Posts Tagged ‘Jersey Shore’

1st Barbecue of the Season

March 27, 2016

Friday I had to go to Wound Care again – what a lovely day it was.  Eddie left in the morning for work with clouds a bit of rain; when he came home to pick me up, the sun was out.  For the first time in a long time, I had the car window open and it felt quite warm.    More rain today and tomorrow, then they promise the sun for several days – does Mother nature agree?  We will see.

I am back wrapped up again – my legs swelled again – and wouldn’t you know, my compression socks arrived and were sitting in the mailbox as we drove out.  Well, I won’t be wearing them for a couple of weeks, then I will take them with me to have them help me learn how to put them on.  This means spit and duck baths again; so far the hair doesn’t look too bad.  It does tend to stick up a bit when I get up in the morning, I will have to run the shower with my head in to have the steam tame those wonky parts.  I have an appointment on Wednesday afternoon to remove sutures, then I can lean over the shower chair and wash my hair at least.

My forehead has been numb since the first plastic surgery, yet at times I feel it tingling, sometimes as if something is walking on my head.  It is an odd sensation but not unpleasant.  I asked the doc about it last Monday before surgery, he said it will take a long time to  go back to normal.  I expected that answer because I found that with the hip incision.  It was numb and I would get sharp pricks when I least expected it – that was unpleasant.  Seems to be  fairly normal now, four years later.

I am determined to drive again after Wednesday, I don’t like being so dependent – at least I can see a lot better now, that makes a difference.  When Eddie comes back from the Car Museum, he is taking me to Bartell’s – it is sometimes difficult to explain to him what I want.  I think he is very uncomfortable buying “lady things”, but does a pretty good job.

Yesterday was fairly sunny and when Eddie came home from shopping, he had hamburgers with him.  He decided to start the BBQ season and I noticed Eric across the street had his big grill on his deck.  Eddie said he could smell someone else getting ready to BBQ.  We have had such a lot of wind and rain this winter, it feels good to look forward to spring.  Each time I go out, I see new things blooming – I almost feel I am missing out on spring.  The Scillas in the beds have abundant leaves up and it will be fun to see all the lavender flower stems blooming.  The grape hyacinths are blooming, not as many this year and the two clumps of yellow daffodils on the bank are doing well

My sister Ellen on the Jersey Shore has had rain, snow, sun and wind – I’m so glad she sends photos of them.  The last photo I enclosed in the blog is now a painting – she is so talented!  She is able to show the ocean in so many different moods and colors – so amazing.

This was the Nor’easter the other week – she had snow as well as windy.

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This was on March 24th – spring is coming.

I have been so self absorb in myself lately, both my sisters reminded me March 24th would be Dad’s 102nd birthday.  I also thought about September 24th, Mom’s birthday – it will be her 98th.  In 2018, it will be her 100th birthday and that year was as eventful as Dad’s in 1914 – so many historic things happened that changed the world during those years.  Because they met, fell in love and married, my sisters and I are a part of this changing world.  They gave us so many gifts – being loved and wanted, integrity, respect for other people, discipline, manners – so many things that have given me a strong foundation.  (I won’t speak for my sisters)  I am grateful for all of it, they were very loving parents.

A blog wouldn’t be complete without a couple of photos from my sister Candy in Nashville.

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She puts lovely backgrounds in her photos

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She has done a series of Christmas photos with flowers and also ornaments.

I have been sleeping a lot, though I still feel draggy,  I need to walk a bit every day – exercise needs to be part of being rested.  I have hesitated to go outside and walk up and down the sidewalk because I don’t want to trip and fall.  Now that I can wear my glasses better, I am willing to give it a try.  Windy and stormy is conducive to walking outside – I seem to have missed the worst of the weather during my captivity.

My posts have been so “me” centered, it is time to focus on something else for a change.  Wishing you all a very Happy Easter.

