HUMP DAY- Wednesday!
It is cold here but the high winds make it incredibly bitter outside. With all of my daily crocheting, I once again have two more huge garbage bags filled with toques and matching scarves for the homeless, when I realized that it might not be a bad idea if I made MYSELF something warm. So, with some experimentation, I developed a HOOD that ties under my chin but is threaded all through the edging so that the hood is snug enough to not capture the wind and take off like a kite. I used multiple yarns in pale pinks & different shades of mauves and purples, entwined together...some was baby wool to be soft against my darned sensitive Irish white skin....lol...I am considering FELTING this hood. It is not fashionable in any way, but, we live in the country and if I have to go outside in the bitter cold and winds, I do not give a rat's behind how I look....lolol. At least I will be warm! Let the wildlife enjoy!
Having said that, yesterday I was in a discount store that was clearing out winter items and bought myself ...believe it or not, a pair of men's XL thermal underwear in black. I always wear long ankle-length skirts (I have severely-swollen legs from chronic lymphodema) with a half slip, BUT the winds always manage to slip UNDER my skirt and freezes my HOO HA!. Soo, I now have thermal underwear to wear UNDER my skirts in the cold....no one will know unless the wind flips my skirts, but they are black and you know what? WHO CARES what they see! I am just thrilled that I can now FIT in a men's XL!
My COLOUR ME HAPPY workshop is filling up quickly...wow..never did I ever dream this could happen. I already have 22 women attending. And today, Danny's girlfriend, my new techie person, created a beautiful business card for me and has sent it to be printed....kinda excited here.
I made homemade soup today...lean ground beef, beef broth, tomatoes, mashed sweet potatoes, home-grown garlic, onions, celery & leeks from my garden, barley and assorted dried beans.. the house smelled so good all day and the soups is filling and packed full of protein and fibre...very satisfying..This is my plan to stay on track and soup is easy to heat up a cupful whenever I need protein. Far being being an angel, I confess that I found a lonesome stray "Dutch chocolate initial" from Christmas...darn, but it went down so good with my tea this afternoon. My bad! but not the end of the world. I start anew. I do believe that we all need a treat now and then so we do not start that we are being DEPRIVED. I always found that I resented not being able to enjoy a small bit of something and this way, it is not such a big deal to say NO THANKS at other times. Well, that's MY story and I'm sticking to it.
Stay warm and safe, everyone!
Nancy B
Good Morning Nancy and those to follow,
We are under a winter advisory with sleet and rain and more sleet to follow. I doubt the amount of bad weather we get would even cause a second of concern in areas that many of you live, but up here on this mountain with half of AR water from lakes and streams and rivers and the other half filled with underground streams and lakes and rivers, the roads get bad real quick. We have had ice storms develop and freeze over the mountain and then the trees began to snap from the weight of the ice and it is a very sad sound...but hopefully we will not see that devastation this time around.
For lunch today, we eating our leftover dinner. I stuffed huge portabellas with spinach, carrots, peppers, onions, breadcrumbs, and parmesean, and cooked them in the oven till tinder and we had beans, okra, potatoes and onions, and finally cornbread. I ate the beans and mushroom...today I am trying the okra, mushroom, and beans...we'll see how that goes for lunch. I sure don't want to eat too much and be tired all day.
My shingle pain is letting up...finally I can put on a shirt so I guess I'll go to work today. Man oh man do I hate that burning pain...
I hope you ladies have a wonderful day and for those in cold places, stay warm. Those in warm places, I'm jealous. Well, I need to go fire up the skillet and fry up an egg for DH. I am going to eat a little toast with butter. The medicine for shingles makes me just a little nauseous and I'm afraid to eat an egg this early.
