To Sleep, Perchance To... Have Another Episode of the Nightmare?

I have always found dreams to be really fascinating, have even written them down here and there over the years. Right now I'm in the middle of a "theme" nightmare. At first I thought it was an episodic, or serial nightmare. But no. As I just discovered, when I awoke at 3:50 a.m. for the third consecutive day, it's definitely a theme. And the theme is lost, scared, and out of control.  Now, having had my surgery cancelled three times in a row and enduring a lot of pain feels something like that, so I'm not too surprised. Just my jumble of emotions working their way out through dreams. If you don't find weird dreams interesting, bag it right here and move on... because I'm going to journal them HERE. (How's that for brave, huh?)

The first dream two nights ago involved getting into my car as a young teenager to go home. But I kept going in and out of consciousness (in the dream) and the car would't work right. After going through a few scary places, I finally found a UP caboose car in a well lighted parking lot with lots of people around. I crawled myself in there and got help. After figuring out I'd been kidnapped and drugged, I woke up.

Dream two picked up where dream one left off.  The people who were helping me were also helping a little girl who had gone through the same thing as me. She had a cute little dog. During the process of helping her, I started having recall flashes of things that had happened to me. Then it went on into lawyers, DNA tests, and ended with me having dinner with my new attorney in an abandoned picnic shelter.

Dream three - I was driving to a meeting with Martha Stewart to make some type of pitch to her about the rescue. (Think Martha Stewart Pets!)  Martha Stewart's Pet Research/Product Testing facility! The inside was entirely sloped floors and I couldn't stand up anywhere. It was some type of adoption day and there were hundreds of dogs and people there. Lots of sliding around on muddy floors, never quite falling down but totally out of control.  At the end I learned it was in Jefferson City, MO. When I went outside, there was a tornado touching down next to the building and I was leaving on a bicycle.   All I know is that earlier that day I'd been looking at Martha Stewart's line of doggie outfits at Petsmart! That'll teach me...

I Love Plant Swapping!

On Tuesday morning, I had the best time in the garden! It was a perfect 70º outside, and I had a brand-new garden trade box to plant! 


I used to think the only way you could get a new perennial plant (besides sharing plants with neighbors and friends) or special seeds was to shell out the cash at the local retailer, or at that dream garden window shopping heaven, the internet.  About 10-12 years ago I learned there was yet another way! I started meeting other gardeners interested in trading plants on an amazing site called GardenWeb. There have been so many trades over the years... most of them went into my gardens at the old house in Papillion and were left behind there when we moved in mid-January.  The ones that come to mind as special - tobacco seedlings, a gorgeous purple wisteria vine, a Fried Green Tomatoes Hosta, lilac bushes - really too many to remember without looking back at pictures. 


There is nothing like opening a garden trade box. It's like Christmas in July, or April, or whenever! Many traders tuck in special little gifts like garden decorations, candy bars, packets of seeds... whatever! 
As long as you follow the special rules of etiquette of garden trading, you'll build a great online reputation and people will be glad to trade with you. And if things get messed up even once - (let's say the mail carrier puts the box in your metal mailbox in mid-August in blazing 100º sun and you don't take it out until evening) - it can really hurt your trading reputation even though it wasn't your fault. (That's why you always mail on Mondays, so it won't sit in the mail facility over the whole weekend, too). 


Last year such a thing happened to me. My plants must have had something happen, because the person on the receiving end said the plants were brown and withered. Well, they left here happy and green... so I will never know. They were really upset, and said so. Ouch.  Anyway, this year the trading hunger finally got to me so I answered an ad about a trade and just received my box Monday. It was awesome - I received a Twilight Butterfly Bush (purple with pink centers), a Rose Mallow (hardy hibiscus), and a Butterfly Wings Daylily as a special surprise gift! 

Twilight Butterfly Bush

Yesterday I took the newcomers out to their new home in my Out My Window garden and planted them. Then I went over to dig the trade, she had wanted Strawberries & Cream Grass.  As my surprise, I selected a baby Elderberry tree and a really good Peppermint plant. All in all, the trade took half an hour of my time, $5 in postage, and I have beautiful new plants that would have cost me at least $15 had I bought them at retail (had I even been able to find them locally!) Garden trading is just cool.

Strawberries & Cream Ribbon Grass

Still in suspense...

Waiting to hear if my surgery has been medically approved. I was supposed to hear last Thursday. Do  these doctors not know people's lives kind of hang in the balance, waiting on this sort of thing? Well, que' sera, sera I suppose. Whatever will be, will be.  I'm alternating between good days and not-so-good. My hip seems to be "moody." When it gets enough, it says STOP. What I know from experience when the other one went south, is that eventually it will get stuck in "stop" and not come back. That hurts, a lot. So let's hope for off-and-on bad pain until the surgery can get done!

Busy day today! Spent a couple hours working on file restores from CD's - you can probably imagine how much fun THAT was! Then I went out to water the dog pool, the flower gardens out back... barely squeezed in a little time to dig up some strawberries & cream grass for a garden friend. Then it was off to a mess of errands that lasted all afternoon.

Sitting here about to fall asleep. Time for a definite nap! I guess 3 hours of sleep wasn't quite enough last night... Hugs to all!

Off To Be Tortured...

Dear God,
I hate the dentist. It's nothing personal. He's the nicest guy. I just can't understand why, in Your infinite wisdom, you created the human with teeth that have the ability to develop nasty things despite our best efforts - like periodontal disease, cavities, and heaven knows what else.  Just letting you know.  --Amen.

The good news, I'm not going to lose my teeth anytime soon.

The bad news - in order to achieve that, I have to undergo root planing again. I also have to have my old fillings removed and redone because they developed cavities under the fillings! Who knew that could happen.  So I have four visits ahead of me, at a total cost of over $1600.  Thank God I have dental insurance, won't have to pay all of that.

After that fun adventure, I get to go to Mr. Hematologist to see if he in HIS infinite wisdom will this time allow me to proceed with my hip surgery! Kinda a big deal, really.  I've got everything I can cross crossed.

And if all that is not enough fun for one day, have to take my son to the consult to get his wisdom teeth taken out before his insurance runs out the end of the month. We're cutting it a bit close, he's getting it done the 31st late in the day! At least he is able to get it done. The one thing I like about what Obama did with health care is that my kids' insurance coverage was reinstated until they turn 26 (which John just did). I hate what he did with the HSA accounts where you can't buy OTC meds, supplies, etc. without a prescription. We spend a small fortune on that stuff.  Sigh...

No plans for this evening other than to relax. I'm on cooking strike for sure. I made chicken fried steak dinner last night with potato pancakes, gravy, everything... and unfortunately I ate it. That reminds me, better thaw out some soup for tonight!!

Hope anybody stopping by has a great day!

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!  The lovely lady to my left is my late mama, Norma.  Not to be confusing but I was lucky to have TWO moms - my natural mom Norma, and my adopted mom Izzy.  I adored them both and I hope to see them again someday in heaven. 


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! 

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!