I Am Still Here – Somewhere

January 11, 2015

I just realized it has been more than 3 weeks since my last post – I’ve been around but not necessarily with it.  After 3 months, I decided it was time to stop pushing aside grieving for my Mom and Dad, too many oddball things were showing up and I need to deal with it.  I was upset when I decided to end my radio show for a while – going on hiatus while I do major self-care – and will be back doing it again in the future.  I don’t want to spend the rest of my days somewhere in neutral and drag my butt tired.

Eddie and I went to Toronto for a few days for Christmas with our niece and her family – no ice storm this year.  It was 40’s and 50’s with some rain, just like Seattle.  However, I am glad we aren’t there at the moment, they have cold, ice and snow right now.  I have some photos from my sister Ellen  at the Jersey shore showing snow.

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 This one came this morning

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 This was earlier in the week – so amazing!

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Ellen really knows how to compose a great picture.

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This one must have been uncomfortable because the snow was blowing all over.

We had a wonderful time in Toronto – I found myself noticing after a day or so that I had not thought about here or what was happening, I was completely there.  It’s not that we did much, at least I didn’t.  It was a delight to just enjoy their company and relax.

 I have to admit to feeling a bit left out because I only understand about half of what was said, so I asked for a major attitude overhaul.  What a change in my way of looking at the situation.  NEWS FLASH!  It’s not about me.  It is a time for Eddie to speak Arabic with people he cares about and who know exactly what he is talking about – most it is about the past, people they know in common and situations.  They also imitate the way some they knew spoke Arabic – only they understand the joke and why it is funny.

Christmas Eve we watched the service from the church in Bethlehem, then went out for a wonderful dinner.  Christmas afternoon we went to Raouf’s uncle’s house – and 30 of his close relatives.  There are probably another 30 we didn’t meet that night, there is always next year.  I spent a lot of time talking to his Uncle John.  He’s a very interesting guy and so easy to talk with – I found out more of his history on the drive home.

We left on Boxing Day in the evening – Eddie isn’t quite sure why he arranged only 3 days.  We had a wonderful time, though it was so good to be back home and in our own bed.

After we came home, I called Hospice of Seattle to find out about their grief support group.  It is a 6 week course, then often the group decides to continue meeting after the end of the  6 weeks.  It starts this Tuesday and will be for the next 6 Tuesdays.  I don’t know what it will be, I am open to what ever works for me.

I found the book “When Bad Things Happen To Good People” in the library – I had heard it was a really good book for grieving.  Unfortunately I didn’t find it helpful – I don’t need to find a reason Mom is gone – it was time and it was her wish as well as relief.  It is more explaining about the whys – I don’t need that.  I am glad I checked it out, now I know what is about.

I have some other things to check out – some of this by guess and by gosh, some are suggestions from other people – I am open and receptive to anything.  I am open and willing to explore things and ideas to see how they resonate.  This is so individual that it is more challenging than if there is a set formula.  Maybe I will start to look at it as adventure rather than as something to be overcome.  I am working to put it into words for myself – there really aren’t any pictures in my mind yet.

I bought an iPhone last Saturday – my Christmas and birthday present.  It is cool and I went Tuesday to learn how to use it.  I have another appointment this Tuesday to learn more.  They were able to download my list from my old phone and I finally got my pictures downloaded as well – not quite as easily.  However, the number is the same and I don’t have to go through that balderdash again.

I downloaded the new system Yosemite at home in November or December and my computer has been a bit wonky in some places.  I took it in on Saturday afternoon – what a zoo not only at the Apple store, but all over the mall as well.  Anyway, I told them about it and Nicole thought the best thing to do was reinstall Yosemite there and it would install over the one I did.  It was going to take an hour, so I went for coffee and by 5 I was ready to go.

Meanwhile Eddie was home doing the laundry and cooking dinner – what a delightful husband!  He had done all the shopping in the morning by himself because I had woken up in the middle of the night feeling as if at least a Hummer or something bigger had driven over me from feet to head and up my back.  I am not sure what happened, I was doing well the day before and the one before that – no clue why.  By late morning I was doing a lot better – thanks to Advil at night and in the morning.

