@MusicCandy @SadMe70 New place to communicate
@MusicCandy Hi! I decided it was easier to just start a new thread. I can't figure out the old one.
I am headed to my mom's tomorrow until Sunday night. Today is the fifth anniversary of dad's death. I couldn't get up there today, so it's the first time I won't be with her on the actual day. I won't be on here this weekend, so I'm writing this on Wednesday.
Yesterday I made my first trip to the mountains in a long time. I hiked to Mary's Rock. It was not crowded and was great weather. It was kind of funny hiking in a t-shirt with snow on the ground!
Today we are celebrating my DIL's birthday. The actual day is Saturday but I'll be at mom's. I am going to make the Korean dessert that I made for New Year's, since their dog ate all the leftovers and she didn't get to try much of it. Then I have some cleaning to do, and some errands to run, and then pick her up 45 min away because my son is here at work near our house. I'm going early enough to drop by my other son's house first to meet his new dog. He and his fiancee are adopting a 2 year old. I need to do laundry to prepare for my trip, and need to write detailed instructions for my pet sitters. I have an old note to work from, but I have a new lady coming one day and I need to make it extra-detailed for her. She is a pet sitting company, so it will cost me, but I need another person in my rotation of feeders. So it's a busy day today!
I am grateful for my spring break this week that allows me to do all these things. I spent the weekend doing very little because I knew the rest of the week would be very busy! I don't like getting home the evening before I have to go back to work, since I won't get laundry, shopping, or cooking done, but it couldn't be helped!
I hope the new thread works out, and that I tagged you correctly so you will see it!
I hope your week has gone well, and here's to five more years of messages to come!
Happy belated birthday!!!
Were you able to get together and do something special last weekend, or maybe this weekend? I love the picture frame gift idea. My son gave one to my mom that they can send pictures to from overseas, so she just has it on running all the time and she can glance down and see a beautiful picture at any time. I think you will get many happy moments looking at yours!
Another regular week for me. I kept up my fairly good eating and exercise, with the usual too much alcohol. Yesterday after work I had one of my beach days. It had been a few weeks, and it was nice to get back there. I only stay about an hour. I have a book that I am trying to read just on the beach, so I need to get there a few more Fridays and get it done before I forget what is going on, or it gets too cold!
We are in the same boat of doing things every night that are bad for sleep. I used to have the alcohol only on weekend nights, never school nights, and now I have some every night. It's frustrating that something relaxing and enjoyable in the moment, is doing harm later.
How did the vestry meeting go? I hope it was civil and bearable.
No other news from here. My life is pretty routine during the school year! I'm off to make chai.
I hope you had a lovely birthday and a wonderful week!
@SadMe70
The picture frame is getting loaded with the 1000 pics, Abi says. She and Mark brought crab legs on Sunday afternoon and we finally got to fixing them Thursday. Mark makes up his own special seasoning and labeled the bag with a heart- he is so sweet and sentimental. I got a couple other gifts from my sisters and Dave. We haven't had a chance to actually do anything yet, but life goes on.
The rest of the week was OK. The Vestry meeting was really great, for a change. They accepted all of my ideas which was a relief. We have some events coming up, but nothing I'm particylarly worried about. I'm not going to the Pastors funeral anyway since its a Saturday. They said we would have other opportunities to honor her, but no definite word on that plan.
I know, I know- nights are so hard. I did manage to leave off the wine one night, just remembering how bad it made me feel before. but the next nights I had it again, but not quite as much. Otherwise, exercise was good. The new person who wants to do some OT with Rachael has observed some, and I sent some videos- most of what handicaps her is the tremor. The OT gave her some special utensils to try for eating and wants to try weighted sleeves. worth a try anyway.
Besides that, pretty normal busy week. No one hurt my feelings and I hope that was true for you too.
Getting busy at work, but I wanted to drop a quick note anyway. Enjoy the cool mornings and evenings. Til next time ,my friend.
Hello my friend, I have not been feeling well this week. I think it is allergies, though I have been taking allergy pills. So my morning workouts were pretty lackluster, but I did 4 of the 5 days. I missed my walk on Tuesday because of the rain. Nutrition the same as usual. Today I stayed in bed late (9) as I usually do on Saturdays, but then spent another hour or so in bed just now. I couldn't sleep, but just rested. I only had one of my two cups of chai, so I'm going to go drink the second one after I write this, and then hopefully get some laundry and the grocery shopping done.
