February 2007 - Don't Sweat the Small Stuff

Yes, Jill, the accents in The Departed were not all that great. But how about that ending!!

 

OMG ya'll!!!! We are having a MAJOR dust storm The sky has been this eerie yellowish light and the sustained winds are around 23-28 mph with gusts up to 40 mph! Yuck-O!!! Man is my head full and having trouble breathing - and I haven't been outside!!!!!!!! I can deal with wind, but this dust crud is for the ... desert!

I'm like Joyce. Been keeping my own company lately. LOL Oh and Hubbies too of course. ;D I don't even have bronchitis and I've been coughing today. I feel for you Joyce! Coughing is ... well you understand . Praying that the cough goes and energy returns soooooonnnn for you!

Rae Nell sure hope you have not had to get out in this windy crud! Especially if you have sinus/ear infection!

Maggie me mate we really must do something about ourselves. ??? Now if we can only figure out what! LOL Hope you are getting better too.

You know maybe I should just say "WE ALL NEED TO FEEL BETTER!" and make it a blanket statement to all under the weather (my bad pun for the day).

Hubbie forgot to pick up my diuretic script yesterday so it's been 3 days without. Maybe that is part of my problem of feeling bloated and adding to that loud buzzing in my ear!

Hi again to all and sorry I'm not responding to everyone as I try to do. My big plans for this evening - watch one of my favorite old John Wayne movies - McLintock! Love that movie. Maureen O'Hara is up there with Susan Hayward as one of my favs!

Well the cat wants me to come out and feed him and I want HIM to come in to eat cause I don't even want to open the door! Those of you with cats - you know how they are. :

Healthy, healing, energizing Love and Hugs to all!

 

Hellooooo, Neighbors!!!

Carol – DH and I have been watching AI all along….Boy’s Night was a BIG snoozer, so we were pleasantly surprised by the girls. I think there were three standouts: Stephanie, Melinda, and Lakisha. Soooo sorry about your dreaded nystagmus/nausea business…at least you have good drugs, right? (Sweetie – it’s not the MM that caused the lights to go out….it was your magic trash can!!!)

Marian – hope both you and Ruud are feeling better - sending big (((((HUGS))))) to you!!! :-*

Cee – oooh, you got a special hello from Chris Daughtry – how cool is that? And OMG – your poor finger…when I got my first ceiling fan in the bedroom, I was certain it would fall off in the middle of the night, and slice me up like a salami while I slept….

Adrienne – hope you are doing o.k., and that M’s mom is making some progress...that is such a stressful situation...

Rae Nell – how are you feeling today? OMG – I still have to lose the weight you’ve already lost!!!! I am envious!!! Nah, I’m really proud of you – 54 pounds is a great accomplishment!

AARGH, Maggie – I was so lucky when I was growing up…if I slept all day, my mom would tell me “Your body must have needed it” and never made me feel guilty…so now if I’m just thrashed, and I need to sleep, I do. I’m anxious to hear about the subeditors job – that sounds really interesting! My sciatica healed incredibly quickly – perhaps the power of positive thinking is working!!!

Dixie Chick – hope hubby is doing well these days…no more excitement like that for either of you…

Jill – I SO wish I had seen Oprah for the followup on The Secret….maybe it will say somewhere on her website. Ooooh, a visual board….we used to call those Treasure Maps in the olden days….when I heard about it on the show, I decided I wanted to make one, too!

Jrw – Thanks so much for the encouragement! I lost 45 pounds on Jenny Craig in 1990, and kept it off for almost ten years. Of course, I’m older now, but I still think I have the will power to do it on my own. There’s more at stake now…

Joyce – glad you are feeling at least a bit better…as for the weight loss thing, I seem to be losing on this diet. I’m never hungry, which is interesting, because when I was snacking out of control, I always thought I was starving – so I’d just grab a handful of cookies, or a bag of popcorn, or some chips…now I either eat it at a meal, or have a scheduled snack before bedtime. Guess maybe I wasn’t all that hungry to begin with. : Did you get The Secret book or DVD? I got both, am halfway thru the book, haven’t watched the DVD. (OMG – Leah – haven’t heard that name in forever – what a ruckus that was!)

Hi, Sue – how was camping? DH is camping right now…but it’s supposed to be about 35 degrees F where he is…(that’s 2 C) Yikes!

Loretta – that’s the best idea I’ve heard in a long time!!! Hope your poor back is doing better!

Di – sure wish you could find something to end that insomnia! I’ve had it before in my life, but not recently. It seems that I get at least 8 – 10 hours a night. Of course, that’s not counting the two times I have to get up to pee…. :

Oh, Sami – so sorry you aren’t feeling well…hope by the time you read this whatever it was is long gone…thanks for the weight-loss encouragement...

Linda - I will be thinking of you when I watch the Academy Awards tomorrow. You are the only one I know who always sees the movies!

Well, I'm on my own this weekend. DH has gone off on a Gold Panning weekend with the guys from his club. They're going to pan for gold near Lake Isabella, visit a mining museum, and check out an old gold mine. He left at 6 this morning - excited as a kid going to Disneyland. Called me at 11, had gotten there early and did some metal detecting, then panned for gold with the group. Said he had some gold to bring me! Basically it's a bunch of big boys playing in the mud, but he's happy. Told me it was supposed to be 35 degrees F where they're setting up camp....yikes! He said if he got too cold he's sleep in the truck. Oh yeah, I'm REAL sorry I missed that trip... :

The diet - all three days of it - is going well. I don't seem to be tempted by all the junk food still in the house. (I couldn't quite eat all of it before I started - ) Now I just have to find a way to exercise. I guess since I'm still paying Curves every month, I could start back there....

