and shaking to see if I can bring them back to life.

Did laundry, made soup and did some baking early in the week.
Thursday Leah dropped off the new tincture, the rest of the supplements Elliot suggested, and some big black plastic bags for packing up bedding.

I started the tincture on Friday.  Whether I put it in a little water or a lot it doesn't taste very good--so I use a little and swig it down like a shot of whiskey!  (Which I also think tastes terrible--lol!)  Only been a few days so nothing to report.

The name of the cat/wild animal disease is bartonella.  I have been too busy or too exhausted to research either that or lymes, to be honest.

Dagan and Leah came to move things around for me on Sunday.  I was cleaning and rearranging and packing stuff for days.  Have some "before" pictures.

The gatefold table in the living room.
My bedroom in upheaval.
The corner of the closet I needed to turn into an Annie hiding place now that the bed is going and she can't hide under there anymore.
The patio.
Earlier in the week I decided to cheat.  Yes--you heard me--cheat.  I have been feeling so cruddy for months and haven't been able to get back to my Wanderlust classes.  I was in need of doing something creative--especially after playing a little with paint samples.  :)  

The next WLclass I was supposed to draw a self portrait.  And the one after that we were to paint a dandelion along with a lot of other decorative things.  Well, I had this tiny bottle of black gesso so I slapped on some paint...  
...and glued down copies of pictures.
Cheating!  
Going to use my favorite photo of me and the boys (which means it will always be in my art journal, Gramma smiles).  I can always go back and practice drawing faces at some other time.
I found this photo of a dandelion and printed that off, too.
I will be adding to these two pages--am definitely cheating--but it still feels good to have been able to do a little something toward these two classes.  When you have limited spoons and you know you have a lot to do in the near future...well, you do what you can.

I moved everything that didn't have to be unplugged from the headboard of my bed.
I hauled out things from the closet floor to make room for a big cat bed for Annie to use in the corner of the bedroom closet.
Packed up some things for storage and some for donations.
Dagan and Leah took a couple big pillows and a blanket to use on their couch.
Was a very busy day yesterday for Dagan and Leah.  They took apart my bed, vacuumed, carried the bed pieces to my garage, brought in the bins of my summer clothes, brought out the donation and storage bags, brought in my patio furniture, cut up my memory foam bed topper to fit my chair (an idea I had for my back), brought in a fan, brought the old plastic planter boxes to the dumpster (Ian and Liam helped with that part)...so many trips and so much to move from here to there.  Liam fell asleep in the little tan lounger chair for a couple hours.  Ian did some art and watched The Magic Schoolbus--his new favorite show.  Leah ran to pick up dinner for us all...and she even ran back later with a couple things she forgot to bring over.  I'm sure there was more but my foggy brain is worn out today--lol!

I did take some "after" pictures yesterday before I collapsed.
Grandpa's desk.  
Fits perfectly!  And I have my sound machine for going to sleep again after two years!!  I love listening to rain and thunder.  If I wasn't in so much pain I would have slept longer...but it was a joy to fall asleep to that rumbling after such a long time!

The bedroom is a total disaster--LOL!   
Will be slowly dealt with over the coming week.  (After I recover from last week--lol!)  I really need to switch over from winter clothes to summer clothes.  Was 80-something highs all weekend, I believe, and it's suppsed to get up to 85 again today!  Then be in the 70s all week.  I have the AC on for the first time today.

The patio.
The old planter boxes are gone--just stains where they have be parked for five years.  My chair and a kids' chair with the little tables are back for the summer.  The two round pots and the bird water dish.  Soon--new planter boxes!!  :)

A lady who lives here was pulling her little dog by in a wagon over on the sidewalk when Ian and I were outside yesterday.  Ian was dragging the planter boxes out on to the lawn.  She stopped to tell me how much she loves all my flowers every year and to tell Ian what a good helper he is.  When I told her there will be new planter boxes this year that are bigger and wooden to they won't blow over...she got all excited--LOL!  I do have several of the ladies here who always comment about the flowers whenever I am out on the patio.  They remind me of my mom.  Flowers were like crack for her--ROFL!  

Just another thing I am grateful to Leah for helping me to set up every year.  Ian's been a great helper, too, the last 2-3 years.  I am truly blessed.

Well, somebody actually guessed what is going in the corner of my bedroom!  Jinxxxygirl!!  Deb, you are right!  A sauna!
Of course, I will not look as glamourous as this woman--ROFL!  Neither does my bedroom look so nice--hehe!  But I will have an infrared sauna in my little bedroom.  Supposed to help get rid of toxins...and I have good memories of a sauna when I was a kid.

We had relatives on a farm who only had an outhouse, an outdoor steam sauna, and the kitchen sink pump for all their bathroom needs for many years.  My folks always told me how I slept in a dresser drawer when they visited Bill and Helen when I was a baby.  All the ladies and girls went together in the sauna and then all the men and boys.  Us kids took turns pouring water over the hot rocks--which was a real thrill!  I just remember how clean I felt when we were done...and how hard it was to breathe in there--LOL!  

But I never knew there was such a thing as a free-standing sauna--or an infrared sauna without steam, for that matter.  Leah had been paying a nearby gym just to use their sauna before the pandemic hit (for oxalates and in general).  She felt so much better and missed it...so she had been researching online to buy one for a year.  We are both getting one!!  They'll be delivered to Dagan and Leah's and they'll put theirs together so they know how it is done.  Then they'll unbox mine, borrow a vehicle from a friend, deliver mine and put it together!  Supposed to arrive in May, but you know how things have been going with mail and packages here...so could be later, I would imagine.  We are getting ready, though.  :)

Dagan and Leah laugh at me as to how I say sauna.  Hey, I learned it at the knees of Swedish relatives--ROFL!  I'll have to do a video when it is finally here so you can hear me say sauna.  Feel free to chuckle.

I will have to slowly work up to staying in there longer.  You don't just settle in for an hour right off the bat.  I can almost imagine, though, how refrshing it will feel to go jump in the shower after and rinse all the toxins away.  As a kid we had to use towels to roughly, vigoursly dry off before we put our clothes on.  I never understood why the drying had to be so violent.  Maybe that's why--to rub off the toxins from your skin?  Maybe they never knew why they did that after the sauna--just felt good?  And no--we never rolled in the snow.  We only did the sauna when we were there in the summer for visits.  Maybe Bill and Helen rolled in the snow--who knows?

When my brother dropped off Grandpa's desk we were talking about it and his daughter has a freestanding sauna!  Small world!  I had just found out they existed!  

Anyways, that's the goings on here for the last week.  Today--pajama day and Aleve and probably naps...but I am happy-happy-happy!  Got so much done!  And I'm looking at Grandpa's desk in my living room.  Happy, happy me.  Till next week, my friends!   :) :) 
****
"Whatever our individual troubles and challenges may be, it's important to pause every now and then to appreciate all that we have on every level."
Shakti Gawain