The crab legs sound very good! The homemade seasoning mix is such a special gift! I'm sure you are enjoying looking at the picture frame.
I'm glad the vestry meeting went well. I know that was a relief.
It's good that you were able to skip one night of wine - that's one more night than I have skipped in a long time, so I also understand being back to it the next night. Are the utensils and weighted sleeves helping Rachael? My sister-in-law has bad hand tremors and it affects how well she can eat. She doesn't even bother with stuff like soup anymore, and drinks everything with a straw.
I start my third different interim schedule at work on Monday. I'll be going to K-3. Except for my first year when I had to monitor a 4th and 5th grade computer lab for a semester (which was AWFUL), plus one time four years ago when I did a 3rd grade small group, I've only done K-2. I was worried about that 3rd grade group, but I ended up having good kids and I liked the curriculum they had me doing, so I have my fingers crossed that 3rd grade will be ok this time too.
I hope your week has gone well!
@SadMe70
Seeing a note from you . and I don't even have to smile and pretend to be nice in person1 Thats my weekly treat at work. I hope you don't have anything more serious than allergies, but you are certainly entitled to rest if you feel you need it. Then there are groceries and everything else, I know.
I know you are doing your best, or trying to anyway- that's me too. I didn't skip a night last week of wine. I wanted to, but it just didn't seem worth it. I did cut back some though and didn't spend the night with stomach upset and not sleeping. I always seem to have one night that I just can't turn the brain off, but it doesn't seem to be wine related. Meals are as usual, but my weight has stayed about the same. We also missed one day of walking with the rain, but we made it to the gym. The OT wants to observe some of the things she does or may be able to do at the gum and the manager OK'd it without her paying the guest fee for 4 visits. Have you gone back to your PT? I know toy do the yoga when you can and I'm sure that helps.
I don't have the pictures frame yet, but Abi got the long version of their wedding video which I get to see one day next week. They played it on a projector in the back yard with a fire going -the pic of that on FB looked romantic. Marks last scan was clear- so that is good.
Next weekend is the church Ministry Fair which I did last year, and no one signed up. But I'll do it one more time, setting up and getting the food ready, ect. Just going with the flow, but it is Sunday and I won't have much sleep beforehand. The only thing is I can do most of the set up before then and at my own pace.
I hope you feel better with the second chai and a good night's rest. Keep up the positive outlook with the 3rd graders. i know they will love you because that's just how you are. Till next time, my friend.
Hello my friend! I have still been feeling bad this week, but not any worse, and skipped my Tuesday walk again. I did a little bit of very easy walking-type videos in the mornings, so not much exercise this week. I did do my yoga class. Meals and alcohol still the same. On Thursday our PTA had an "apple bar" for us. Fresh apple slices with melted caramel, chocolate sauce, and various toppings like mini M&Ms. I only had a little bit of my lunchtime left so I bolted mine down, and half an hour later had an upset stomach - serves me right!
I supposedly start my fourth (and possibly final) schedule on Monday, though I haven't been given it yet. My first and second grade groups should be starting Tuesday, finally! Kindergarten started testing this week, so I have been running a classroom for about 2 hours a day while the teacher tests. The K teacher I have been with every year is amazing, and her class is always well behaved, and I really enjoy being in there, so that gave my mood a boost each morning. Once that testing is done, I'll start my K groups.
I have been going to the third grade class all week, and it turns out that the 3rd grade team decided that instead of doing small groups during that block, the kids will be on their Chromebooks doing the state-mandated number of minutes on a reading program and a math program. The teacher is still in the room, so basically there is nothing for me to do. It's a waste of time, and I hate that the state is requiring all this computer use. I'm pretty disappointed too, since I was psyching myself up that I would enjoy working with an older group!
My actual PT has been done since July, but I have tried to have an appointment once a month to get my jaw dry needled (with the option of doing my back instead if that flares up). I went to my September appointment, but they have no openings in Oct or Nov on the days that I can make it after school, so my next scheduled on is Dec :-( If they get a cancellation they will call me.
I am always glad to read your notes too! I like being able to be myself, and not pretend to be cheerful all the time. It's so nice to have a friend who is so much like me!!
How are things going for you? How was the wine consumption this week? Were you able to keep it to a lesser amount some days? Did you get any walks in this week, with all this rain? Was the OT person able to come observe Rachael at the gym?
Did you see the wedding video? It's so great that people can have such wonderful videos and pictures of their weddings these days! I have no video of mine, and one of my uncles took some pictures for us because we did not have a photographer.
