Cactus, Succulent and Bronchitis

It's been almost two weeks since my last post. I'm sorry, really. We moved my laptop to my desk and hooked it into the keyboard and monitor. That would be a great thing if I could see the screen clearly or the external keyboard was big enough to touch type. As it is, I'm playing hunt & peck.

Anyway, my husband and I took a class on Saturday where we made little  plant pots out of cacti and succulents. She also had other decorations we could fit into our little planters. We had a really good time. This is my planter, notice the Easter Island guy.

 The square one is my husband's He had a really good time picking out the different plants he wanted to use.

 We were planning to keep one and give the other as a gift. Neither one of us is willing to give theirs up. So it looks like they're here to stay. Now, if we could just convince the cats not to pull the plants out of their pots.

The website with suggestions of things to do and classes to take for however many miles around your home is called, Verlocal, they offer some amazing stuff. The class we took was at Urban Sprouts, Urban Sprouts are in Renton on S Third Street. No kickback on either, just  a recommendation because we were really happy with the experience.

I finally started physical therapy last week. It's hard, but I am working at it. I couldn't understand why I was feeling so burned out the last few days. I knew I had a bad cough but thought it was just left over from a cold, Well, no, I've been spiking fevers over 101F and the doctor says I have Bronchitis. Apparently being sick for a year leaves your immune system compromised. Who knew? J/K

As you can see from the photo up above, Mickey is bored and doesn't understand why Mom won't take her Bronchitis out in the rain.

Bronchitis is a minor setback. I figure a few days for the steroids to kick in and I'll be ready to get going on my recovery again. Never going back!

Physical Therapy, No Car and Bipolar Disorder

I finally started Physical Therapy (PT) this morning. She compared my abilities to the last time I was in there and, boy have I lost mobility. Right now, my goal is just to have my head facing forward as my base position instead of hanging down with my head on my chest. Along with my exercises, i think I need to hook my laptop up to my monitor and keyboard so I'm not always looking down at my screen and keys. I can touch type pretty well, but not on a laptop computer, the keys are just not in the right place.

I had to borrow my son's car to get to PT and will have to schedule all of my appointments for mornings on days he has off. Otherwise, I have to drive him to work and pick him up, then he has to go back down to catch the light rail in to see his girlfriend. I know he'll do it, but he's had to cut so far back on the time he gets to see his girl because of his job, I hate to cut into it. When I got back from PT, the tow truck guy was here and I realized I hadn't taken my license plate frame off my car. I asked him if I could still get it. He said, "Sure," jumped up on the truck bed and proceeded to take both license plates off and hand them to me. I'm not sure what I'm going to do wth the plates, but I have my frame. I stole the quote off of someone's email file nearly 20 years ago and I still love it.

We have enough youth

We need a fountain of smart

I am really struggling with my BiPolar Disorder. I'm used to running around like a chicken with my head cut off getting stuff done for a few weeks, then dipping into a depression which makes it so I can barely function. Right now, I'm running one day and doing barely anything the next. I talked to my doctor about it and she raised the dosage on my mood stabilizer a few days ago. Hopefully, that will help. Needing sleeping aids to sleep and having to get up at 6am four days a week isn't helping.

I knew getting back to normal wasn't going to be easy, I try to keep these posts cheerful. So how about a couple cats to perk it up.

 The top one is Robin. She's part Main Coon cat and about the sweetest cat you'll ever meet. Oh, and she drools.

This is Lacey. She's Gray and has a very fluffy tail so I call her squirrel sometimes. If I'm upstairs with her and she doesn't see me go downstairs she'll cry out until I yell up the stairs that I'm downstairs. She's pretty, but not that bright.

 

Car Crash, Tiles, and a Teal Pumpkin

Yesterday I took Mickey to the vet because he still had lumps where the ticks got him a few weeks ago. The vet said they were fine, still healing, and nothing to worry about. On the way home I got into a traffic accident. Smashed in the right front area of my car pretty badly. The police came, took our information and let us go. My car was still driveable, so I headed home. Pretty achy, but nothing serious and just grateful my dog wasn't injured.

When I got home, I called my insurer and explained the situation. They set me up with a body shop and the shop called a few minutes later to make an appointment for this morning. My husband and I had dinner and then spent the evening prepping the wall behind the stove for tiles. The tiles are stick on, but they needed a smooth surface so we were sanding.

This morning, I had sometime before my estimate appointment, so I put the tiles up. they look good. The paint behind my stove had started to peel, so the tiles are a big improvement.

Once the tiles were up, I headed to the body shop. They said they'd email me the estimate. Off I went to pick up a few groceries. When I came out, I had an email from the body shop saying they mailed the estimate to the insurer and an email from the insurer saying they were totaling the car for much less than it will take to buy another car. I wasn't terribly surprised. It's a Lexus, but it's 17 years old.
So now we get to fit two cars into our budget. My husband needs some work done and it would cost far more than his car is worth, since his is only a year younger than mine.