Oh, let me tell you guys a really funny story. Last night, I took the medicine the doctor gives me for shingles...it is suppose to be stronger than benadryl to stop the itching and burning that comes with shingles and the pills are very strong in deed, making me fall into a sound sleep within a few minutes of taking the thing. Well, I guess the sound sleep lasted a couple of hours and by midnight I was wide awake so I came to the living room to read the directions on my pill bottle and see if I could take another one because the itching and burning was driving me mad and then I hear a knock on the door....at midnight. I was terrified because no one knocks on our door at midnight so I go wake up DH and tell him someone is at the door and he is sound asleep but he gets up and comes to the living room and I grab the broom, just in case it's a monster or a killer or zombie that knocks...DH yells out, who's there and no one responds and he says, are you sure you heard a knock on the door and I said, yes, I'm sure....then I hear the knock again and I said, shh, hear it...he turns around and looks at me and says, you are not hearing anyone knocking on the door...look and I looked at the TV and there on the tube was someone knocking...he said, you need to wear your hearing aides so you will know the sound is coming from there and not there....I made him a cup of hot diabetic chocolate with two marshmallows and homemade whipped cream without sugar...he was happy....
Good morning Nancy and Jeannie and all my sistas!
Well, since we're giving weather reports, I hate to tell y'all we have yet to have a freeze this entire winter. They are saying it's possible we might freeze next week. I really do wish we would, but for a gross reason. We are being overrun with TICKS! Ugh! I pull them off the puppies daily it seems. They are one of those bugs that I JUST CANNOT HANDLE! I can face down a spider or a roach or a beetle, etc., but ticks make my skin crawl!
Anyway, I ordered some super duper tick collars from a place in California that my SIL told me about. (She's the one that houses all the rescue ****er spaniels and always knows good doggie info.) And I actually ran into the Bug-Meister (it's the name of a exterminator company here) at the doctor's office the other day and I asked him what I could spray in my yard that would be safe for kids and pets. He told me to buy "wetable sulfur" and spray it everywhere. He said it would stink, but the ticks don't like it and they'll leave my yard for greener pastures, so to speak. So guess what I'm doing today?
Well, yesterday I managed to get quite a bit of business done. Finally. And I called my Realtor and she is coming to my house on Friday to get the paperwork all signed for selling the lake house. YIKES! I need to spend the next couple of days cleaning up around here! I still have way too many boxes and piles of this and that laying around. I guess I'm going to have to poop or get off the pot! Trouble is, I just don't want to get rid of the things that are left. I WANT them. I just don't have a place FOR them.
Another thing on my to-do list that I hope to tackle today is to take Budder's little quilt to the quilt shop and leave it to be quilted on a long arm machine. I pieced that top back before Christmas. Winter is almost over, and I still haven't taken it to be quilted. But I looked on-line and found two quilt shops not far from me. The prices seem reasonable. Chris will have to pick it up, since I'll probably be in Waco by the time it's finished.
I listed Butch's truck for sale on-line yesterday. I put it on several garage sale sites and on FB, and people are very kindly sharing the heck out of it, but no bites yet. I will probably bite the bullet and pay for an ad to run on CarMax or Auto Trader today. I need to get it sold fast.
I wanted to tell y'all that I think I am making some progress on being able to live with myself lately. For months after Butch died, I couldn't bear to be awake and alone with my own thoughts. I listened to audio books incessantly in an effort not to think. But here the last week or so I seem to be more at peace. I can lie awake in bed and not obsess over my loss. I can actually be alone with myself and think about other things and not be so damn sad all the time. The grief still overwhelms me at moments, of course, but it's letting up in intensity. I can think a few good thoughts now and then.
Well, I need to get moving. I slept in a bit this morning. Oh, that's the other thing. I can sleep at night now without needing a sleeping pill. That took months! But I can fall asleep and stay asleep now. Just in time for the baby to arrive! LOL! If I'm going to be keeping Caralee for the next six or seven months, I'm not going to be getting much sleep.
Love you all!
