Monday, Monday...

I'm still paying today for overdoing it in the attic on Saturday. Since I've spent the whole time since we moved here in May of 2010 down with hips and back, plus the hip surgery, my whole attic is full of stuff that I have not been able to get up there to unpack! It doesn't bother me until I can't find something I know I have... then I go on search and destroy! This time, it was my scanner/printer I was missing. The attic is very hot this time of year, and I thought I was going to heat stroke up there! But after two hours of hunting, I finally found the missing scanner. In the process, I also managed to organize my crochet thread stash. It was all good until I decided to move a cabinet and a couple of chairs around. Apparently that was a bad idea!  Anyway hopefully this pain flareup will settle down in a couple of days. 

I did something fun yesterday. We have a giant walnut tree in our back yard and we have SO many walnuts everywhere! My two "pet" squirrels, a black one and a red/brown one, have been busy using my brand new flower garden to bury nuts for winter. They seem to appreciate the hard ground having been dug all up for them! So to amuse myself, I put a bunch of walnuts in a little bucket and sat it on the chair out in the garden. I'm dying to see one of the squirrels jump up there and steal nuts out of the bucket - I hope they will!


I've decided to share my weight loss story on the internet. I've lost 65 pounds since October 2009 and plan on losing another 35.  You can read all about it at here . It was kind of encouraging putting the webpage together, seeing how far I've come... it brought back a lot of feelings and memories!  I am just SO grateful to be smaller now. It's easier to get around. I can fit through tight spaces better:) And hey, clothes are fun.  Even though I don't work anymore, I still have a rule that I have to get dressed through shoes, and put on makeup to face the world. I feel better about myself when I do that. So check it out... and wish me luck! I plan on continuing to update the site with my progress and new photos as I go. 

Now it's time to take a break from all the computer work and go crochet on my latest project. It's a doily I call "A Different Rose" and I'm sharing the pattern with my online crochet group. 

OH, one more thing... an update on Koby, our senior diabetic miniature schnauzer rescue boy. He saw the vet last Friday for his serial blood sugar test. It went badly - he pegged the meter at 500+ after just one injection. The test was discontinued right there. Dr. Ray increased his insulin dose, and changed him to a different food at my request. Koby wasn't eating his kibble well.  So we have changed to canned prescription food, and he is snarfing it every meal!! Yay Koby! I saw Dr. Ray again today when I went to pick up more food. He asked about Koby's water drinking and I told him it was still as much as before. He decided to increase the insulin a bit more and we will retest him on Friday. Please keep your good thoughts and/or prayers coming for Koby, he sure is in trouble. He had lost an additional 3 pounds he could not afford to lose, and we are desperately trying to get weight back on him. 



Everybody, have an amazing day! 

Wrapping Up The Week In a Big Silver Bow!

This week was... amazingly normal! 

Tomorrow... NOT the day I had planned!

Well, no 7 am surgery... so what WILL I do tomorrow? Who knows.  In a way I'm glad to have a reprieve. Although this morning when I woke up with my hip screaming I thought otherwise for awhile.

Finally got some inspiration this morning on the latest doily project, "A Different Rose," which I am designing as a crochet along for my online crochet group. Now to get it written up and posted on the group.

Made my favorite dinner today, baked mushroom steak, mashed potatoes, and green beans. Also baked a chocolate cake with chocolate chips and made homemade frosting for it, I kind of invented it as I went and I think I'll call it truffle frosting. I usually do cream cheese and butter frosting. This time I wanted chocolate but not cocoa. So I dug out a big Ghiradelli baking bar I had on hand. Melted it with butter and a little whipped cream (turns out, that's how you make truffles!). Then mixed that into the butter/cream cheese. Turned out beautiful and pretty tasty too. One to write down for sure.

I only have one gripe about today:  The freakin' PGA should be BANNED from television!! OK, maybe just from MY television. Twelve HOURS of it today. Thought I would lose my freakin' mind.  I cooked, I did dishes, laundry, anything just to stay out of earsight of it!

So here I am, 11 pm, have just completed almost an hour of "real" TV whilst enjoying a piece of my cake and some animal crackers. Have I mentioned that diet I'm getting back busy with this week, LOL??

Happiest thing of all today is that my eyesight in my left eye appears to have returned to normal. Whew.

Since I've done most of the work for tomorrow ahead of schedule, maybe I can actually do something fun. We'll see.

Stinky Day

Well, it's stinky for two reasons. No, three.   One, my surgery for Monday, my long awaited left hip replacement, got cancelled yet again due to issues with my blood disorder.  Next try is mid-September. So another month of... status quo.  Stinky reason 2 is that I managed to cut my lower leg on a stupid rosebush this afternoon. (It's in this little garden by my front steps - I just HAD to walk in there and pull a weed!)

That would not be a big deal, except I have a situation where owies on my legs take about 4 months on average to heal up (that's what years of Prednisone will do for ya).  They tend to get infected during that time, more complications, blah blah.  Total pain in the rear.  Oh - and being on blood thinners tends to lend a lot of drama to getting cut in the garden too.

