June 12, 2023 Monday--8:30am

Good Morning!

First of all, since Dagan switched me to this Edge thingie I am now getting subscription notices again that I haven't been getting for I don't even know how long in both my blog reader subscription list and YouTube subscriptions!!  How weird!  But nice.

I am still finding random hard little beads in the carpeting from those bracelets that snapped--LOL!  I'm sure when I move there will be beads found under the stove and refrigerator from a delighted Allie batting at them enthusiastically--LOL!

Monday

The one tall bookcase sold!  

Leah and the boys came over early to wait for the couple who bought it. The boys watched a show on TV and Leah did a switch for me.  If you remember, I was running out of room for boxes in the living room...

...so we stacked boxes for an end table!  I had planned to do this for all three of them.  Now was the time to start.

Took that end table out of there and four boxes went in its place.  I had one of those mats on it to keep things from rolling off and it left a mark on top of my beautiful end table.  :(

Even had a slide out with drinks and cell phone or TV remote spots.

Also a small drawer and a couple shelves in front.

So cool because it has...besides a little more storage on the backside...

...built in plugs hidden in the back of the top of the table.

Tuesday

I finished in the bedroom!  Have certain things that won't move till they have to.  The printer and printer paper rack will probably live on top of some boxes, too.  Hopefully pretty soon...fingers crossed. 

All cleaned out and emptied.

What clothes I couldn't pack away are in the clear bins...which will be easy to move as is.  All ready to be sold in the bedroom.  Except that gatefold table.  I'll need that until I move to have a place to fold clothes, etc.  

My new towel ring for the kitchen arrived.  (Pardon my wild sock toes peeking out there on the floor--lol!)

My IKEA towels have a loop holder on one end but that will be way too long for the new place.  My cupboards over the sink there are going to come down a bit lower than here.  I have never had a ring for towels before.  I thought that would be the perfect solution...but Leah can't drill into the cupboard because it would be too thin for a wall mounted towel ring.  So--this is a test.  If this 3M stick-on ring works well and stays up with no issues then I will buy the same one for when I move.  No extra stickers came with it so I would just leave this one here when I move.  Leah doesn't think it will stay up.  I do.  So we will see who is right.  ;)

Wednesday

My CT scan was at 1:30pm and I needed labwork done also.  We had planned for me to go to the lab after the scan.  I got a call on Tuesday that they needed results on my kidneys before I could have the dye.  (Has never been a requirement before?)  Since I couldn't get in at least an hour earlier for the lab work (Leah runs her boys and two friend's boys to different golf and tennis classes in the mornings) she said there was a single quick test they could do for just my kidneys and then I would still go get the rest of the bloodwork done afterwards.  Okay.  No problem.  Just come regular time.

I was all ready, kept the phone next to me so I wouldn't miss Leah texting that she was on her way over...got lost watching Succession...next thing I know it was 1:24 pm!!!  I text Leah--where are you?  She had totally forgotten...and I had been lost in time watching a bunch of broken rich people fighting over dominance of the family company.  Leah and the boys arrived shortly--Leah had Sanford on speaker phone...was waiting on hold when she picked me up.  We headed out.  The lady came back and said too late for the CT scan but I needed that lab work anyways so come in and get that done.  We got rescheduled for 9:30am the next day for the CT scan.  She told us to be there at 8:30am.

Got my bloodwork done and they dropped me off back at home.

I honestly can't remember when Leah dropped off groceries.  They were here and gone so many times last week and we were off to the hospital/clinic three days in a row...but she did drop off a few groceries...Tuesday or Wednesday.

Wednesday still--after I got back from having the lab work done Gerald showed up to fix my patio door lock and the valance.  He isn't going to buy the sauna (we figured that).  Said he'd drop the owner's manual back this week.  If I wasn't home he'd slide it under the door.

Thursday

Leah and the boys picked me up about 8:30 for the CT scan.  (On My Chart it said I didn't have to be there till 9am for my 9:30 scan so we ignored the lady on the phone and got there before 9am--was fine.)  Here it was on the other side of the hospital--but they had a golf cart we could ride.  The boys thought that was great fun!  I really appreciated it as it would have been one long walk including a long, ramped hallway.

Things just seemed to run a bit off kilter all week.  Normally I didn't have to drink a couple big glasses of water before the scan--so that was different.  Leah had the boys' phones with so they could play a bunch of games and they were happy as clams waiting.  I got called in later than 9:30 and the scan was different, too.  First the guy couldn't get the IV in on my right arm and had to try on my left arm.  Luckily that worked right away.  (All the times I have had blood drawn and gotten IVs the past couple years--and the whole rest of my life--no one has ever told me I have small veins.)

