Thursday PWYC

[Twins' Mom]

I've replied to my dcousin's email about our ancestors. He's asked an elderly county historian/genealogist to take a look at a possible relationship between two families. There is indirect evidence that they could be related. So I did a summary of what I know.... Would be nice to find something but I'm not holding my breath. I told him that I know a good Certified Genealogist but she's currently down a rabbit hole with another family.

This is a weird day. I spilled a canister of dog food earlier - close to empty but still a mess. Then when draining yogurt, the entire container of yogurt plopped into the sink in one blob. And I just found a bird on the screened porch - I've been leaving an outside door open for ddog. I got her out tho.

On my way to workout. I feel very clumsy and sore. And I think I need Kathryn's ADD meds today.

[Ramblinrose]

Been having a busy day...

Did all my morning chores, plus colored my hair, showered and then styled it. In between I've done 3 loads of laundry, strip and remade my bed. Helped Sweetie with a few things and reorganized part of my closet.

My community is having a annual gathering to address the state of our lakes. I think we have 20 lakes here, but not sure. Anyway I am interested because some of our lakes have algae in them and I have seen a blue/green on ours in the mornings. Algae blooms are a big problem for our water ways here in this area of Fl and we need to keep our lakes healthy. The meeting is at 5 tonight which means I need to have supper around 4 so We can eat and I can go.

My friend who is the best friend of my friend that was murdered set up a Go Fund Me for her kids and family. My friend had placed a goal of 5k, and as of this morning the total had reached 28K. Just shows you how much my friend was loved by her friends and community.

I stayed up late into the night reading a book called The In Between. It is an amazing story written by a Hospice nurse who recounts the most impactful experiences she’s had with the people she’s worked with as they move towards the end of their lives.

With my mom dying not long ago, I was interested in what the author would say. I have been following her on FB and really loved the messages she sends out about people and their experiences at they transition to their next life. She tells the story of her encounter with her first client as she was shadowing her employee nurse. Said that when they entered the woman's room the woman was laughing and carrying on a lively conversation with her sister. However there was no one else in the room. Stunned and puzzled by what she saw, the author remained silent until she and the other nurse left the woman's home. At that point the unexperienced author asked the other nurse if the woman was taking some kind of medicine that was causing her to hallucinate. To which the older nurse replied...No, the woman was getting ready to transition and was "in between" to enter her next life

The author addresses many of these unexplained experiences through out her book. I found it very interesting because much of what she described happened to my mom.

A week or two before my mom dies, she kept calling out for her Daddy...she never called him Father. The day before she died, she called her caretaker into her room and said...My Daddy's here can you see him. I'm so happy because he's here to take me away. She continued to talk to her dad as Alma listened. the next day, my mom perked up, was wide eyed and kept smiling. She ate a huge breakfast, lunch and dinner. When my brother came to visit her in the early evening, my mom told my brother about her daddy's visit and how happy she was because of it. She had told my brother some tall tales in the prior week, but my brother later told me this conversation with her was much different.

As my brother was getting ready to leave he bent down and as always kissed my mom on the cheek. Then he said...we love you. And as he started to walk away she whispered back ...I love you and good bye.

As soon as my brother left Alma, her caretaker, told my mom she was going to take a shower, and my mom told her the same thing..I love you and good bye. And after Alma came back she found my mom had died and had a huge smile on her face.

The author of the book tells of many experiences like that and Alma who has been a caretaker for over 18 years said she had seen this happen to many of her patients as well.

I found great comfort knowing how my mom had died and I never have shed a single tear over her death. Thats because I knew she had had a near death experience when she was young and would talk to me about how she had no fear of death, and couldn't wait to go back to where ever she had been. I also found great comport believing that her father really had been waiting for her to take her on her new journey.

If you are interested, you can read more about the author and her book on A mazon. Its called The in-Between

[Nancy]

I have had a what fly lady called God - breeze . I will share in members only thread bc of the personal info in it.
I picked up more sticks from pruning adventures in back last time.
Did more pruning low shrubs, glad for small progress as it does seem to add up yea!

It is hazy out, next week we have near record low temps.

[Lady Maverick]

I had a great start to my day and feel good about my morning activities. I am still focusing on doing whatever I want. Yesterday I bought a prepared pan of chicken alfredo and a prepared pan of Cheese manicotti. I put both of those pans of food in the oven this morning to cook so the fella will have plenty of food to eat. I am choosing not to eat those prepared dishes and instead I am eating the foods that make my body feel good.

I took my last antibody meds this morning so now I will make sure to get an assortment of natural probiotics and fermented foods to restore gut health.