I am SO glad to hear that Mark's last scan was clear! How often will he go back for scans? I hope that is the end of the cancer for good!
I know you will be busy with the Ministry Fair this week, especially if no one signed up since you last wrote. I hope you can get a bit of sleep tonight before you have to start setting up. Let me know how it goes!
Have a wonderful week, my friend!
I missed your message and I'll read it later today. I had Vertigo after work Friday night, checked myself into the ED, got some meds. Called out sat shifts and still managed to oversee the .mjnistry Fsir which was a dud just like I predicted.
Better now, still not 100 percent.
It's the ear crystals. I'll ck back soon
Thanks for being the friend I look forward to chatting with.
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Hey , Im back, and so much better now. It takes a few days to get back to not walking into walls after the ear crystal thing. Fortunately, the ED Dr. on last Sat is an Osteopath so he knew the Epleys Maneuver, and that helped, along with the IV zophran. I was thankful it was him, since most doctors don't know or are afraid of any type of head and neck manipulation, but it really does help and you have to have help doing it.
Like i said, the Ministry Fair was a lot of effort for nothing. The food was good and we sent it home with the few folks who came, and some to the shelter. I ordered platters from Publix and they were good and healthy. I swear to you right now, I'n NOT doing that next year, my last one on the Vestry. I told the junior Warden, I don't mind the work at all, setting up, making everything look festive, ect. if there are some good responses. But not for 5 people to sign up and they are already doing multiple jobs. I cleaned up everything in the kitchen for the huge gathering next Saturday for the funeral, but that's all. The lady who goes all out asked me to help, but I suggested she ask some of the folks who do nothing else. We just don't work the same way anyway and I cannot handle a bunch of people running around in circles trying to do way more than necessary, I'd go crazy.
Other than that, it was a pretty good week. The OT is supposed to meet us at the gym next week. I took 5 boxes of blankets, from the church donations, to N. C relief. I am sure I can get some more stuff from my attic, all kinds of groups have trucks going out all week. 80 nurses and medical helpers from our 3 hospitals went out too, to volunteer for the staff in the hospitals in Western N. C. If I didn't have daily care of Rachael, I would too, but I am helping the only way I can. Its my home state and its awful beyond imagination. I have to make myself stop watching the rescues on FB. Focusing on the positive.
We did most of our exercise , meals and wine, the same- too much wine even cutting back is still too much. They say now that anything over 4 drinks a week is bad for you, and i'm over that. Life is just too stressful and busy and that's my excuse.
I hope your classes get straight this week. I'm with you- why do the 3rd graders need that much screen time? My coworker helped their PTA install outdoor classrooms at her kid's school and they are outdoors a lot now. I saw a program that shows that just being outdoors helps kid's eysight!
Did you get your appointment yet? Its so hard to work or do anything when you really need health care. I think we all need more time off anyway, plus the issues that make us feel bad aren't being addressed. I'm blessed to be inIt is nice weather at least this week-end and I hope you got outsiede pretty good health overall, and the family is too for now. Have you talked to your son and seen the babies -- they must be growing like weeds, as children do.
A hope you are enjoying the nice weather and getting outside some with sunshine and fresh air. I'll check back with you later my friend.
Hello my friend, so sorry to hear about your experience! I'm glad the ED doctor knew what to do. I had heard of the Epley Maneuver and I'm glad it worked for you! Has that happened to you before?
I'm also sorry to hear that the Ministry Fair did not go well. Good for you letting them know you are not doing that again. Someone else can take that on. I know it's frustrating to put in so much work for very little result. At least some people at the shelter got some food.
I had a tough day on Friday - Grandparents Day at school. All they do is let them eat lunch with their grandchild. The cafeteria staff make a nice roast chicken and mashed potatoes meal, and they set up tables in the gym with decorations. I had to sit in the lobby through the six lunch periods, helping people get checked in and watching them meet up with the children. I was almost in tears at the thought of watching that, knowing I'll never get to do that with my grandchildren. I got through it, and won't have to face it again for another year. It was also the monthly staff birthday junk food fest, which I usually try to avoid, but after the grandparent event was over, I stuffed my face. Not the best coping method, but it was there and I used it. I was too wrung out to go over to the beach, but I sat outside (on my beach chair!) with dinner, a drink, and a book out by the animal pen, until dark. That was nice except for mosquitos, so I might do that next Friday too.
