Thrilling Thursday

[helia]

I'm finally home and finally eating lunch. A friend chatted with me for a while afterward about her struggles with fertility. I think she is in a good place, but it is still a difficult situation for her. She has a cute 2.5yo boy.

Now that I am finally home, I need to leave in about 2 hours to pick up dd14.

harriet, I have a friend who employed a company that does sort of what your dd14 was thinking - they organize and declutter (with the authority of dfriend) and they clean the house too. It was quite a process with the organizing, etc. Dfriend told me they were going through boxes in the basement for her. They came weekly, and I'm not sure how many weeks it took to get through everything. . . . .I should ask dfriend. They may have done some decorating too, now that I think of it -- or else dfriend hired another company to help with that.

I'm going to finish lunch and then see what I want to do. I might try a foray into my book while I finish lunch; last time, I got sucked in for 3 hours. Funny, John Steinbeck isn't exactly cheery and bright reading, but I get sucked into the drama of the characters so easily. And he writes so well that the story seems to just flow effortlessly off the page. . . .

[Ivy]

Helia, John Steinbeck is DH's favorite author. I bought him 2 books by him, he's never read them, so I guess it'll be up to me in the New Year, to read them.

Sadie, I woke up tired, too! I had 2 days in a row with appt.'s in them, so I think they helped wear me out.

Twins, Glad you're reading and relaxing some. Good luck on your Dec. 10 appt. and on testing for sleep disorders, if and when you do them. I know when sleep's messed up, it can really mess up activities, chores, etc.. for the daytime hours, too.

Blessed, That's great you dejunked in the kitchen again!

Kathryn, You're an inspiration to us all. You're doing a good job! It's great your lights are up.

Nancy, How fortunate of you to have sunshine there!

So far:
Coffee x
Devotion x
Novena x
Prayers x
Journal x
Calendar reminders made x
Read obits/death notices x

My PODA:
- to finish the 18-mo grson's afghan
- shampoo
- laundry
- to follow my control journal card folder and read my lists!

Everybody, Have a great day! Waving to ALL!

[OKay]

Happy Anniversary to HRH & Harriet!!!

Yearly eye appt well perfect. All the numbers were almost same as last year. I'm thankful!

I drove as careful as possible about 1/2 mile with eyes dilated and then spent a couple hours walking around WM/Sams while waiting for vision to clear. I typically enter both of these stores with a list and a mission to get my stuff and get out ASAP. Today was strange because I casually walked up/down the aisles and looked at everything that caught my eye. It wasted the time while my eyes recuperated and was a good reminder that don't like shopping and prefer my way of shopping.

While I was in town, DH stayed nearby in case the LO school called. As soon as I got home, DH went to town to get his 3 weekly & biweekly shots.

[Harriet]

My ddad is having a bad day and HRH is still at home with me because of that. He will probably leave to try to get a few things done after dd gets home from school, but his intentions for the day had to be postponed or switched. He has a meeting in the morning he simply can't miss, so I guess it is better to have a hard day today. Days like this one make us question how long we can remain caregivers here in the home.

scattered, the image of your morning exit from the house reminds me of the old Leave it to Beaver beginning of the program, with June at the door with everything for the boys as they run down the stairs, except in reverse!

OKay, your mention of eyes also makes me think of something I meant to say to Ivy. Best things to do for general protection of eyes are drink plenty of water, sunglasses while driving/riding in a car, and consistent good nights of sleep. My hormone dr (of all people) says he thinks the eyeglasses may be more important than good supplements/nutrition, which he also says should get attention.

helia, your dh's thoughts on dd14's aptitude and how it might still apply to engineering sound very much like me as I try to encourage dd here. I, too, have reminded dd that she might design beautifully shaped small appliances! Her leanings are toward art, sketching, imagining, which do indeed apply to engineering, but I will have to admit her class this year has not been as much about those aspects as she would hope. She finds herself bogged down in practicality, I think, lol, like electrical concepts, or drainage, etc. One thing they try to express is how broad the engineering field is, with so many applications, and that is quite true. She tends to dread some of the projects/lectures but do a beautiful job on the drawings for her engineering notebook! I hope your dd can enjoy classes with the new sewing/designing teacher. That sounds inspiring.