I'm trying not to be discouraged and focus on the slim but possible chance we won't get severe storm damage later today. Our local news and media is full of warning with a bulls eye target over my location and say "severe storms associated with giant hail (larger than 3-4 inches in diameter), intense wind damage (greater than 80 mph) and a few tornadoes are expected from midafternoon into tonight across western and southern Oklahoma" yada yada yada....they have been wrong before so hopefully they are wrong this time too.

I am wearing over the ear noise cancellation headphones today. They block all sounds and make it where it is so quiet that I hear my breath. I find this extreme quietness mentally calming and restores my energy level.

[lucylee]

ADD -- --I told y'all about the distractions I had while doing a "quick" 15-20 minute vacuuming...
Listen to what I did yesterday:
Dmom called, needed me to pick up some rx's at the drug store.
I go start s2s... knowing I have a lot to do while I'm out... shouldn't be wasting time...
Next thing I know, I'm googling "Who did Christy Huddleston marry in the novel?" (Christy, by Catherine Marshall. Which if you have not read it, you definitely should. The book kinda makes it clear, but not totally 100% comes out and says it.)
Sigh.

I finally did get out to dmom's... delivered the medicines, wrote a check, delivered the check to the gas company, dropped off a deposit at her bank, mailed two payments at the post office. Listened to her talk about aging and how she is going to seriously consider assisted living.
I know I should not get overly concerned bout this, because dmom talks a LOT and does a LITTLE. But she IS very concerned about herself, having more trouble getting groceries, driving, having no energy, etc. She had been to the gynecologist and had trouble in the parking deck and managing the walk to the office (which is in the hospital complex) and she said I would have to take her over there in the future. She can no longer drive in Next Town. (She has many episodes like you mentioned, Twins, and feels very clumsy. Said she dumped a container of fruit on the floor earlier this week, right after cleaning lady had been there and mopped the kitchen.)
She was really thinking about moving out here to my grandmother's house, and then she said yesterday:
"Yes, it would be more convenient to YOU, Lucy, but it would also be more convenient for OTHER PEOPLE who might just drop in unexpectedly... and sometimes, I just don't want to be social. Sometimes I don't get my breakfast dishes washed for days, and I just don't want to see anyone."
I said, "Well, it would certainly be 'social' at an assisted living center..."
And she said, "But I wouldn't have to worry about anything. Someone else would do the dishes and make my bed and if I didn't want to see anyone, I could just close my door."

I hate to hear her talk like this, and the logistics of shutting up her house and actually getting her moved to a facility like that is beyond overwhelming to me right now. I just pray she can manage herself in her own home for the rest of her life. She is 78, and she was really managing very well, but it seems losing her pastor's wife has really hit her hard. Pastor's wife was 8 years younger than dmom, and dmom has remarked, "I just can't understand why God takes someone like her, and I'm still here."

Today, dh and I have been to get haircuts.
I still need to vacuum the carpet & rugs. Never got to that yesterday.

Concerning church... (((Harriet)))... yes... As you all know, the SBC was my old church also. Now I am hoping and praying that the UMC will just STAY a bit more traditional. Shaking my head. Our church is going to be in a big mess, I'm afraid. SOOO many have already left and joined a Global Methodist organization, or simply become independent churches, and I'm afraid if our congregation waits to see what the worldwide body does at its next meeting (in 2024!) it will suddenly be too late to exit gracefully. I'm not sure our congregation would vote to leave anyway. I'm pretty confident over half our members would want to, but it requires a 67% majority.

Kathryn, I am so sorry the air quality is still such a problem!

I'm just waving to everyone and following blessed's advice. I don't know exactly why my body needs rest (except dh had a very restless night and I know I was awake about an hour after he asked if I could get him a Tramadol. He also got up to use the bathroom, accidentally kicked a water bottle under the bed, turned on the light to try to find it, and ended up needing my help to get it. )

(((blessed))) and (((Twins))) for the lingering aches and pains.

Rose, those are such beautiful stories. Thank you for sharing.

(((LadyM))) saying a prayer for NO SERIOUS STORMS & NO DAMAGE for your area today!

[Kathryn-in-Canada]

I watered the balcony plants and being outside that long triggered headache and tight chest.

Put on mask (obviously too late!) and went down to the office to check on a/c status. It is on down there so it was just a matter of the chilled water making it up to my floor. That had happened on one side by the time I was back upstairs (and I had checked that radiator just 10 minutes before going downstairs.)

A friend is dropping by to measure the air quality in here tomorrow.

I'm going to do some stretching and then get back to work.