Looks like the latest storm has dropped some snow on the mountain house, so we'll go up there on Monday to investigate. There are actually a few more storms coming in over the next few days, all from Alaska, so it will be cold.

Not much other news to share...hope all the germs have flown away from y'all out there...stay well, my friends!!!

xoxoxoxoxoxo
deercharmer

 

Camping was brilliant. No water in the dam we camped at; but it has been raining 'cause it's all grassed over. At night, sitting on the edge you could imagine water, 'cause the grass in the dam was lighter. Taking The Girl's friend was a mixed bag. They kept each other occupied, but there were some trade off. Although they're 'best friends' they don't always get along very well. The Girl very intelligent and confident; her friend comes from a broken home and isn't a "studious" type. The Girl wanted to read, her friend doesn't read 'for fun'. The Girl can also be a right proper little snot when people aren't as cluey as she is. Had to pull her up a couple of times for being an arrogant little ....
I got too much sun, not enough sleep (trialled a camp stretcher - nope, not for me), lots of relaxation, lots of studying (read several chapters of my text while 'doing nothing'). All in all - a great weekend. Didn't forget anything super important. Arrived late on Friday night, so set up our tents - for the very first time - in the dark. They went together pretty easy - thankfully! Went into a nearby town on Saturday and picked up a few things we either forgot or realised we would need. Candles (forgot my lanterns - duh!); a 25L water container; a gas BBQ lighter (very windy - kept blowing out our matches); marshmellows (fancy going camping and not having marshmellows) and bottle port (ditto the comment on the marshmellows LOL).
We got home about 1:30 this afternoon. Unpacked the car; deleted all my unread emails; and did two loads of washing. Vegemite for dinner; didn't even bother toasting the bread ('cause it's super fresh). I am absolutely stuffed.
Just waiting for the Girl to shower and go to bed, so I can too. The Man has gone to church - way beyond my capacity tonight.
Funny how lieing around doing nothing all weekend can be so tiring.

<b>Maggie<\b> we're sticking close for our short weekends, but we'll come up and see you soon(ish). Don't get any sicker!

Hope everyone else is well or getting well. No falling over, falling down, or falling out with people

 

Good Morning!

Sue...glad to hear the camping went well. I thought of you yesterday as we went to an Rv & Camper show. We go every few years just to go sit in the trailers, See which ones we like and talk about all the things we'd do in them and with them. For hubby it was all about a comfy chair to watch the tv in! We've always been tent people and I love that. But we don't go anymore cause my "boys" don't like tents anymore. So it was fun to dream about buying a camper and traveling with it!

DC....got my visual board up. Got 3 things on it, a house I love in Maine, a cute little yorkie and pictures of Italy. Although the yorkie will come much later then the others, I'm assuming! It looks like a new kitten may be in our future this spring.

Carol...never been in a dust storm. Yuck, dust everyhere? Poo

Yes Linda, the ending to the departed was great! ANd did you here Corey Dillion want to go to another team! Very dissapointed in him. These players are so, so messed up in there minds!! DOn't know how to put it. I don't think he's gonna get the money and the carries he's looking for somewhere else. He's getting old in football world!!

Joyce...I heard about and saw the locusts on tv. OMG, the sky was blackened with them all. Gross!! Never saw a flock of Robins though! Neat.

jrw...are you shoveling out?


Hubby went snowmobiling all day friday in New Hampshire, almost to the canadian boarder. 8 hours straight except for a 1/2 hour lunch break and 150 miles. He couldn't move yesterday really. He's one hurtin puppy!! He's never done such riding in his life. But said it was the most beautiful scenery. I gave him my camera to take pictures and the battery died on him. So he bought one of those throw aways. can't wait to see the pictures!! He wasn't to much fun to be around yesterday! ALthough he did go to the RV show with us, but regreted it as soon as we got there!

Not sure what's on tap for today. Have some sales reports I got on Friday from my new job. I will probably study those and do some analysis.

Steve-O goes back to school tommorrow! YEAH!!! He's feeling fine. Yipee!! Still not doing any lifting, bending etc. we go to the doc in another 10 days or so. And he's getting his tattoo on Tuesday. I guess I will go with. Just a plain Patriots logo on the arm. He was gonna customize it, but couldn't think of anything creative.

Happy Sunday everyone!! :-*

 

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Sunday 25 February 2007

Your time and energy are among your most precious and important assets. It's extremely important to make wise and well-thought-out choices about who you spend your time with.

One step forward, two back. That seems to be the dance I am doing trying to feel better. I took the last pill from the Z Pak yesterday and would have thought that meant I was feeling better. I slept most of the day away in a nap mode and slept all night and could have slept longer. (yawn) I am up and on two feet. I guess that is progress. I even cooked a meal of sorts yesterday - could have used a little help but none came from the man I married over 45 years ago. (frown)

Carol We had a lot of wind yesterday. Deaf as I am, I could hear the wind chimes crashing together on our back porch. No dirt though, it was still too wet for that.
I really am doing a lot of self talk trying to make myself feel better. It will happen.

deercharmer I put a pound back on yesterday. I should know that being sick is not going to mean permanent weight loss. One can hope. I bought the book (Secret) and not the DVD. I have barely briefed through it. I see I am full of negativity for one thing. At least it seems I must be while I don't mean to be at all. I also found I am more forgiving of others and not so much towards myself. I am trying to work on my spiritual side too. We are such complex people. I want to work on all components, physical, mental, emotional, spiritual and intellectual and social.
My Dad used to love panning for gold. He went to Yukon one year. He panned around Idaho City here too. He always had his panning gear and also one of those things that dredges in the river. There was a place in N CA he loved to visit. They would have been good friends = my dad and your hubby.