Yesterday was much better. We had a birthday lunch for my mom up in Columbia, MD. My son and DIL let me ride with them, and I'm so glad because traffic was awful. We thought it would take an hour and a half, and it took over 2 hours. Lunch itself was really nice, at a place my sister likes. My two sisters, brother-in-law, and aunt were there. The food was good, the cocktail my sister recommended was good, and we had fun. I was so wrapped up in thinking about going up there, that I completely forgot to write yesterday morning, and I'm sorry about that! I don't get on here during the week, so I had not yet seen your message from Tuesday. Next weekend I am driving to mom's to spend the long weekend with her. I am actually supposed to work Monday, but the kids are off so I took it off.
This Thursday is the beginning of my three months of on-call jury duty at the local circuit court. I have never done jury duty before, and honestly it makes me really nervous. I don't like new experiences, I hate talking or giving my opinion in front of a group of strangers, everything about it is way outside my comfort zone. Add to that the very picky letter about how you can dress, which lets out the sneakers I wear every day due to my very hard to fit foot size (6EE) plus bunions which require soft or mesh sided shoes, and I'm stressing just about what I can wear and not be in pain on top of the stress of dealing with people. Blech.
It's very kind of you to send things for the NC relief! Everyone is so shocked and sad, and I can imagine it's worse if you have a personal connection to the state.
I hope things go well with the initial OT visit, and he has some good ideas to help Rachael.
I am definitely struggling with having too much alcohol. I had four drinks just yesterday, though that is very unusual for one day. I had two at the lunch and two at home. I would just like to get myself back to drinking only on the weekends, but I have a drink every day. I know it's making my sleep even worse, but like you said, life is too stressful and it's my unwinding.
I love the idea of outdoor classrooms! My sisters and I were just talking yesterday about how our elementary school classrooms all had doors to the outside, so we could easily go out whenever we wanted. Some of the teachers keep half of the lights off all day, some have them all off, some have blue material over the lights which makes it really dim. I think all of that is bad for eyesight and shouldn't be allowed.
I have not gotten an appointment for dry needling. They called last week with two cancellations, but both were earlier than I leave work. I just try to use the massager as many days a week as I remember.
I know you might not get this until next weekend, and I'll try to send a message before I head to mom's next Saturday morning, but if I am not together enough, I will be back to normal the following weekend!
I hope you are enjoying the nice weather, and your ear crystals stay where they belong!
@SadMe70
Its somehow been another week! you may not see this until you get back from your mom's, and I hope you have a really nice relaxing and fun time. I had a busy week, gathering supplies for Hurricaine relief plus everything else. today was Pastor's funeral, a big crowd which I would have avoided at all costs anyway--but I did have to work. I watched it online. i thought I bet Elizabeth would want some of those people who came to her funeral to start back to church and "make St. Davids Great again!" they just show up and leave, I don't get it. Fiance went afterwords and helped clean up. and even though i knew it was very much overdone with decor and food, ( the organizer said she accidently ordered too much, but she always does that) Then its a big load of work to figure out where the leftover food can go, ect. I thanked him for helping anyway, and he is always helpful and cheerful.
Jury duty, I hope you don't get called. The one day I served was a nightmare. A personal injury case that should never have gone to court. I saw through the whole thing but no one else did. I just agreed to an amount, but it wasn't fair-- we all just wanted to get out of there. Crossed fingers.
It has been a rough night here at work with patients, too many at once, equipment problems, and so on. Really, I am just trying to hang in here a few more months. I am still having too much wine and snacks, but I try to eat high fiber ones anyway. Still, not good and we both want to do better. sigh.
I'll check back in with you when you get back in town. Grandparents Day had to be truly terrible. I wonder if any kid needed a sub-grandparent . I bet some of them didn't have one there. Life isn't fair and it sucks sometimes. Lean on me when you need to, and Ill do the same, my friend.
Hello my friend, I had a wonderful time with my mom! I got there Saturday afternoon and we took a walk at a nearby park with her new dog. She's had the dog a couple of months now, but it was my first time meeting her, and she is lovely! On Sunday we took another walk and went out to lunch, then had wine, cheese, and crackers for dinner which I love! Mom had made a lemon meringue pie for my sister the previous weekend, one of her specialities because my dad loved it. I commented that they should save me a piece, but instead she made me a whole pie, so I ate that all weekend too! On Monday we took one last walk.