I was going to write "no idea what we'll eat tonight" but with the a/c back on we can generate heat so I could have us heat up the tourtiere meatlof and make french fries to go with it. Although, if I do, I'll shut the kitchen doors and run the air filter while the fryer is on so the smell doesn't get all over the apartment like the fried onions did last night. We had windows open last night except in the bedroom due to the construction jackhammer, so the smell was gone by morning.

[Harmony]

We are a house of mishaps here. But I see we are in great company with all the stuff y'all have been through. Harriet, I'm so unhappy for you that the soda explosion happened on such a traumatic day and was so bad getting all the way to the ceiling. At least mine was just a puncture spot and was spraying out slowly and hitting the bottom of the cabinet door and going all over the floor.

But...talk about mishaps...we had a biggie today. DH was pulling the big work truck over next to the wall-to-be-painted. There is a gutter there, an outside light hanging on that wall, and concrete curbing at the bottom. DH was trying to get as close as possible (yep, watch the overhang soffet too) so that as I worked from the top of the truck I would be able to reach the wall easily. He was a foot away. Ok, I'll get a little closer. I'm directing. He gets another few inches closer. I'm still watching. You have this much room (I show him with my hands) so he tries one more time and turns the wheel and attempts to back up... it goes up a slight grade and he had to step on the gas a bit to make it move... and as I yell STOP! STOP! he smashes into the big long downspout gutter which starts at the top and goes all the way down to the ground. All sorts of upsets from him. Why didn't you stop? These legs, this foot doesn't work...he couldn't manage to make his feet do what he wanted - who knows but another mishap.

I am beginning to wonder how safe he is out there driving. He keeps one foot on the gas and another on the brake. I don't know what he was doing today.

Our heat index today is 100-110. I carried stuff up and went up on the truck, Discovered I could sit on the edge of the truck with my feet hanging over and reach the wall and I did about 1/3 of the way down (it's a very tall wall) and painted it all the way across a section at a time. When I finally got to the downspout I had a tool to unscrew that and let it fall away. DH went out while I was finishing the painting and got another big section of gutter which I'll attempt to put back up. Better to do it while the truck is there. Whole time I'm sitting where the overhang creates a bit of shade so the top of the truck wasn't sizzling hot...but the rest of the roof was and getting to the other side to the ladder was fry-pan hot. I was so glad to get down. We quit for the day.

The new paint goes on a bit more yellow than the original (I was worried about that) but it dries closer to the color originally. When I get this all done I plan to repaint the 2 big planters at the end of the driveway, they never did match close enough and look wonky. House is going to look great!

[Twins' Mom]

I figured out that we can have a caprese salad (cherry tomatoes, mozzarella cheese, basil, olive oil, balsamic vinegar) tonight with grilled chicken and I didn't have to stop at grocery. I hate going to the grocery store for one thing!

I had a good workout. Explained about the fall last week and feeling so cr@ppy after all the travel and trainer took me through easy stuff. A little cardio - not hard - stretching, some strength and balance. Did some passive stretching where she assisted.

We have a severe t-storm warning right now.

That's scary, Harmony. Both you up on the truck painting and your Dh with the truck. As I see it, if he can't help with home maintenance I don't see you doing everything you do and this kind of work. Can you talk him into downsizing while everything is in good shape?

[CathyS]

Shepherd's pie is in the oven.

I laid down to read, but I set my alarm for 4, just in case. Someone "Possible Fraud" called just before 4, and my phone rang once and that was enough to wake me even though I hadn't slept for long. I got out of bed when the alarm sounded.

I've been watching the live lightning map. My goodness, Georgia and Alabama have taken a beating for the past couple of days. We have very light rain here right now. All 3 cats are inside.

[Harmony]

Twins, DH would have gone up if I didn't make him stay off that ladder. He did go partway up to see the wall better how it looked. But yes, we'll need to downsize at some point. In order to do that he needs to get rid of all the work stuff and 2 trucks. There will be no shop again and nowhere to put any of this. I've even told him maybe if we got everything cleaned out so that if we had to go someplace else it would be easy to go, we could stay as long as we can keep up here, even if we have to hire out any maintenance we need. We keep talking about it. He's got a long while ahead of him as he gets his knee fixed before we can tackle much of this... so it's the long term goal I guess. Then the other problem is where do we go? We haven't figured that out yet and we're not really on the same page about all that.

Someday soon I hope we'll figure it all out.

All that rain they're getting up there is coming into the northern section of Florida but missing us here. We need some too!

I've been just taking it easy. Whatever is in the refrigerator is dinner. Maybe some soup. Heat takes our appetite away.