Sue Your camping trip sounds like it was a success 'cept for missing items. We had great memories from camping. One was funny. We went and thought we were missing a pole from inside the tent so hubby drug in a log to prop it up (inside the tent). later he discovered the pole had telescoped into the other pole and was there all along. It was funny. another camping trip we were cooking bacon in a torrential down pour. It was splattering all over the place and our kids inside the tent kept wondering when it would be ready.
When our older kids grew up and left home, we allowed our youngest daughter to bring a friend and that always was fun for both of them. We loved soaking along the river bank where the thermal hot springs poured from the canyon walls into the river and we mixed the water from both to make a hot tub. You had to keep the river water flowing through or you would be cooked like a lobster. I miss the fun we used to have. Now a good camp site is a motel room with a swimming pool. ;D

Jill I am glad I wasn't the only one who saw the locusts. If they make it here, they will strip the fields bare. It is really a little frightening. I wonder what we have to kill them. ???

Glad Steve is doing so well. Bummer about hurting puppy hubby - LOL Those men have too much fun and then can't do anything in the way of work and feel so bad after and expect sympathy and to be waited on. I am not real compassionate when my hubby does that. I am on to their wiley ways!! ;D

NM (Di) Sounds like you been on a regular binge of movie watching. I can't sit that long and watch movies. I am supposing I will watch part of the Awards tonight for lack of other things to watch. I like Ellen Degeneres and she is entertaining and funny - though Billy Crystal would be a better choice. I will have to see what other shows are on during that time, I really don't care about the awards that much.

We have a granddaughter out there on Tuesdays taking drivers ed. She is learning in private lessons on standard shift. She is enjoying it. I would not have any patience with any of my kids - I am glad they all had their own private lessons and left us out of the equation. They are all good drivers.

Linda Enjoy the awards show. I may watch for the entertainment (Ellen) rather than care who wins. Locally, in our paper, they sometimes have a contest to see who comes closest to guessing right. I didn't see one this year. Maybe online.

Everyone have a great day.

 

It is very easy to tell with whom I spent the days with (topic of today). Of course, with my husband, or in bed trying to get some sleep and have the most fantastic dreams then. Not the last one, but the previous ones were like Heaven. All fairies dancing in a play (children I suppose) and singing so beautiful ; a boy soprano had the leading role and reached the top E or even higher so clearly that I (who can't listen to music anymore) sat thrilled in the audience. What a pity I had to go to the loo and could not keep that dream continuing. Sometimes I can when I walk like under hypnosis to the bathroom and then quickly back in bed again.

I remember now that I wrote to Jill about flowers, birds and whatever else growing in gardens, mixing her up with jrw. We had seadballs on the gardentable in the hole where in summer the umbrella goes in. Jill answered politely that it was such a good idea, but I should have written that to jrw. I always mix those two up. I do not know many names anymore, my memory gets worse all the time as my head is full of loud noise and banging of heart beat. I suppose (but I am not sure of course) that my description that the heartbeat sounds like bronze churchbells on Sunday morning, is not something Americans might know what that sound is like. Do not know whether you also have old churches with enormous big clock-shaped churchbells. I lived for one year almost next to a Catholic church in Hilversum where Ruud was born and I lived there for 4 years.

When we returned to the Netherlands in 1990 we had nowhere to live, our village, which had to accept people coming back from other countries and give them anyway temporary housing, did not help a bit. So I lived with Niels for ½ year in my sister's house. Then Ruud arrived and he also moved in. I had a job, but he didn't. And where I had a job they also had no rental housing for me. We had money to buy a house, but as we did not know where Ruud was going to get a job and I later changed jobs too and worked in Utrecht, in the centre of the country, we did not want to get stuck in a house and Ruud working somewhere up North or South. And where should Niels go to university then? So when it got too much for my sister (she really felt overwhelmed to have 3 extra people in her house and even Marike arrived around Christmas, but lived with her sister in another city where they had jobs, but they left 4 years later, and went back to NZ). Marike only stayed a short time as she was still studying at university and left at the 17th of January 1991, when the 1st Gulf War started. We were so scared how she would manage to get through the States, as all planes were used to get the army to Kuwait and the Gulf. She had to jump on and off planes to reach LA and when she arrived in New Zealand we were really relieved. She has seen lots of airports in the US at that time.

Well, those churchbells remind me now very often of the loud sound of my heartbeat in my head or ear. I am very irritable, as it is really no fun at all. I know I can hear, but that terrible loud sound prevents me from hearing what Ruud tells me. And we are the only ones here at home. Sometimes the grandchildren come in, and then I really try for some time to pay attention to them and force myself to hear what they are saying , but their noise makes the sounds increase to become a real pandimonium.

I want to get better, and am working hard to get my doctors, for whom I am at the end of their capabilities to do something about it, to read the article of Dr. Timothy Hains who explains clearly for us, patients, what normal tinnitus and pulsatile tinnitus is like. And the last one can be cured, sometimes. With lots of risk, but I will accept it now. Coming week I will write to Dr.Hains and to Dr. Lloyd B. Minor in Johns Hopkins Hospital. They accept many foreign patients there and have many translators, which I won't need, but others maybe need them. So many things to sort out : Ruud is too sick now to call our insurance, so I have to wait till Tuesday. It might be possible that they will refund the medical costs for me. Overall I can see that most prices, for cars, houses, insurances and especially gas (petrol!) etc. are much cheaper in the States than we have to pay. So maybe also hospital costs per bed and treatment of a good specialist. Here they hardly ever take someone into hospital for longer than 1 day. All surgery is done in out-patient clinics, only transplants will take a bit longer and internal diseases which are hard to cure. Neuro surgery is also something that will cost more and you stay here also longer in hospital than just one day.

