Busy, busy....

Sharon and Sam arrived in North Carolina on Sunday. I spruced up the place for their visit :) We have been on the go, getting ready for Thanksgiving, which we are celebrating Wednesday at Jay and Sara's, as it is the only time we can all get together. That has meant plenty of menu planning, list making, shopping and baking, all of which I love but they also exhaust me quickly. So that is why I have not been saying much, but rest assured I am having a "fantabulous" time! Sharon cut off her gorgeous mane of hip-length hair and donated it all to Locks of Love, in honor of a friend who is battling breast cancer. She looks great with her new short do!

Simply Saturday

Saturday was a day of preparation. I got off to a slow start, probably because I had not drank enough fluids on Friday for all of this medication that I'm on. As the day progressed, I felt better and better, so I ended up getting done nearly everything on my list--and without exhausting myself. I'm so excited about Sharon and Sam coming here! I got out the spackle and repaired all of the minor wheelchair dings to my walls, I sorted through magazines and catalogs, throwing out a bunch that I don't need, I got my Visiting Teaching all done (hooray!), and I completed this week's lesson of an online Photoshop class on time. I had also planned on making banana bread for Thanksgiving, that didn't get done, but I am all set to make it tomorrow morning. Today I am taking it easy, so I can go to Church with Amanda and Brandon, and be all rested up for Sharon and Sam's arrival tomorrow! Woo hoo!

Happy Fall, Everyone!

Last night I got the first good night's sleep in quite a while. My neighbors were quiet, so my dog was quiet. It was cool and clear, a great night for sleeping. The storms were past, I have a new grandbaby and my daughter is doing well, my Christmas stressing has abated with the completion of some of my holiday shopping (I do as much online as possible). And, my increased medicine dosage is starting to work! Hooray!

So, I was wide-eyed and bushy-tailed at 5:30 a.m. this morning, rarin' to go. It is now only 7:15 a.m., but I've already walked and fed the dog, eaten breakfast, read my email, and dusted my house. I'm now preparing to make my list of what I want to get done today, and sort it into active/less active so that I can pace myself.


The last of the leaves are clinging to the trees. The storms pulled off even the oak leaves, which usually cling to the trees into December and January. Although we got about an inch of rain yesterday, the brisk fall winds have already dried many of the fallen leaves, and they were blowing all around us as I rolled along and Snickers frisked beside me.

Its fun to roll over crisp leaves. They make a wonderful crackling sound and release a delicious scent that screams "Fall!" to me. And that's just what I want to do...run giggling and fall into a huge leaf pile, then bury myself or someone else so that nothing can be seen but leaves, in all their myriad shapes and hues. I just love autumn! It makes me feel as if I am 6 years old :) I hope you too will have a great day today!

I have a new Grandbaby!

Elijah Alexander Woolley was born at 8:10 a.m. PST this morning! He weighs 8 pounds, 3 ounces, is 20 inches long, and has lots of hair. Beth is still recovering from the C-section. Baby Elijah has had a "snack" and was sleeping on Andy's chest when he called me with the news. Congratulations, Beth and Andy!

Tornado Watch today

A large series of storm fronts is moving through North Carolina. It started last night, so between the storms and my new rowdy neighbors, Snickers and I did not get much sleep last night. Gaston County, where I used to live, was very hard hit and much of the county is without power. The tornado tragedy in Columbus County was southeast of here, and the storm front does seem to be weakening as it moves through my area, but we are on a tornado watch until 3 pm this afternoon. I have my television on, and while I am alert, I am not worried.

I am glad that I am here in Raleigh (Wake County), near two of my kiddos! I have talked to both of them this morning, and all is well with them also.

I know, I know....

Its not even Thanksgiving yet, but I'm already trying to gear up for Christmas. I really like to have most of my gifts made/purchased by Thanksgiving, so I can relax and really enjoy the holidays, but this year I haven't even started. Obviously, making gifts this year is not going to happen :(

But, I can't dwell on what isn't possible! With that in mind, I have sent an email to all of my family members requesting Christmas wish lists. I wonder who will respond first?

Waking Up with a Better Attitude

Well, after spending a week in a mental fog, I woke up this morning with a refreshing change in attitude, thanks to a dream I had. Now, some of you might think it was more of a nightmare, since it was all about everything that can (and did) go wrong when I was trying to give a graduate school presentation (yeah, I know....its been decades since I was in graduate school, but I still have nightmares about it.)