Life is definitely an adventure.  I found this picture the other day and in some ways it’s how I feel – I don’t know how I got here and I have no idea where it leads, but at the moment, I am here and safe.

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Rather Tense Week

November 2, 2012

Along with a lot of other people, I have been concerned about my sister on the Jersey Shore.  She had emailed last weekend that if we didn’t hear from her, she had lost power.  No one had any idea it would end up the way it has, so I have been wondering how she has fared.  She was able to leave a message on my other sister’s phone  yesterday to let us know she is fine,  no electricity.  Candy had found a blogger from Ocean Grove, so there were pictures of the  pilings where the pier used to be.  Apparently there is damage but seem to have avoided the worst of it.  When Hurricane Irene went through, Ellen never lost the electricity.  Now there is talk of a Nor’easter coming – let’s hope people have electricity before that happens.  My heart goes out to all those who are still wondering or who have lost loved ones in this storm.

While I was waiting for news, I have been working on two sets of paperwork.  Actually, I have been working on the Medicaid ones for quite a while.  I have begun to see there is more to my Mom’s financial state than I realized, so that has meant contacting companies or people to find out more details.  I have had to fax my Durable Power of Attorney to so many places just so they would talk to me.  One is in Rhode Island and when I fax, I just get a message saying I am not authorized to use this system.  I called the company again, the very nice lady told me it wasn’t me, it was them – I was given the right fax number.  So I will continue to try until it goes through.  Heck of a time to have to deal with East Coast businesses.

I went over to see the social worker Denise to have her go over the forms we worked on last week.  I want to be sure I have as much info and the forms are done correctly – I hope that will speed the process.  I am so glad I went because I had forgotten some things we talked about, so now the forms are ready.  I still have some things to copy but I hope to get it in the mail today.  I am sure they will come back with requests, I wanted to eliminate as many of those as I can.  I even found my birth certificate from the hospital – I have a copy from Sacramento – yes, I am a California girl, a native prune picker – that I am still looking for in our papers.  Moving several times seems to misplace some things and turn up others.

We are also applying for a mortgage for this house, it seems the most sensibly financially at this point.  So we have had forms to fill out and sign, then we were sent a slew full on-line – we just had to eSign.  A new thing – they just have what looks like a yellow sticky flag that says Sign Here.  When I click on it, it shows it typed in blue, then later when Eddie did his part, I saw my name had changed styles.  They ask the most interesting questions, we didn’t have to do this stuff when we bought our house in Fort Wayne, Stephens City or Bethlehem.  We try to make things as simple as possible, even so, it seemed as if we had a lot to sign.  The last time was probably the mid – 90’s in Fort Wayne.  I suspect the flow of forms and requests will be coming in for that as well as the ones for Medicaid.  If I had my druthers, I’d druther do one set, then do the next set after the first was finished.  At no time have I been offered my druthers.

Just came home and checked messages – while I was in the shower this morning, my older sister called to say they are fine, no damage but no electricity.  I am so sorry I missed her call.  I definitely have to get a phone with a louder ringer!  I also finished the Medicaid application and finally mailed it today.  Maybe I can relax a bit and not have nightmares about not finding papers I need; actually sleep comfortably since nothing can happen until they receive it Monday.  Still papers to collect – I will start back again on Monday.Now I have to work on the mortgage stuff.  This afternoon I have my massage and I am SOOO looking forward to it.  Even managed to have my hair cut as well.  That is mainly due to my foulups today and last Friday – I have an appointment with a client on Nov 9th, yet for some reason I keep thinking it was this Friday – same for last week.  I knew it was the 9th but I kept putting in my calendar on the wrong Friday – this hasn’t happened before and I am wondering if I am going nuts or just have too much to deal with at the moment.  It’s time to pat myself on the back and say “Good Job!” rather than beat myself up for not having every single solitary paper and form absolutely and completely done perfectly.


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