((Twins Mom)) Yes, sounds like a time to regroup and "make another run at it later".

That does sound like an interesting topic, Lynlee.

Yes, I thought of you yesterday, Emptynester! Acedemic determination - that's you for sure! "Using" the degree may never happen for HRH either, now that his experience is all others want to know. I don't know that he's ever been able to bring up the subject. I think it might be like, "Oh, by the way I have a degree." And "Yea, yea, yea, can you bring the plant back to inspection standards or not? Pay no attention to that line of ants - that's not important, is it?" LOL

[Kathryn-in-Canada]

((Sadie)) Sorry about your cat's prognosis.

I'm done lunch, started dinner in the crock pot (will have to run it on high in order for the ribs to get done, but at least it is started), added some events to my calendar, sent a rsvp and talked to my senior friend. I'm taking her to the doctor tomorrow. She has three more appointments, including a surgery, between now and Christmas but has family to take her to those appointments. She also booked me for a day of Christmas shopping on the 28th and I'm taking her to see my minister friend on the 25th.

Down for my rest now. When I get up, I'll work on the weekly kitchen chores.

Dh has Hysteria for us to watch tonight.

[Sadie]

Feisty the Dcat is no longer with us. She was suffering from renal failure. She lived for 20+ with a houseful of boys who grew into men. She died at home with the people she loved circling her in tender affection. Don't think a cat could ask for much more than that.

Told DH I don't want a kitten right now, have two other cats, a large white one named Snowball that the boys rescued a few years ago and Patches, a tri-colored cat that my dmom loved.

[helia]

Missed MT's accomplishment! WTG to you too, for sure! I do admire that. Dfriend who was just here, my ex-Hebrew tutor now a prof, told me a long time ago about a man in his dept. here working toward his PhD in his 70s. Everyone thought that was so cool. I'm curious what he ended up doing with a fresh PhD in his 70s? Academic determination. .. . great term, Harriet.

harriet, this is not the first time this has occurred to me, but our 2 dd14s sound very similar. Dd14 also loves to draw and is quite good, I really don't know how good or not at this point -- but she is also currently greatly overshadowed by her older sister. Dd17 is not only excellent artistically, but she also likes to "draw" (I used that word unintentionally but saw the humor later ) attention to her drawings and loves getting kudos for them, while dd14 shies away from attention in general. Maybe a reaction to her sister? Maybe the way she is? I guess that doesn't matter. But this does mean that dh and I go out of our way on our dinner dates with dd14 to encourage her in the areas where we see she is gifted. I guess dh has tried to go over the breadth and variety of engineering fields with her but nothing has excited her, apparently. Or maybe, b/c dh has been pushing this, it could be that she is just deciding to dig in her heels and not do it -- but she really isn't that kind of a person. I think dh thinks design could be a good fit for her too. Here, the school of Art and Design is right next to the School of Engineering - intentionally, I've been told, separate from the main campus. (The music school is also on N. Campus with the engineering school and school of A and D -- but I'm not sure that is a conceptual pairing. . . ) Of course, our dd14s are still quite young and have time to figure out where their passions lie. . . .

OK, enough chatting. I had a little nap and now feel appropriately cr-uddy. I'm going to change the sheets on the MBR bed and check online bills.

[Ivy]

OKay, Congratulations on your eye appt. news!

Some things my ophthalmologist has me do for better eye health are:
(Based on studies, too, is where this info comes from)
1- Preservision Eye Vitamins with Lutein in them OR Icaps Eye Vitamins
2- Take fish oil capsules daily
3- Eat fish 2 - 3 times weekly
4- Eat 3 servings of fruit (who thought?!) a day
5- Eat dark green and dark green leafy veggies, like spinach, chard, peas, broccoli, etc....
6- Lose weight if you're overweight because the heavier you are, the harder it is for the blood to circulate through the eyes
7- Don't smoke.
8- Wear wrap around eye-glasses outdoors or in the car, over your regular eye-glasses or if you don't wear glasses, just use sunglasses

Honestly, I cannot think of anything more on the list of recommendations. But these things work for me. In 2005, I was diagnosed with dry form macular degeneration and now it's 2012 and I'm still dry! Yeah! I would think exercise is important because of circulation to the eyes, too, but that's just an idea I had.