Stinky reason 3 is that while leaving a restaurant last night, I suddenly had a big white splotch appear in my  left (good) eye. I tried to blink it off to no avail. Today, it's still there. Reason for terror is that I am already half blind in my right eye from a stroke two years ago, and the idea of losing yet more sight ... just not acceptable.  So I'll see the eye doc Monday and find out what's up. I don't think it was another stroke. It's different.

On a far more positive note, my friend Laurie brought her girls Chelsea and Lacey over for a visit today. Chelsea's been at her dad's in Kansas City for the summer, so it was very nice to see her. Laurie brought me over a beautiful swimsuit for me to try. I'm new to water therapy, loving it, and of course you have to look GOOD so you feel good about yourself... having lost a lot of weight the last couple of years, I'm too small for most of my swimsuits. I tried one on the other day that was laughable.

My son John brought his new hot rod Chevy truck home today, bought and paid for. I am sooo very proud of him.

Koby had a good day, too. Ate all his breakfast and dinner. I'm thinking this new food might be a winner, we'll see.  We are playing a new game to deal with his blindness, I call it "Find Mommy." I sneak across the room from him and say "Koby, find mommy!"  He can actually do it! Yes, it takes a while but I make a huge deal of praising him for his success. Hey, I figure anything that makes him happy and wag that tail is a very good thing.  And it helps him learn to navigate in the house.

Enough with the computer already. Been working on website for a couple of hours now.  Time for sleep!

Way Too Early Friday Morning

Almost time to go to bed - I'm up late because I napped earlier.My son John made his chicken taco "bake" and it was great. He is really sweet, he cooks sometimes on my IV days and comes up with some pretty wonderful things!

Still no news about surgery Monday. Waiting on a call from a doc tomorrow, will either get the nod or not. If yes, I have lots of appointments and stuff to do tomorrow.  If no... nothing. I don't really care one way r the other, at least right now. I'm sure I will later, but it's been a "good hip week" meaning it's not the killer, OMG I'm gonna die pain like it gets sometimes. I can deal with this awhile if I have to.  On the bright side, I can continue with my somewhat manic reorganiation phase I've been in for a couple of weeks. I can enjoy this gorgeous late summer weather we're having. I can... get more stuff done. That would be a good thing.  Websites to write, people to see, things to do.

I did spend a lot of time sitting out on the patio today, but didn't touch (or water!) a plant.  And right now hurray, it's thunderstorming! Now that makes me happy.  I adore thunderstorms, always have.  I have several windchimes around and I enjoy hearing them.

Well, absolutely nothing exciting to write about.  It was an okay day.  I finished working on Koby's (my diabetic schnauzer) website and got it up.  (Check it out)

I'm discovering one of the most fun things about having a blog is an excuse to look through 

my photos and see what I'd like to share! This is a storm photo I took last summer in Omaha, NE. 

Well, off to dreamland for now.  Hoping for a cool, rainy day tomorrow that makes me feel like cleaning house! It needs it...

––She

Thursday - The Suspense Builds!

Arrrgggghhh!! The internist is arguing with the specialist and between the two of them, I may not get cleared in time for Monday's surgery.  I may have to reschedule this puppy again.   C'mon guys, I just need a new hip... really! 

My granddog, Winnie, takes a turn at the scales with Heidi

Koby was a little sleepy this morning, seems fine now tho. He ate a good breakfast for me.  Yesterday I was sure that his tummy felt a little heavier - maybe he IS gaining weight back! Heidi may come over while I have IvIG today and I may get her to weigh all the kids again.  That was hysterical the last time - every dog lined up when she brought the scales into the living room and wanted to be weighed!! It looked like a little doggie Weight Watchers meeting, I swear!


It is another gorgeous day out, if I so much as step out there I'll want to stay out all day! No time for that, I'm afraid.  I have been doing some "easy gardening," things like snapping off sedum stems and starting new plants by sticking them here and there in the flowerbeds.  Last night I gave the honeysuckle a much needed haircut and discovered there is NOT a clematis under there anymore. Darn!  I would love to ask my neighbors for cuttings of their clematis vines, they have some amazingly beautiful ones.   Yah - I'll put that right on the to-do list! 


Have an amazing day!

It's Monday!

Wow, one week till surgery and counting.  Surely nothing will show up to stop it! At least I hope not. Spent the morning running errands with Carianne. PIcked up some new dog food at Petco to try out. We are almost out of our allotment of Blue Buffalo free dog food for the year.  Sure could use a dog food sponsor... hint, hint!


Been working on the computer cleaning up some filing work on pictures. Oh, fun. Actually it is - I can see the progress of my new "Window Garden" in the photos.  It started as blank dirt in late June, and is now a nearly completed roughly 20' X 12 ' beautiful all perennial garden! Have moved some of my garden art to it, one piece at a time. PIcked up a nice chair at Home Depot for it the other day, nice having a place to sit down and enjoy it. 


Speaking of the garden, I'm off to fill in a few gaps now. OUT the door... whoosh!!!!!