The other main thing I did was help her try to get her new prescription coverage sorted out. Her insurance is through the retiree program with the state of MD, because my dad worked there. They are dropping all retirees from the Rx at the end of the year (grrrr), and have contracted with a medicare vendor. She had to sign up with them, then we talked for over an hour with a representative to get her all registered and pick from the 12 different plans, then another half hour with the account person to apply to the plan. She never could have done that herself, especially since she can't hear well, and who knows if the plan we've picked is any good.
I'm still having allergy problems so not feeling very energetic but I have done at least some amount of exercise in the morning, and also my yoga class. We had a lot of carryout this week - mainly Indian so somewhat healthy but by no means low-calorie. Last night my husband made his homemade pesto which is excellent, and we had that and bread for dinner! Plus I ate about half that pie myself, so I am up a few pounds!
How have you been feeling? Any further problems with your ears or balance?
I really don't have patience with people who overdo things either. I don't see the point. That is not what the focus should be. I'm glad you could view the funeral online but not have to be there and deal with anything in person. I am sure the pastor would have the same thoughts as you!
Well I am six days into my term and no call yet for jury duty. Many more days to go, so my fingers are crossed! I think I would also just go along with what anyone else says just to get it over with. I don't think this court hears serious criminal cases luckily. I think it is civil stuff.
I am sorry to hear about the overwhelming amount of patients, and having equipment malfunctions on top of that is terrible. I hope that things will not stay like that for you last few months, but I know that is a lot to hope for in an emergency room. Hang in there, and know that you can have more regular mealtimes etc. once you are retired! I know the wine is bad for us physically, but mentally it is such a big help. I actually drank very little last night and slept almost 5 hours straight - way more than usual in one go. I should learn from that, but I know I won't!
Time to get up and go make chai! I have fresh raw Jersey cow milk that I got at the store near my mom so it will be extra creamy today!
Have a good week, my friend!
@SadMe70
Hello, on a beautiful Fall day/evening now. I'm happy for you that you had a nice visit with your Mom and had some walks, and yeah, I'm with you on the pie. My mom used to make lemon meringue sometimes, but her special one was lemon chess. I don't do anything like that involved. I did have some crumbled up cookies that didn't make it for the church prison ministry this week-end... so I crumbled them up more, poured some instant chocolate pudding, tossed in a handful of marshmallows and it was good enough. I squeezed on some Cool whip and ate too much of that.
It seems to be a little harder now for me getting up weekdays for the morning walk with Rahael, just chilly enough to unmotivate me, We did get out though, 30 in the AM and 30 in the afternoon and then gym so it evened out most days. The wine is just the same, and I have too many other things to try to handle right now. The vertigo hasn't come back,,yet. There's no rhyme or reason. Still good to have a week that I felt pretty good overall. I hope your allergies clear up soon. Does it go away at all after the Fall?
Your mom is blessed to have you to help navigate through a health plan. They don't make it easy and healthcare in general in this country is just a mixed-up mess. Fiance needs an endoscopy and it is with the same Dr. group that he had a normal colonoscopy last year. However, they told him he would ned to have a "virtual" office visit to even get the ball rolling. He isn't good at that on the phone, so he volunteered to pick up the paperwork, fill it in and take it back to the office. Then we get a bill- for the office visit. 350 charge, and his part is still 145. Ridiculous- he never saw a provider, no blood work or anything else but them putting data in. and he still doesn't have an appt for the procedure.
I'll keep fingers crossed for the jury. Circuit court is like you said - minor- traffic injuries and the like. I just felt so bad when I was in it, because the others were soft hearted toward the lady who was hit, and even though her record showed she had pain problems before the accident, they found the young man who bumped her car guilty and awarded thousands of dollars. most of that went to the lawyers. I hope you are spared.
I was glad to get boxes out of my attic of blankets, towels , first aid and other stuff just sitting there - to the trucks going to Ashville. I saw that the little village of Swanannoa was wiped out. There are 300 people still in tents. a local pastor is trying to put together tiny houses from storage boxes to get them out of the weather , just temporary. I wish the big money bags people would pull out a few million, no loss to them- to get folks back on their feet. It's so unfair. A few like dolly Parton have set an example and God Bless them. Bless you and yours too, and enjoy your extra creamy chai.
Hello my friend, I'm so sorry to have missed last week. I'm not going to do much better this week. I got a covid booster after work yesterday, and I feel absolutely awful. I should feel better tomorrow, based on past experience, and will write more then, or at worst, I will get myself together by next weekend. I hope you are well, and I miss writing and hearing from you!
Well, you just cant get a break it seems!