Anyways, I was relieved because if he couldn't get it in that arm he was going to send me down to infusion to have them hook up to use my port...and Leah had to be back to pick up her friend's son at 10:30am...so I know she was concerned about the time.  Whew!  Then we get going and all is normal...except then they take out the IV and tell me I have to lie there for 8 minutes and not move so they can do this other additional scan.  That has never happened before either.

I got out of there and quick ran for a pee (they tell me usually everybody feels like they have to pee afterwards and with drinking glasses of water ahead of time and since bladder surgery--well, it's a given for me--LOL!).  

[The lady at the CT desk asked me if I was grandmother to those two boys--yes.  She told me they were so well behaved that she didn't even know they were there.  Kids much older than them were all over the place and noisy and jumping around.  That was nice...but they were enthralled with their phones because they don't get them all the time--lol!  They can also be quite restless and loud.]

  We got to the closest main desk for another golf cart ride...back to valet parking.  We didn't even pull in at my parking lot and I jumped out (well, as fast as I can move, anyways)...and Leah made it right before the boy's class was let out--TaDa!!  

I fell asleep for 2-3 hours in the afternoon.

Leah got ahold of me late afternoon--both the end table with the cord and the small bookcase had sold so she and Liam were popping over to pick up the small bookcase (it fits in her car and the buyers were coming to her place).  

Only one bookcase left in the hallway.  The one that had the saggy, bowed shelves from too many books so we replaced them with plain wooden ones from Home Depot.  

It may not look as good (because we never stained or painted the wood shelves) but it is actually a stronger bookcase.

Friday

I had my appointment with Dr. Failing at 2:30pm.  Leah came with me for that one.  Dagan was with the boys.  No results yet on the CT Scan.  He said it can take up to a week/5 days.  He did peek at the scans and said nothing jumped out at him but that he is not a radiologist so not to take his word for anything.  So I still don't know for sure yet.  Some time this week I should get the results.  Otherwise--my bloodwork was fine...I am very slowly getting better...still have mucositis...started taking anti-diarrhea pills one a day and am getting mostly free of diarrhea/sticky and heading towards normal/soft (TMI)...still have shingles rash...still tired but at least have been back on days...so...basically still quite a mess and but less of a mess than I was--LOL!

He wants me back in another three months to keep a close eye on me for a while.  Especially because I'm having a slow recovery.  Next time we will schedule the CT scan a week ahead of time so he can get the results.  And the lady said to plan to go in for bloodwork at least an hour ahead of time.  I may even go a day or two beforehand.  I don't do well with all the scrambling about.

Leah came in for a short bit after.  She attached the towel ring for me (insisting she doesn't think it will stay up--lol!) because I have no strength to even push hard enough--and at that high for me angle.

Had to let it cure for a day and forgot till yesterday to hang a towel on the ring.  Allie was right there wondering what I was up to.

I fell asleep again Friday afternoon...and did sleep at night again like I had on Thursday.  Just that tired from being out and about.

Some time--Thursday or Friday, can't remember--Leah got the bedroom furniture and sauna up for sale on FM.  No bites yet.  I made a short tour video of the sauna--lol!  I tried not to do my Swedish way of saying "sauna" that makes Dagan and Leah laugh...but she says I still did.  I don't think I have an accent but, apparently, I do.  Maybe somebody on facebook marketplace will get a chuckle out of it.  ;)  

I googled and googled to try to find out something about still having the shingles rash after so many months (going on 5!)...but all I kept finding was how people can still have the pain after the rash is gone.  There's a name for it--something neurological--can have it for months, years, or the rest of your life.  Especially happens to people over 60...13%!  Good grief!  Aren't I the lucky one--ROFL!  

But I couldn't find anything about having the rash not go away...just about the pain staying after the rash.  I haven't even gotten to the "after the rash" part yet--LOL!  But I consider myself lucky that mine is (most of the time) not really painful.  Especially if I am not wearing pants or a bra--lol!  Mine can get some little sharp pains then from the friction against the rash...and then it really itches!  So I still do tend to spend most of my solitary time at home in my loungers or housedresses...and sometimes just wear a dress when I have to get the mail so I only have to put on a bra so otherwise it is like wearing a lounger--lol!  When I can avoid tighter clothing rubbing on the rash, I am pretty darn good.  So I consider myself a lucky one out of the 13% over 60.  ;)

Took pictures of the patio planters on Saturday.

They are looking better and better.  The red geraniums have finally started to bloom again.  (They lost all their blooms waiting to be planted.)  I need to scrub those tables off, though-lol!  When I have some energy to spare.  ;)

Being out and about three days in a row really did me in.  Was on R&R all weekend.  The next area I plan to dig into will be the pantry...

...and the kitchen.