Once I got home and put some stuff away, I received my teal spray paint. This is our first year of participating in the teal pumpkin project.  It's a way for kids with food allergies to safely participate in Halloween. Put a teal pumpkin out, preferably with this sign and then lay in a small supply of non-food treats. I went to Oriental Trading Co., but a trip to your local dollar store would work just as well. Stickers, fancy pencils, light up things. Fortunately, filling stuffed animals with ground nut shells seems to be a thing of the past, but I'd still check.

So I painted my pumpkin with a couple coats of teal spray paint and after it dried, I brought it in and painted the stem gold. It's going to take another coat of the gold before it's completely covered, but this is what it looks like now.

I think it's turning out pretty well. Now, just to print out the sign and laminate it, because this is the Pacific Northwest and it always rains on Halloween.

Busy and sad day, I'm going to miss my old car. Still everyone is safe and that's all that matters. I did a little home improvement and got a little closer to being ready for Halloween. Not a bad day's work.

So Glad to Have my Husband Back!

My Dear Husband returned last Thursday evening. It was so great to have him back, I missed him a lot. Sounds like they had a great time. First things first, they went to Geocoinfest 2016. It was in St. Louis, MO. Checked out all the different geocoins people have had made to hide in caches and track, give away to other people, trade or sale. Next year, Geocoinfest 2017, will be at the Queen Mary in Long Beach, CA.

Once the convention was over, the boys hit the road. They traveled to five states and did a bunch of geo-art. Sometimes, people hide a bunch of geocaches in a pattern, so that when the geocaches are brought up on a map, they'll be in the shape of something. I know they did a cardinal but, I'm not sure what else they did. By the time they came home a week later my husband had found almost 500 caches.

Once he was home, we had some tasks and engagements to deal with over the weekend. Poor guy, first day he's home and we've got stuff to do. We've gone a year just letting things go because I was sick and we need to get started. Friday, we quickly ran around the house making it relatively presentable and moving boxes out of the way because we had a man come in and put both of our pocket bathroom doors back on their rails. We have three bathrooms, but we'd gone for months with only one that had a door that closed. Awkward! We also had him install the new range hood we bought. The hood is awesome, if it gets hot under there while I'm cooking, it turns the fan on automatically.

Saturday, quick trip to the grocery store for the ingredients to my broccolini salad. (I got the recipe out of a book, but if anyone's interested, I'll send it to you. Properly cited, of course.) Home to make the salad, then off to the local geocaching group's Halloween party. I'm not sure where they got the white hearse or the coffin falling out of it pictured above, but it was cool. Once I got inside I was grateful my son wasn't with us. The decorations seemed to be all evil clowns. My kid hates clowns.

Sunday, we went North. Spent an hour or so visiting with my father-in-law at his house in Anacortes, then we all went to Mt. Vernon, WA for my Brother-in-Law's birthday. Last weekend day, last long day. Poor husband went back to work today with the beginnings of a cold he probably caught on the plane.

So, my week of solitude is over. We got some needed work accomplished and had some fun with friends and family. I hope your weekend went as well.

Dentist, Nails and Haircut. Oh, and my Husband's Coming Home Tonight!

I went to the dentist today for the first time since the migraines started. I was really nervous because there were times over the past year that I went for two or three days without brushing my teeth because my head just hurt too badly. I guess I was lucky though, although there was a bit more scraping and polishing than usual, no cavities! I'm really relieved and I went ahead and made my next appointment for six months from now so I won't let it slide.

Another thing I've put off for way longer than I should have is getting my hair cut. That appointment is tomorrow morning with the woman that's been cutting my hair for a number of years. Because my neck is still uncomfortable and weak, I'll be taking a shower and heading over with wet hair rather than leaning back in her washing bowl. I can hardly wait to not have to wear a head band to keep my bangs out of my eyes!

The woman who does my hair is the sister of the woman who does my nails, although I've been getting my nails done a lot longer. Nails were the one thing I managed to keep doing through the migraines, although I ended up canceling an awful lot of times. Now that I can drive myself over, it's a lot easier. This is what we did for Halloween this year:

It's not easy to tell in the picture, but the black is sparkly. The black cats are nail stickers.

I went to see the surgeon today who did my neck ablation. He said my progress was really good and when I asked him about my frozen shoulder, he added that to my physical therapy prescription. They sent a new copy, so I'm hoping to hear from the therapist in the next couple of days. I really want to get started. I'm walking as often as I can, but still only managing to add a house or two to the distance each time. I really want to get back to the three miles a day I was doing before I got sick.