This time, the recurring nightmare was ever-so-slightly different, and that is what makes it exciting, and explains why I am feeling emotionally better. Just like always in these dreams, things out of my control go wrong, but just as I'm preparing to collapse into a heap of despair (in the dream), I realise that some of the things that go wrong could have been prevented with improved time management. And, because it is a dream, at that point, things dissolve and I redo everything, with my new insight, and although the same things that are out of my control go wrong, they no longer have the devastating, nightmarish impact. At this point, I woke up.

I'm once again being gently reminded that Life is after all, a chance to Learn. Its not about what I get done each day, or what I don't have done for Christmas (which is what I have been stressing about.) Other than taking my medications as instructed and otherwise following doctor's orders, I really don't have control over what is physically happening to me. But I can still look objectively at the parts of myself that are less than perfect, the mental/emotional parts that I can practice improving without expending an ounce of physical strength.

For example, Time Management has always been a life-long nemesis. Now, you might think, "Why does she need to improve time management? She's retired....speaking of which, what does she *do* all day?" One of my NCCES supervisors, Martha Burris, did me a humongous service by teaching me her system of time management. I use it to this day, color coding blocks on my calendar to organize my life, and I love it!

Well, I have been trying to take it to the next level. I am trying to use time management as a physical energy management plan. For some reason, I have a delayed reaction to physical activity. If I wait until I feel tired to stop whatever it is that I am trying to do, resting doesn't seem to have a restorative effect. And if I don't stop until the sweating and shaking starts, I can look forward to several days in bed.

Instead of waiting until I feel like I need to rest before taking a break, I break jobs up into 10 or 15 minute blocks with a timer. When that timer goes off, I stop and rest, no matter how much my busy mind shrieks in protest. I have been giving myself 50:50 active/resting periods. In the last few months, this strategy has not been as effective for me as it was before. Even using this strategy, by noon I can't do anything physically demanding, and my afternoons are spent resting. But at least I am spending fewer days in the bed, because I am learning to stop before I become exhausted. This is a major life-change for me! I had always been a "go until I drop" person.

OK, dear blog readers, you are probably bored to tears at this point and wondering where I am going with it. Time Management is a mental thing. It is something I can practice, fine-tune, and make even more effective, even in my current physical circumstances. Likewise, keeping myself in tune to spiritual promptings, fighting the tendency to isolate myself and my feelings, and improving integrity are other things that I can practice daily, no matter how bad I feel physically. Life's about doing the best you can with what you have. Isn't that great?

Hog Wild in the Foods Stores

Friday Amanda and I went grocery shopping. We bought alot of items I was out of, as well as food for Thanksgiving.... dropping almost $300 between the two of us at Whole Foods and Harris Teeter! But we got the turkey for $2.70!! How good is that?! *Doing the Happy Turkey dance* I also bought a great big new knuckle bone for Snickers to gnaw on that day....that should keep him amused while we are at Jay and Sara's house :) I feel really good about having my pantry stocked and the Thanksgiving food items purchased...that gives us almost 2 weeks to remember what we forgot ;)

Amanda also installed my new 1GB strip of memory, and now my computer is humming! I'm so happy that it is now working much better than it has for quite awhile.

Today I scrubbed some mud out of my carpet, that my wheels had tracked in. I was glad to get that mess up! I also got the laundry and dishes done. After all of that, I was hot and tired, so I took a shower and I'm going to rest for the remainder of the day. Don't I lead the most exciting life?

falling leaves

Yesterday was a good day. Snickers and I went out between showers and collected pretty leaves to play with in Photoshop, Betty and Jamie played cards with me for a while, and later Jay brought over Jo and Ammon for a surprise visit.

We had so much fun! Jay taught me how to make delicious scrambled eggs in the microwave, and we all had some for supper. Jo sat in my lap and ate alot! We played on the floor, we played with Snickers (who ended up once in his box for his own protection, as Ammon was determined to pet his face and I was afraid he would poke Snickers in the eye, and once in the box because he got too excited and started barking, which scared my grandkiddos.)

I went to bed at 8 pm, I was so exhausted I could barely move. Snickers must have known I really needed the sleep; he let me sleep until 7. But I'm tired again already, so I am going to go rest some more. I hope you have a great day!

grumble, grumble...