I will celebrate the day when the PT can be cured and I will get out alive! Then a new life for me is open and I can do the things I always wanted to do.

First, coming week, we will make an appointment to get my varicose veins in my legs done somewhere in the East of the country. They are too troublesome and also make my legs into elephant legs. Some nasty big ones behind the knees, and many more which have a thin skin over a bleeding vein. My grandmother had open legs, my father had those spider like black veins also over his feet and all his sisters and brothers (7) had varicose veins. My mother too, so I am blessed really from both sides. My sister got none. I was probably made in the wrong year under a wrong star.

Loretta: Thank you for thinking of me. I know that you have about the same troubles as I have. Don't know where you live in Canada, but if it also becomes too bad, and I got any success, you should also try it and travel either to Chicago (if dr. Hain is still practising) or to Baltimore. A shorter distance, I think, than I have to make, crossing the Atlantic. People who think they have those problems, probably don't have them. It is so recognisable. You can't miss to make the right diagnosis yourself. And if your specialist tells you to get an MRI, tell him that MRIs for elderly people dont'work, only for younger people. My socalled specialist relied completely on the MRI so I had nothing. Now he can read it all himself and if he wants to, he can approach those American specialists. But will he admit that he does not know a thing about PT.?

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The building opposite us is even getting higher. The city council, who wanted this to be built, is totally behind now with what the general opinion is about " brede scholen " = big schools with more than one under one roof but playgrounds mixed and only one administration and director. People prefer small schools where their children get more attention. This system of Brede Scholen was an idea of the previous government. Now the new government has come to their senses. Small children from the age of 4 get drowned in those big buildings with so many children in it. And the ones who need more attention than others, will miss out in that. But the building goes on and we know already that the Montessorischool, which was supposed to be part of it, has hardly any pupils anymore. Their parents have taken them, when they heard about that new building frenzy of the council, to schools in the nearby village where there are lots of choices of schools, for rich and poorer people. I am afraid that we end up here with a white elephant in front of us, for which part of the forest was chopped down and behind the school they start now on chopping down all the other trees, about 6 times more than was done for the school and parking places. It has three levels now, something that never happens here in the village, and especially not in foresty areas. The builder's workers made a big mistake: one drove with his bulldozer with sort of chainsaws on it in front, right opposite us into the forest and a huge part was really flattened. Ruud tried to stop that man without brains, by sitting on the front, as he did not hear him yelling to him to stop. That part should have remained as it was. Now it is all open, and as the normal entrance to the forest is away, the people with dogs use that newly made opening now to let their dogs go into the forest and most pee and poop there and children play there as well. And we can all see that. My writing over the years has done something: only to delay the progress. But we got the promise that the forest opposite us would stay, but only all between the road and the gates around the school. Means, only a few real trees.

Last Thursday they were going to chop down and bulldoze the area behind the school and we were warned that we would get some days of noise and piling up of trees. Ruud went in before they were going to arrive, to find some bushes and small trees, which he could plant out in that empty area. He had put some branches and parts of trees in front of the entrance, but people just kicked that away. Now he planted yesterday 4 big holly bushes, which are very prickly and the builder had promised to pay for e.g. conifers and other trees to make that opening normal again so people could not get in anymore. Some steps away is the real path and that part will remain for dog owners to let their dogs out. But that is narrow and the one in front of our house was wide. So he got already lots of remarks by stupid people who never read what is going on: you are not the boss of the forest - it is ours too and if we want to walk in you cannot prevent us. I am afraid that before the week even starts those holly bushes will have been pulled out. Poor Ruud, he was so sick and could not dig out more in the area that will be flattened in a few days/weeks from now one. But we do not want to see people all walking in with sometimes 2 dogs and seeing all the backs of the dogs sitting down to poop. A lovely sight! That is my reward for fighting for 8 years to prevent them from removing the forest and building there and having new soccer fields (artificial) and a sportshall and lots more. We lost - we had legally formed a committee here in the street with people who also cared and wanted to stay here. We have good soccer fields but theywillbe used to built small houses on with handcherchiefs small gardens en only one parking area in front of their house . Where visitors should park is not clear at all. No playl area for children at all, where should they play?

But we are winning about the trains which will increase in the coming years, so the crossing to go to the supermarkets and other shops at the other side of the railway, is too often closed. There was a plan about it, but not for cars. They had to detour and arrive in the village from a different angle and even crossings of roads and footpaths/cycle paths in front of the original crossing. Pedestrians had to walk down through a tunnel, I have a walker and won't be able to push that thing up the steep slope before you can walk to the shops. And real old people really can't go to the shops anymore. My idea was immediately, why not asking for a tunnel which starts before the village next to us, which has even more problems than we have, and have underground stations to buy tickets of automatic things. Lots of elderly people do not know how to handle the ticket sales automat, they have to go to the tobacco shop. But in weekend and late evening they are closed. And elderly people do not drive cars anymore.

We used to have a pretty village amidst lots of green and forests. Now it is chaos everywhere. The supermarket is behaving as if it is a Wall-Mart. A new building next to it is in the making. Houses were torn down and hardly any people of the village go to that supermarket. Too expensive. There is another one, very cheap, but with a low supply. Comes from Germany. So most real Den Doldernaren go to the cheap supermarket first, and then to the expensive one to buy what they missed in the previous one. We have only 4558 inhabitants here, but people from the wealthy neighbouring villages all come in their terrain wagons to the supermarket, park their cars half across the parking space (taking up two instead of one) and the supermarket flourishes because of those millionaires money.

The plan of making a tunnel for the trains with two underground stations, will indeed start, but when, we don't know yet. A recent new decision of the new centre-left government. With our forest we had to deal with a right winged government and also the city council was very rightwinged. Now it is mainly left, the right winged party has lost lots of votes. What a shame that we lost with all the actions we took about the forest.