Vickie
Vic,
I remember when my mother died and of course I was a child but I hated bed time because I would lie in bed and cry myself to sleep. Of course, I didn't want my older sister to know I was crying because it upset her, so even during the day, if I began to grieve, I would go hide and cry. When I finally got where I could go to bed and not cry as much and finally very little crying, I felt so guilty because I thought I was forgetting my love for her.
Grief is so delicate and I think we take steps forward and out of our devotion to our love one, we fall back. I'm glad you can stand some silence...that is crucial. My mother cried and cried over her two children who died and she never got over it and that's a different kind of grief, I suppose but there would be times when she would be laughing and happy and then I would see the smile fade rather quickly and she would light a cigarette as a means to hide her grief, I suppose.
Soon you will have a new baby...that is going to be so much fun for you.
Hi dear,
It didn't get too cold here, but cold enough. Last night it was in the forties. I haven't seen my buddies the ants for a bit. They're probably hibernating underground.
Ticks, ugh! I hate them. Whatever you did to get rid of them, hope they march off to somewhere and cannot find their way back.
Glad you are keeping busy, glad that you are in the process of selling some of your beloved's belongings.
Describing your state of mind reminds me of the grief saying about the waves. Time, and only time helps us deal with grief.
Sending love.
Arlene
Morning!
Sorry to hear of your big storm back east. Snow and ice can be frightening, not only for your poor trees Jeannie, but for anyone who is navigating it. I'm so afraid of falling with my back so touchy. That one fall in the house changed my life. So ice is BAD. Our temperature today is expected to be 64* so a sweater is all that is needed. I have never had on long underwear Nancy, but I am thrilled that your Hoo hah will be cozy!
It's great news that you are doing somewhat better with your grief Vicki. That stuff is very difficult...you will have breathers between the waves, which help a lot.
I accidentally switched the size there...sorry... Jeannie, everyone I know that has had shingles hates it so much. Wish there was something they could do for you...what a complicated mess! I had my shingles shot last week, thank goodness.
Today I am going to my hairdresser to match my hair to some hair swatches. She is going to learn from another hairdresser how to put in these pieces and I will be the Guinea pig that she practices on. Since my surgery my hair has thinned a lot. It was always very thick and fine, and now it is thin and fine. She is going to put extra hair in my bang area on the side. If it requires much care I may not keep them, but if they are easy I'm good with it. It won't be done today...we are ordering the pieces.
After that I will drop by Tuesday Morning to see if they have more skeins of a yarn I bought last week. I should have gotten two more than I did for a scarf that I am crocheting.
I need to call my dentist right now too. I have two teeth implants that are finally ready for crowns. Those took forever to be ready and now the dentist is taking forever to do the easiest part!
Julia,
I wore long johns under my pants today and I also had a pair of tights on...my legs freeze. I also started out with four shirts and a poncho but due to the pain in my shingles, I ended up with one shirt and my poncho. I am in hopes the shingles start to ease up a bit...that's my hopes.
I hope your hair pieces work...my hair used to be so thick and still is in some places but right there in the front, I have some bald and some thinning spots...If I had a choice between my thin hair or a thick body, I will pick the thin hair. LOL...
Afternoon OFF family...well last night I started my "prep" taking the dulcolax...4 pills. Said about 6-8 hours for it to start working...yeah right!!! Felt something a little wet in bed...yup a wet fart!!! Got that cleaned up fast!!! Been running ever since 3am!!! And now its almost time for the Good Prep!!! EWWWWWWWWW I am not going to have pants on for this one that's for sure and I will not be sitting here at my computer either!!! I will be in my bedroom really close to the bathroom!!!! Then the last dose is at 330am!!!!!!! Have to be at the hospital at 7am for my scopes. Oh I am soooooooo looking forward to this. NOT!!!!!!!!
Getting some snow here right now. Supposed to get about an inch. As for the BIG storm later this week we are so far in the clear.
Well time to change my clothes and drink up....maybe I will be back later hard to say...haha.
Thoughts and Prayers for ALL that need them...extra ones for those that asked.
HUGSSSSSSSSSS