Yesterday it poured down rain all day. Now, I like rain, it actually usually invigorates me, and yesterday was no exception. So I bustled around and cleaned and generally wore myself out during the morning. By early afternoon, I was having to take longer and longer rests between doing anything, which I always find frustrating when my mind is racing with all of the things that I want to do.

Betty called at that point and wanted to play cards, so we played Rummy 500 at my house for awhile. When she left, I tried to get some more done, but I had truly run out of energy by then and it just wasn't going to happen. So I worked on sorting out hard drive files (fun, fun, but still cleaning in a way), until Jamie arrived at 5:15 to play cards. Back out with the card deck, Betty came back over, and we had another fun game of Rummy500. At about 7:17 p.m., tired, hungry, we all called it an evening and they got ready to go home.

Well, guess what? It was still pouring down rain and someone had parked illegally in the space between the two handicapped spots, so Jamie couldn't get her ramp down (like me, she is confined to a motorized chair, but unlike me, she can't use her legs at all). Neither Betty nor I recognized the car, so we called the police to come out and help us out, and we waited on the porch for them.

Almost an hour later, two rookie police officers came out, who puzzled over the situation for a while, then tried to tell us there was nothing they could do and we should call the apartment manager. (They wouldn't even write the guy a ticket, although they found out by checking the plates that not only was he illegally parked, but he was driving an unregistered uninsured car on another set of plates! Can you believe it?? I couldn't!) By the third time I told them that this was not an apartment complex, it was privately owned condos, and that there was no apartment manager, and wasn't there *something* they could please do, both Jamie's and my tempers were on pretty short fuses. Finally, one of the officers backed out Jamie's van for her so she could go home, and at 8:30 both of us (now soaked to the skin, in spite of coats) got to go home for some nice hot food, and dry clothes. By then, I was no longer hungry, all I wanted was some sleep, so I ate a little warmed apple slices and went to bed.

I'm looking forward to today being better!

The Green Death Strikes

Yesterday, to quote a children's book that I have forgotten the title of, was a very bad, terrible, awful day! Too tired to even watch tv, but determined not to spend yet another day in bed, I accomplished next to nothing and was sick to my stomach to top it all off. To make matters worse, Snickers was also sick, fortunately not on the carpet, but it necessitated my washing the kitchen and entryway floors to keep me from gagging! Like two Grinches, we stayed in our cave and grumped all day. This morning I feel a little better, and he seems to as well.

Thanksgiving Plans, continued

Now I remember what I intended to write yesterday! It's been decided to have our Thanksgiving as a family on Wednesday at noon at Jay and Sara's house. Sara has a gorgeous big kitchen, and all the things she needs are handy for her two little ones. We will get to see the kiddos more, since they won't have to leave when Ammon needs a nap. Once I am up the steps, I can go throughout the house with my chair. Thursday I am going to rest while my kiddos head off to see their inlaws for Thanksgiving. Now we get to plan the menu, and who's going to make the yummy things that are cooked ahead of time, like the pies and banana bread. Yummmmmmm... time to start a grocery list!

Duke Doctor's checkup

I forgot to write in here last night, and now I can't remember what it was I wanted to write about. Oh well, if I think of it again, you will be the first to know!

This morning I went to see my Rheumatology Doctor at Duke University Hospital. I've slid back since last time, and that time I had slid back from the time before, so he is increasing my prednisone again. On the one hand, yuck more medicine, but on the other hand, maybe I will be feeling better by Thanksgiving than I have felt for the last while! But the trip tired me out, so that's all I'm going to write for now.

All Hallows Day

Traditionally, All Hallows Day was an important religious holiday, and All Hallows Eve (Halloween) crept in through observance of local pagan traditions. Well, by the observance of Halloween, and the lack of observance of All Hallows Day, the US citizenry give the appearance of being pagans! Statitics show that US people spend more money for Halloween than for any other holiday except Christmas.

I took down the Halloween decorations and put up the Thanksgiving decorations, and pouf! there went every last ounce of my energy. I'm exhausted but taking a break from resting because a friend of mine just came by to walk Snickers for me. She will be gone a little while, so I thought this would be the perfect time to blog!

I'm so excited about Sharon and Sam's upcoming visit. They will be here Monday through Wednesday of Thanksgiving week. Sharon wants to be the Thanksgiving chef this year; she will be taking over a kitchen for the day while folks are at work, and then we will eat our Thanksgiving meal one night. The night itself and the kitchen has been put to a vote: I vote my kitchen, Wednesday! I promise to be good and stay out of the kitchen unless invited!