I dig myself in and don't want to see what is happening in front of my house. But we won't move, we moved too often in my life and this house suits us well. A decent sized garden, that Ruud can do, even though he hates gardening. And if I cannot climb stairs anymore and Ruud not either as his hip is worn out and causes him lots of pain, then we get the things that are attached to your stairway and you go up sitting on a seat, electrically controlled and we can use the whole second level. And the gardening, well, it is a small garden and Iam sure that we will find someone later who likes to do that without paying tax for it. We won't put it on our tax forms (diskettes) and he or she won't be silly to ask for extra. We cannot rely on our children. So we have to help ourselves.

If next week the weather will clear up a bit, I want to go for a drive and a short walk somewhere, but not here in this building factory where we live now. There are lots of crocusses flowering and my early tulips are ready to open any day. The small cherry tree in the centre of the front garden is almost bursting out of its buds. Ruud has to prune the rose along the gates in front of our house and also the hydrangeas. Everything is early this year. So if he feels like it, I like him to clean up the winter left overs of plants, they look so depressingly bad. Want to see good earth and new plants and flowers. The lawn (in a sort of raindrop form) wil be removed and new strips of good lawn wil be bought. It is too full now of moss and killing it all will mean lots of extra sowing in and that will take lots of time to make a good lawn. We have a very small lawn, nothing compared to what we had in New Zealand and you people in the States probably also have. So it probably won't cost that much to get a ready made new lawn, real grass bought from nursery. I am looking forward to real spring. And I hope I can get out and enjoy it.

We will take little Owen anyway around 1st of May (tulip vacations) with our caravan to a nice camping which we know. From there we can go to Germany, there is a fantastic playground and close to that village is a castle, and we want him to get to know all that too, not only car shows. And there is a big children's adventure area not far away from the camping. Belle loved it there and she biked to it with Ruud. Owen is good in biking and I am sure that he will enjoy that. Sleeping in our caravan, something he never did . Belle did it several times, Daan only once, as his mother did not trust us and wants to keep him under her control, and now it is Owen's turn. Later, when I feel better I hope, we will also take Bas the youngest, with us. He ignores his mother's protection and goes his own way. Good, he is trying to get free of the possessive behaviour of his mother. My son gets on with Bas lots better than with poor Daan who is made into someone who is not allowed to think for himself. One day, when I am really better, we also want to take Daan again for a much longer time, maybe to the mountains in Switzerland or France. He missed out on so much! And poor Owen now too, who is still in the psychiatric ward for children of the academic hospital. They should have to observed that family of my daughter, who all of a sudden, without money, was thrown out and being disabled , had to tell her children that mummy and daddy could not live together anymore. It should have happened 4 years before already, but her ex always refused, and she did not know where to go to. Housing for single, handicapped people, is not available everywhere. Glad I took the courage to write to the Wethouder (someone who is slightly below the mayor of a city and has certain projects to deal with, e.g. housing) and was of my party, asked for housing for my daughter from another city, but preferably closer to us than where she lived since 1999. Before 1999 she had lived in the main city where our village also belongs to. And lo and behold, within a month she got an adapted appartment of high rise buildings, that would be torn down in the next future to be replaced by more modern buildings. So then she finally could get a divorce and left her husband, all within short time , so the children probably got the shock of their lives.

I stop my long story now. We are not happy at all now, but hope that the future will get better and I will get cured of PT and that Ruud won't get cancer of the bowls. And better still: that Owen will come home and they get good guidance as my daughter does not know now anymore how to deal with it all.

Love to all the others, Rae Nell, Dicky Chick., Jill, jrw, Sami, Loretta, Maggie, and many others,

Marian

 

DC - My brother, who now lives in Sonora, loves gold mining. It's one of the reasons he moved there. Several years ago he lived in the mountains for about 3 or 4 years, and I mean he built a lean-to and lived in the mountains . He spent all his time gold mining and living on what he found. He loves the Sonora area, Columbia in particular.

Jill - All sports figures are wacky anymore. I wish they would just stay with the same team like they used to.

Di - I also went to another movie yesterday. I saw Amazing Grace. Good movie. Something interesting happened. The sound went wacky several times during the movie. At first I thought my hearing aid battery died, then I noticed others squirming in their seats and looking back at the projector area. Soon, several got up and left. Interesting to see how others react when they can't hear!

Joyce - I've tried picking the winners each year. Some I get right, but not all. I still enjoy watching the show. I agree, I think Billy Crystal is the best host, but I like Ellen also.

Marian - I'm at a loss for words. I wish I could just wave a magic wand and make things better.

Hello JRW, Tizzy, Loretta, Carol, Rae Nell, Richard, Sue, Maggie, Stacey, et al........I hope everyone is enjoying the weekend.

It's cold and rainy here. I'm staying in today, doing laundry, and waiting for the Oscars to come on.

 

The snow storm got here but not too badly. The huge winds drifted the snow over a foot high but we got less than 4" so far. It's starting to snow again but we shouldn't get too much. We haven't blown out our 250' driveway yet. The guys have to wake up from their cat naps first. Meanwhile I'm enjoying watching all the birds that have flocked to the feeders to fill up.

Marian - I knew you were mixing up Jill and myself but it didn't really matter. I enjoyed your messages, too. You can tell I'm the birder because of the icon of the red-breasted nuthatch I use. That table idea was good. I'm glad it worked so well for you.

Not much happening here. You know it's quiet when the ironing gets done, which I finished this morning. Tuesday a friend and I are going birding to the wildlife area to try to find short-eared owls and rough-legged hawks. Takes us about half an hour to get there and there's about 7 thousand acres. Luckily we know the general vicinity of the birds.