((Twins' Mom)) Yes, regrouping helps keep us from crashing and burning or having a meltdown. We all need to take care of ourselves. And you're such a busy lady with so many responsibilities, too. I really admire the things that you do in the course of a day, day in and day out.

Helia and Harriet, It's so interesting to hear about the futures of dd14 and dd. Their journeys can take them in so many interesting directions.

Harriet, Sorry ddad is having a bad day. I hope he'll get better soon. Being a caregiver in your own home, is challenging! Maybe an on-line search about caregiving stress would help? It might have some tips.

Kathryn, Sorry your senior friends needs surgery between now and Christmas. Its timing sounds like it's at a bad time, but any surgery time is a bad time because it's surgery. I hope you understand how I was "trying" to explain that. Nobody wants surgery, at any time, because of the pain and inconvenience, but during the holidays, it seems that it adds extra stress to the holidays, because of the surgery being at that time. Boy. I don't know if anybody can figure out what I'm trying to express or not.

Sadie, I'm so sorry about Feisty the Dcat no longer being with you! Losing a Dpet is so very hard. We used to bury out dpets in our yard. I think it's a good memorial idea to plant a tree or bush in their honor where they're burried, too. I'm glad you have 2 other cats. Do your other cats miss your Dcat yet? I think pets mourn or feel a loss, too.

Helia, That's amazing how a man in his 70's was working toward his PhD! Must have been in good shape physically and mentally, too.

Scattered, Your description of getting out of the house yesterday was precious! It's how life is some days!

Ta Da:
- shampooed x
- shaved (down) x like DH says you're "supposed" to do! On TV, men shave UP!
- fed Bert a load of towels x
- wrote in my journal x
- checked my index card control journal folder x
- checked my list x
- did some standing pelvic tilts and stretches
- hung up fresh towels

Everybody have a great later afternoon!

[Kathryn-in-Canada]

I'm starting to wake up from my nap. Since starting to listen to NPR.org while napping, I sleep much more deeply. Not sure if this is coincidence or not.

I'm not pleased about the Dec. 20 surgery for my friend. This is the followup to her breast biopsy which was in the first half of September. In theory, it isn't malignant but they aren't sure so decide they want to remove whatever this is. Another example of how slow our system can be. Her other appointments are about kidney stones and she still doesn't have a treatment plan for those.

My music friend who suffers from extreme kidney stone formation is in extreme pain these days and isn't able to even get pain killers. But I'm less sympathetic with her since she isn't proactive in her health - she won't change diet, she won't look into alternate forms of pain management. If it isn't a medical test (she's had 17 CT scans in 5 years and now they refuse to do more), a pill or surgery, she won't look into it.

The stones my senior friend has are larger than my music friends and yet she doesn't comment about pain at all. She is in pain, but she's focusing on everything else, but the pain - that's why she's arranging outings with me, has her Christmas all planned and is busy trying to keep distracted as a form of pain management. She refuses to take any medicine unless absolutely demanded by her doctors.

[Elizabeth]

Good afternoon everyone! Last night I got more yarn for the yarn bombing, a loud fuschia color that will show up nicely! Then, I attended the board meeting for the animal org. I also had a nice shower in my wonderful newly unclogged bathtub. The maids put on new sheets, so I have much laundry soon: sheets, towels, and clothing.

For lunch, I went to DD10's school and ate with her. I timed it wrong and got there during recess so we used the swings first. DD wants me to eat Thanksgiving dinner with her and XDH, she doesn't want me to be alone. I doubt she has discussed this with XDH. I already have a turkey breast for myself. (I am planning on having a lot of lunches with it!) I was invited to go with some friends to Florida for Thanksgiving, but that is not a wise use of my money. Maybe I will eat well then sew a lot. My church used to have Thanksgiving dinner but they stopped. I guess it is time for me to learn to cook a turkey!!!