Tonight's the night! My husband is coming back from St. Louis. He should be here in a few hours and I can hardly wait. So many things around the house I want him to do! Just kidding. I just want him home. It seems like forever that he's been gone. I hope everyone has a nice weekend, I don't know if I'll be on much.

A Week to Myself

I'm having a relaxing week. My son works all day and then goes directly to see his girlfriend, coming home long after I go to bed. My husband is in St. Louis for a geocaching event. He went with a group of friends that call themselves the Rat Pack and take a geocaching trip together at least once a year. Which leaves me pretty much entirely alone. Well, if you're ever alone in a house with three cats and a dog.

It's really another milestone. They wouldn't have been comfortable leaving me without "back up" before the surgery. I might have needed medication or I might have gotten a migraine aura on the stairs and fallen down them. I fell a lot while I was dealing with the migraines. Aside from the auras, my balance was just way off. I'm on blood thinners, because my blood has a nasty tendency to clot, so every time I fell, I had to go to the hospital to get a cat scan and make sure my brain wasn't bleeding. I'm pretty sure my brain is glowing by now.

Today I get to go out and see real people. I'm getting my nails done, one of my few indulgences. The woman who does my nails is the mother of a boy who my son met in the third grade. We've known each other a long time and it's fun to just sit and chat with her. I'm getting my nails painted for Halloween, with black, white and orange, then she's putting black cat stickers on the white ones.

I love Halloween. I always give out full size candy bars. They have them in mixed packages at Costco and they're not that expensive. It's fun to see the kids eyes light up when they see the big bars. I haven't decorated for Halloween the last couple of years, but I think I might this year.

Speaking of Halloween, tomorrow night I am taking my son and his girlfriend to see "Young Frankenstein" in the theater. It's there for one night only and it's going to be a blast. My son hasn't seen it, but his girlfriend has. Tuesday is also my son's "Friday", he works four tens Saturday-Tuesday. He'll be able to relax, knowing he doesn't have to get up the next day.

I am trying to keep up on the daily things I was doing, but with no one here, I've kind of slipped back. I haven't walked in the last couple days, I'll try to do it today. It's amazing how much motivation slips away when I don't see anyone. It's far too easy to spend hours on Facebook in my pajamas rather than completing the tasks I've set for myself each day. I've never been good at being a self-motivator and I really need to work on that. If I'm going to get healthy again, it has to be for me, not because someone is there watching.

Mt. Rainier and a weekend away

Last weekend my husband and I went on an overnight trip across the state. For him it was a chance to pick up some of the geocaches in a series he's trying to complete before the snow flies on Mt. Rainier. Local geocachers, including my husband, jointly with the National Park Service put out 100 caches all around Mt. Rainier to celebrate the NPS's 100th Anniversary. By the time our weekend was over, he was down to two. He gets a coin when he finishes.

For me, it was a bit more meaningful. First, it was the first time since my migraines stopped that I was able to get away. It was only for one night and I wasn't up to actually geocaching yet, but it was still a milestone. I didn't sit in the car half-stoned on Oxycodone and muscle relaxants just to keep from screaming. We downloaded a book to listen to, but after the first couple hours we turned it off, we were enjoying each other's company too much to have to remain silent while the book ran.

Second, the first stop on Mt. Rainier was the spot where we spread my parents' ashes. It was my Mother's birthday and I hadn't been back since I'd spread her ashes seven years ago. We'd spread my Father's ashes in the same spot six years before that.

My Dad had loved that mountain. We moved up here from San Diego when he was 46 and he just fell in love. I think everyone who lives here, loves Him, so beautiful and stately against the sky on a clear day. My Dad had this silly joke he used to tell, and he loved it when he found a new victim, "You know, if you can see the mountain, it's going to rain." "Really?" his new victim would ask, "Yeah," he'd answer nonchalantly, "If you can't see the mountain, it's raining."  Living in the Puget Sound area, the victim would always chuckle.

I walked out to where they were and spent some time with them. The picture above doesn't do it justice. When we spread their ashes we had permission to leave the path and when you get past the trees, the view is breathtaking. I couldn't leave the path on Saturday, so you'll only get a hint of the beauty through the trees and the fog.

Since we were up there, I thought I'd give you some idea of what's up there on the top of the world. I don't remember the name of these falls, but I made my husband turn around on a twisting mountain road so I could go back and take pictures for you.

Guard rails on Mt. Rainier

They didn't mess around

I think these last two pictures are of the Sidney Falls. They're actually, two falls, a top one then a bottom one. The falls were the first tourist site on the mountain and they designed the bridge to compliment the landscape.

So, we had a full weekend. We caught up with each other as equals rather than patient and caregiver. I checked in with my memories of my parents and we ate dinner at a restaurant where the server didn't know what "on tap" meant. Fun times.