My migraine daughter is doing better. They have her on a cocktail of 4 meds - a beta blocker, 2 anti-depressants (triptylenes which are commonly used to treat migraines) and an anti-seizure drug. She's in good spirits. I have to trust that the Diamond Headache Clinic knows what they are doing. I try not to think too much about the long term effects of these drugs knowing there's a lot less pain and stress for her without the migraines. Each month she sees her doc and they review how it's going and what to do next. She's trying to get a summer job at the university so she can keep in contact with the doc, too.

Picture a snow ball coming at you! You're it.

 

We've got the storm, they said it would hit around about 4 o'clock this afternoon and right on the dot of 4 it started, can't believe that.. The winds are really wild and there's way more drifting than there is snow, I think. Our son had to take his daughter home, he has her on the week-ends, he said the roads were wicked, really not much point in bringing the plows out till the winds die down and I haven't seen one go by as yet. Scott said that when he was taking Jessica home they saw one heck of a flash in the sky and before they could believe it really WAS lightning they heard the thunder loud and clear. Of course I never heard a thing, but there's nothing wrong with my eyes as yet and I didn't see the flash. We saw on the weather channel though that they had reports of thunder and lightening in our area, lol- Doug turned to me and was about to say did you-- and then he said, no I guess you wouldn't.. I'll bet the wind chimes are ringing loud and clear, I miss hearing them.. Like Marian, I'm tired of listening to my heart beat and this steading droning... I have a set of industrial head phone or what-ever you call them to protect your ears from the factory noise and I've been wearing them most of the day today.. Jessica brought a friend with her for the week-end and with the television going and 4 other people talking it was just way too much. I hate to be hiding away all the time but I just can't take THAT right now..

I'm glad to see that some of us are starting to feel a little bit better, I've been up and down kind of like Joyce and Di, looking for maybe two good days in a row, that would be nice.. There's so much of this cold/flu stuff going around, was chatting to my sister on here today and both her and her husband are spending their time or most of it in bed, says they argue about whose turn it is to get up and let the dog out. She went to her Dr. on Friday and he said there's not much he can do, it's viral and it just has to run it's course. She couldn't understand why I was put on antibiotics and I said because pneumonia is bacterial I guess..
I sure hope you're feeling better soon Maggie, you've really had a heck of a time with it too, darn meds they give us to help with one thing causes two or three other things, sure makes you wonder sometimes doesn't it. Back in Dec. I think it was the Dr. put me on HYDROCHLOROTHIAZIDE, or NOVO-HYDRAZIDE as it's also known by,- one 25mg tablet a day and I just couldn't take them at all.. I was SO drained and felt SO rotten, was far worse on them than I was without them and I took them for a month before I said, no more of THAT. I'm supposed to see him again tomorrow and I'm hoping that we'll start the weaning off the EFFEXOR.. I've got my fingers crossed already that I can eliminate another drug.. Time will tell I guess.
Then my next big project will be to get rid of the 50 lbs. I've put on in the past three years. I know I'll feel a heck of a lot better if I can get rid of that.. One thing at a time though, first it was get rid of the clonazepam and I was successful at that, now to get rid of the Effexor, and then the weight.. Won't be long till we're just living on salads and it should be a lot easier then..

Baseball fever looks like it's about to hit here too, I have a niece that is an absolute baseball fanatic and I don't think there's anything about the sport that she doesn't know. She's in her 30's, an epileptic and on disability for it. She lives at home still with her parents, she will never be able to live by herself and her life literally revolves around baseball and the Toronto Blue Jays in particular. She can't get anyone to take her to the games, everybody is afraid of her seizuring on them so Doug has volunteered since he retired and now they get a six or eight game pack tickets and he'll be calling in for them tomorrow.. Costs them a bundle because they get the best seats they can and they'll be there opening day.. I don't go, I'd never be able to handle the noise in a stadium or the noise on the train going over.. Actually I don't really know one player from the other either, nope,- I don't pay attention.. Am usually on this computer or reading a book..
My brother and sister-in-law say when it comes to baseball I'm lucky I can't hear, lol

I hope all you movie fans are enjoying the Oscars tonight, I'm not watching the big show, having a real hard time concentrating on anything tonight really and it probably shows in this posting too. Maybe I just need to get outside and shovel some snow.. Let some cold fresh air into this brain of mine. No afternoon nap today either, guess that's what it is... I need to get out and go bird watching with jrw. Hmmmmm I've just realized that those are my brother's initials, and my late father's as well...

After reading Marian's post about the building going on and knocking all the trees down,-- Oooooh, getting me started on that subject would be a dangerous thing to do, progress my foot.... We watched Anderson Cooper's show all last week on the rainforest in Brazil and what it's all doing to the ecological system.. I'd like to see Al Gore's movie, An Inconvenient Truth, don't know if it's out on dvd yet. Our 17 yr. old grand-daughter saw it and she came home extremely upset about what could be happening..

Has anybody started to have thoughts about Easter yet?? Can't go into a Mall without seeing it, I go flower crazy about this time of the year and have a hard time dragging myself away from the flower shops. Had to go to the florist's the other day and send an arrangement to England via FTD and I would have just loved to walk out of there with every darn arrangement they had... Ah well, for now I'll just sit here and watch my three Amaryillis bulbs grow their inch a day.. One should be flowering any day now..

AND,- that's enough for me, time I was thinking about getting things ready for morning. I hope everybody hanging out here at Joyce's fence has a good week ahead of them.. You all take care and everybody that's feeling crooked as maggie says, please get well soon.
Nite, All--- Loretta

 

Well it's a snowy morning here!