I will need Leah to help me with all of that.  A few things will go to her place, a ton will go for donations, some will go to the dumpster, and some will stay.  A lot of climbing stools...so I will be happy for Leah to do that for me.  Truth--I can barely reach the second shelf in the kitchen!  ;)  BUT--Leah said there is no more room for donations in the garage.  (I did send Dagan out there with a bunch more stuff last time he was here.)  So we absolutely have to have a donation pick up before we can add any more donation boxes and bags out there.  Leah forgot to call last week.  (I wasn't the only thing she forgot--lol!)  She is going to call this week and see when she can arrange a day and time for a pick up.  

Since I don't want a ton of stuff jammed around in the pantry, either...and can't fit any more in the studio... and have to leave the bedroom clean for when the furniture is sold...I think I kind of have a week off.  This purging and packing has been like a job for me.  This will feel like a week off.  Even though I still have a couple boxes and baskets to sort through from the bedroom...they can wait actually.  Not that I can't deal with them if I have some extra spoons...but...I could also do something Leah has been suggesting time after time...do something creative now and don't wait until I am all done with the P&P (purging and packing and going through everything I own).  I have felt guilty even thinking about playing in my art journal--the room is way too much of a mess right now to even find anything anyways.  (Need before pictures for the studio!)  But if it is something more practical...like playing with letter paper to make my own stationery kind of...that I could probably do in my chair (because I am too shot to move)...that feels more practical.  Something I can actually use, you know?  

I had saved out and didn't pack away the books I used to draw flowers in the corners of letter paper quite a few years ago.  Planned to do that after done with the P&P.  But...I decided to order some colored drawing pens (Marvy LePen Pigment pens).  My decades old microns have mostly all bitten the dust.  In fact, a lot of them had already bitten the dust the last time I drew in the corners of letter paper--lol!  So, I think I might be doing some drawing this week.  I'll show you if I do.  

Might be spoonless.  Who knows?  And I have not even been keeping up with my letter writing!  Been using all my spoons for the P&P...and collapsing in-between.  (But I did get a lot done.)  So I should be relaxing and having more paper chats this week, too.  Well--no definite plans, but those are the tentative plans.  ;)

Since my cousin Debbie died a while back I have heard a couple times from her hubby, Rob.  I always liked them both.  When we got together at Debbie's mom's (my Mom's sister's) or at Deb and Rob's house for Christmas or Thanksgiving there was always a lot of loud talking and laughter.  Rob and I would laugh and laugh.  They had moved away from Minneapolis many years ago to down near Branson, Missouri.  Goodness--could be like 30 years or more?!  He texted me pictures of what he has been working on with the house and yard to keep busy.  Sent me pics of Deb and a selfie.  They still looked like what I remember.  I sent him a selfie.  (In one of my housedress/loungers.)  He said I still looked like how he remembered me, too.  I never like pictures of myself and don't post me often, but here you go--lol!

Those are hard-earned pain wrinkles in my forehead.  I am not normally a frowner type of person, but pain can etch into your face.  Funny, pain has been all-over-all-the-time for so many years--but it shows the most right there between my eyes--ROFL!  It's a part of me.  Even when I am smiling, those pain wrinkles are carved there.  

I mentioned Leah is doing the Mom-taxi thing for her boys and for her friend's boys this summer.  Have a couple of short videos and a few pics to give you an idea of what they are up to.  Here's Ian at his tennis lesson.

Liam and Mama waiting for Liam's age group's lessons.

Look at this rope contraption for climbing at this park!  I've never seen anything like it.

Liam at his tennis lesson.

I think they have a lot of fun.

Looks like Costco.

Liam at basketball lessons.

Another huge contraption to climb on I have never seen the likes of before.

Can you tell I haven't been to the parks in a long time--LOL!

Weekend

Trent building the laundry room walls...

...Liam pretending he is helping.

At the park...

...playing Frisbee golf.

They are always busy, it seems.

Leah said when Trent was there on Saturday and Sunday they worked some more on electrical--figured out, went to buy, and laid out the plumbing--and made the laundry room walls.  He'll be over again this coming Saturday.

Was a busy week all around. 

I am still pretty shot so I plan to take it easy today.  Finished watching Succession (had to chuckle at the ending) so will find a new series (or two or three) to watch.  I often have more than one going at a time--different ones on different streaming services...with movies scattered in there, too.  Especially helps when you don't feel great.  I am soooo grateful for the escapes available these days.  :)  

Should get my CT results this week.  Keanna comes tomorrow afternoon.  Until the donation pick up I am on a kind of vacation from the P&P.  Plan to focus on catching up with my paper chats...do my laundry...and if I gather up some spoons maybe do some drawing on letter paper. ;)  End of newsletter for this last week, my friends...have a great week!!