Looks like jrw & Lorettas snow is here. We are to get a dusting to and inch in my area. Ya right, we already have 1.5 on the ground and it's still snowing heavy. The schools in this area are still on, so I told Steve to take my SUV today cause it has 4X4, just in case. Don't need him getting stuck and trying to get him self out with his back.

Di....this early driving training will pay off big time when it is finally time for Dylan to hit the road! It sure did for Steve. He wasn't nervous at all come drivers ed time and the teacher said he was his best student, because he was calm, and knew what he was doing. Steve too had mentioned a motorcycle, last yr he wanted one to save on gas. I said NO WAY!!! not on my clock you don't! LOL Hubby had them for years and right after Steve was born he sold his. I saw him get into to many non life threatning accidents, mostly from other drivers. Just to scarey for young unexperienced drivers.

Linda.....All the basball talk here in Boston is this new guy the sox got Dice-k, have no idea how to spell his name! He's from Japan? Needs a translator whenever he's interviewed. They treat this guy like he walks on water. And maybe he really is that good, but come on people. Maybe I'm just jealous cause we are more of a baseball town than Football! LOL

Joyce....I too could care less about the award shows. Sure I have my favorites some years, but I would never lose sleep over them that's for sure. Those shows are on at my bed time, so i would never see them anyways unless I taped them.

Yes Marian...Like jrw said, it doesn't matter that you mixed us up. I too love birds and feed them and look at them thru my binoculars daily, But jrw is the expert in that field, i'm just a casual birder! LOL

Speaking if birds jrw....any tips on putting up my bluebird house? I have read up on it and got several tips. THe guy at the bird store gave me some. I don't really think I have the yard for a bluebird house, but I will try anyway. I'm sure someone will make use of it! I will hang it facing south on a pole about 6 ft away from trees. I will hang another one several feet away hoping the sparrows will use that one. It's just a lot of planning!! I never knew!

Glad your daughter is doing better.

Loretta...no, haven't thought about easter yet. Not a big deal here. I go to the early sunrise service and that's about it. Mom has a dinner downstairs and we eat. Yes the stores are crazy with easter stuff here too. To much!!

Hello to all others. Wishing all a happy healthy week.

:-* :-* :-*

 

Loretta - go ahead and buy a loose bouquet of flowers for yourself. You can justify it with the reduced price, especially if you pick up one of those budget bouquets. Flowers just pick up our spirits when we are so tired of winter!

Jill - If you have a large field with grass no more than about 6-12 inches high you have the best chance of getting bluebirds. The nest box should also be more than 25' away from a line of trees. But that said, a nearby development has 2 successful nest boxes in 2 different yards but they are very close to 10 and 20 acre fields. The most common species to nest in a bluebird house besides bluebirds are tree swallows. Ideally if you have a string of bluebird houses you put them 300' apart because of their territory requirements. They can tolerate 150' apart if another species like the tree swallow takes the alternate house. If you're putting in a nearby house hoping to attract a sparrow, I'm thinking you have English sparrows. Those are actually a finch and are very aggressive to neighboring nests. They would kill any bluebirds nearby whether they took over the bluebird nest box or not. If you get a wren it's not too bad. But don't put your boxes closer than 75-100'. If you'd like to encourage bird life but don't have a huge yard, plant bird friendly bushes/trees. Your library has books on native plantings and probably your state dept. of natural resources does, too. In fact, check out your dnr web site.

A professor at the nearby college has put together the biggest bluebird nest box effort in the state with over 350 boxes. He's gotten data on hatching success, location, nest box design, and territory requirements. When our bird club put up nest boxes at the local arboretum we went to him for his advice. It saved us a lot of trial and error.

Well, the high winds are done but it's still snowing lightly. Got another inch since last night and we'll get a bit more today. Gotta get ready to go curling! Did you duck my last snowball? Here's another one . . . !

 

Just checking in here. I was real busy this weekend. We went to my mom and dad's on Sat., It was there 57th wedding ann. And we got them a cellphone. They travel alot and so we thaught that was a good idea for them to have one.
We all so took them out for lunch.
On sunday we went to the home and garden show. And we walked at least 100 miles I know it wasnt that much but it seemed like it was. I think I got all my walking in for the rest of the month., I all so got my daughters wedding anouncments mailed out so i am done with that until the wedding date on the 7th of April. I go next tuesday to my doctor to schedual my knee surgery so I am getting scared about that but it will be good to have it done I know it will give me more ablility to do things and help me walk better.
Well hope every one had a great weekend and hope you all have a wonderful day.
Hugs to all

 

Monday 26 February 2007

Never miss a chance to say "I love you". Saying "I love you" is one of the most basic and simple forms of giving.

I love you all!!

Well guess who got quickly bored with the Oscars?? Moi! I turned back to PBS and watched Oregon Field Guide and Idaho Outdoors and a really great documentary on the Andes of South America and the wildlife that thrives in areas where no humans live.

Those of you who love birds - I hope you look at my thread about burrowing owls and watch clip #2 - those baby owls know they are being watched - they look into the camera. The thread is Bird Lovers. There are several clips to watch. You will see all 12 babies in the first clip - there are 14 owls in all .
http://wdfw.wa.gov/wildwatch/owlcam/b_owl.html The link in case you miss it.

Granddaughter called and wants to visit. We will get her from school Wednesday and that will be fun having her for dinner.

Marian We got stuff like that happening here in the US too - in fact here in Idaho where we live. I hate to see farmland and wild areas get grabbed up for housing, building high rises and other stuff but not a whole lot we can do but stage a protest and hope others will too.

I would love a one level home right now but do alright on the stairs. Our stairs do not go straight up as you come into the house - the house has what they call a split entry - so you come in on ground level and have to go up or down. We are up and down the stairs all day. The stairs may be what keeps us mobile. Who knows?

There are some things that we have no control over so have to just accept. Usually a pulsing tinnitus is a bulging vein in the head or acoustic neuroma that can be fixed. Have they done a proper MRI?

I have found that just because a Dr. has an informative website, does not mean he is the smartest or the best Dr. there is. Many very good Dr.s don't have time for a website. My tinnitus is really loud too, but I am learning to live with it.

I wish there was something to say or do to help you, but I know there isn't. Just know we care and wish things were different, but we all live with crap we don't want. Hugs to you. Hugs to Ruud. I am glad you both are making some good plans to travel again. That should be nice for you both. We are waiting for the snow to quit falling on the passes that keep us home bound here in the high desert area we live in.

jrw Neat-o about getting back to curling and birding. I hope you watch one of the burrowing owl clips. Really glad to hear that your daughter is being well attended to too. Maybe they will hit the right combination for her. Nothing to make you feel so useless than having children who hurt and you can't do anything for.

Linda Well, I haven't read who won what yet, except Scorsese (sp) winning for something - the Departed - must be director. That was front page and hubby was reading the section it was all in. I just couldn't stick with it. Watching the pink flamingo es dance their mating ritual and eating brine shrimp was more fun. ;D Saw three different type of penguins and vicuna and other wild life. I love the sweet faces of the vicuna, alpaca and llama's who are all related. The zorros ( little foxes) were precious too. the penguins climb high mountains to lay eggs and then take turns watching the nest while mom or dad gets food or takes turns sitting on the nest.

Loretta I love reading your stuff too. Nope not given Easter much thought. Not sure what we will be doing yet. Our granddaughter will come here on Wednesday and I need a dinner plan for when she gets here. I think hubby would love to travel to Toronto again. He spent a lot of time there in his youth. That was where his great grandpa was a fireman I think it was - or a policeman. I can never remember. He loved visiting them when they were alive. Many of his family is from there. His father was born in Toronto and moved to US with his mother. His older brother was born in US so served in military with US but his father was exempt because he was Canadian born.

Jill One bad thing about Oscar night is all other stations go into reruns. I hope you found something to watch. There are so many options on TV these days and over 100 stations, one won't get too bored. I actually watched a special on the Plague. LOL

Dixie Don't make me worry about you. I hope you and hubby had a nice weekend. You were quiet and that worried me a little.

Oh good, you posted while I was still typing. Glad you had a good weekend and things are going well for you. I saw a cartoon this weekend. The Dr. is asking the patient - "How does this work into your schedule - one hour each day of exercise alive or 24 hours of rest dead?" guess you know I better get off my butt and go for it. (gulp) ??? :

Oh my gosh - a lot of typos - lets see if spell check works today.

Hey to Cee, Rae Nell, DC, Carol, Maggie, Sue, Sami, Stacey, and everyone else. Hope you are dry and warm and still have a roof over your heads. The weather this weekend gave me a shiver watching the weird stuff happening all over. Take care. Have a good week. Let's all try to get well. Or at least weller that we are. ???

 

Hmmm, well, watched the Oscars. I thought they did a good job of introducing new entertainment. As for the winners, I liked some but not others. What else is new . Still, I enjoyed it.

Now......come on baseball !!!

 

Sorry to worrie you Joyce. John has been trying to get the laptop hooked up to the internet. That way when I have my surgery I still be incontact with all of you. I tried to get on this morning and couldnt. I had to disconect the wireless thing and then reconect the internet thing back to the computer to have it work on this computer. Then when I am done here I have to reconect the wireless back so John dosent know I played with it. LOL
I am real sneeky about things like that.
Well hope every one is having a great day.
Talk to you all tomorrow.
Hugs

 

hey guys!
hope everyone is having a good day. i am almost through with my
antibiotics but i am afraid that dust storm we had on saturday may
have set me back, i got stuck out in it and my ears have been hurting
more. i have micah home today, we went to dr and he has a sinus infection
so it was back to the pharmacy for more meds, nasal spray, etc.
big huggs to all my friends,
much love,
rae nell

 

Just checking in here. They are saying we might get some snow here. I havent seen any here in Oregon City. They said that there was some snow in Salem where my mom and dad live.
If we do have some I dont think it will be much and wont stay around very long too warm.
I went to my TOPS meeting last night and weighed in I gained again. Just .75lbs but that is ok. I think I will just have to up my time on the treadmill a bit. I havent been eatting bad. I do have some bad things but not like I use to. Oh well I guess that is life and all the stress that is in my life. I know once things settle down it will get back to normal as normal can be. LOL
Hope every one here has a wonderful day and hug going out to every one here.

 

Tuesday 27 February 2007

Mental health, loving energy, and good habits are contagious. If there's something in your partner you'd like to change, take stock of yourself first.

We got more snow last night/early thins AM. The last little snow we have had in the valley for the past week, has put over a foot in the mountains for good skiing and what naturally follows as bad traffic and driving conditions. ??? ??? What snow we have probably won't be here long but it seems like the cold temps will be here for a while. I don't think going to WA state the first weekend in March will be a doable thing.

Hi to Linda, Dixie and Rae Nell Yesterday was a quiet day. Glad the Oscars are over with. Rae Nell hope Dylan isn't too sick for too long. Take care of yourself too. Dixie - you are probably building muscle (which weighs more than fat) so not to worry much about a little gain. Meanwhile, I am certain my own is nothing but fat.

Hope all you other folks are okay and that no news is good news.

Samicakes Luv - I got your sweet card yesterday. It made my day. You are so thoughtful. I hope you are doing well.

Sending out good vibrations to everyone and a bucket of hugs. :-* :-*