Wouldn’t you known it!   About the time I get my story straight I don’t need it any more.  Yes I spoke with my son overseas and he said it was a mushroom that the caterpillar sat on.  He also said that said caterpillar was painted a florescence green and he thought the dots were either pink or orange.  But that is all water under the bridge now.  The doctor said today that I was almost all better!  Good news for a change!  So I put away my “hookah” and my imagination until another day!  Jay is still under the weather and doctor is having his x rays read by an additional person.  He should get word in a couple of days.

Well the snow came back but it was so little that you can hardly see it.

Thursday I see Dr. Hemming about my shoulders (another possible problem) but hey things wear out.  Take care everyone and visit soon!

Here last night —

White stuff

Gone to lunch!

Today 42 degrees!

But the radio said the snow will be back tonight.  But at least for a bit I was able to replenish the winter bird’s feeders, get the trash down to the road for tomorrow morning, and at least move around outside for a little without falling or finding  it hard to breath.

My morning started with my usual list of things to do.  This is the only way I seem to accomplish anything.  Starting with water indoor plants and ending with a breathing exercise I am now over half way through.  The house is still under control organizationally so I can allow a little time visiting you.   I did spend a while on the phone with my friend Edna this morning.  We haven’t been in contact lately so it was time to make her laugh a little and I did!!!

Physically I feel much better now and Jay and I have an appointment tomorrow with Dr. Hukill to determine how his pneumonia and my lungs are doing.

It is about an hour before Jay will be home from dialysis for lunch.  I think a fruit and lettuce salad, home canned chili, and some cookies that I put away from Christmas should made a nice little meal before he rests this afternoon.

I was going to say I’ll climb up on my mushroom for a bit of air this afternoon but then—wait—wait –was that a mushroom or a toad stool that the caterpillar sat on????   I have got to get a hold of Wes and get my little daydream facts straightened out before the imaginary police banish me from the blog!!

Do smile a bit today—it is going to get better!!!!!!

Good morning to you!  With a quick run through the g mail and the blogs in my sidebar I now come to my bit of blather!!!  I don’t know how it is where you live but I’m really tired of this!

Burr!

Even if this shows about 8 degrees it was -zero degrees when I woke up this morning.  In fact the needle has been stuck on that for the past few mornings making it really hard to imagine even sticking my nose out the door lot alone my whole self!   I’m tired of my thumbs cracking because my gloves get wet.  I hate pulling on heavy boots just to go fill the bird feeders or take Brandy out to do her thing.  I dread sliding down the driveway and wondering if my truck will stop at the road or just continue on across into the woods.

Sunshine!

Yes the sun shines (like this morning) for a while so you open the blinds in hopes of catching a little heat.  Then it goes goes behind the clouds and it cools off quickly in a large room with a 22 foot high ceiling.  So you close the blinds and inch up the heat a degree or two. Then you spy sun again around the edge of the windows and run to raise the blinds again.  It happens so many time in the day that you feel like a lighthouse blinking on and off.

It feels like your hands and feet are always cold and the comfort of snuggling under a comforter in bed seems the only answer.  But you can’t keep house, feed the furries and the birds, make meals, and keep the laundry up from under a comforter.  True moving around helps a little but you got to sit sometimes!   I dread facing the next couple of months but health and finances don’t allow moving to Florida for a few of months a year.  Besides I don’t look good in a swimsuit!

Well this is my words of wisdom for today (all bright and comforting–right?)  At least the breathing is better and the headaches have subsided so I can smile a little!

Yesterday I said the doctor gave me two different treatments.  One was two kinds of pills in case it was a viral infection.  The other was two different inhaler medications.  I was diagnosed with C O P D/emphysema  on 10/11/03 but have never taken any medication for it.  Doctor thought it might finally have caught up with me.

So I got out Jay’s old nebulizer and sat in the Lazy Boy trying to remember back when Wes was a kid and he painted a caterpillar, sitting on a mushroom, (from Alice In Wonderland), with a Hookah on his bedroom wall.  I couldn’t  remember if  he was green or not.  Jay thought he was green with yellow or white spots.  I can’t even remember what color the mushroom was.  But I’ll bet you Wes could tell me even after almost 35 + years!  So any way each six hours when  a breathing session is due I crawl on my mushroom and pick up my Hookah and think back to some funny days in my past!!!

It started last Thursday evening. Hacking throat wrenching seizures waking me up all night.  Nothing could  stop it.  I didn’t see the doctor on Friday and paid for it all weekend. I would sleep when I could, didn’t eat, and lost track of everything I did or didn’t do.  Of course Jay is still battling pneumonia and trying to help me too.

On Monday I called the doctor and said I’m not asking to see him –I’m begging.  I received a call back saying come in right a way and I went.   I went in and he set me up to different treatment to make sure we got it right.

I’m progressing well and will write more later.  I missed you friends but we are on the mend.

Got a picture from Diane in Illinois the other day showing a lot of white fluffy stuff.  Well last night we got ours.

Still coming down today!

I knew the green, brown, and mud couldn’t last forever but I enjoyed it while it was here.  Now Brandy’s belly is getting wet every time she walks out side.

Jay has pneumonia and has been on medication for about three days.  This seems to slowly be working.  But as luck would have it I  came down with a raspy hacking cough next.  I think I’ll be seeing doctor if Monday doesn’t bring me some improvement.  Just can’t seem to win around here.

Cindy was up for a visit on Wednesday and we played two games of rummy.  I won one and she the other (Well Duh that figures doesn’t it).   We had her favorite–tuna noodles for supper and she did our toenails afterwards.

It looks like next week I have an appointment with the foot doctor for planters warts on my right foot which is affecting my walk.  Boy that ‘hellish handcart’ I’m in seems to be getting bigger with each passing month.  But like all old things parts get worn out and need to be looked at!

The finger is doing well and I may put my ring back on shortly.  Taker care everyone and try to stay healthy (not like me).

I missed a very special day last week and only remembered it this morning.  On 1/4/06 Brandy was born.

Only about a month old here.

Yep she is now six years old and is loved dearly by the whole family.

On Cindy's lap.

I don’t know what we would do without her!

No more blathering about putting the holiday after this one.  I’m done and I now have a dining room table!

By golly it is empty isn't! Will miracles never cease!

I heave a big sigh of relief as I covered the table with a cloth and thought about all the work it took to get this far.  My friend and handyman helped me move the tree to the basement after he fixed my cupboard door and hung two venetian blinds on two different doors.  He took one down and moved it to another door and then hung a new one for me.

When I opened the blind on the bay window I noticed this.

A smile maker!

One of my Christmas cactus is still blooming.  The other one seems to have finish it’s cycle in the last week or so.

Well my friend I’m sitting here thinking shall I pick up the wall hanging and work on that!  Do I want to make up one of the ornament kits. Maybe I’ll read a little from book one of The Hunger Games.  I think I might want to do a jig saw puzzle I haven’t done that in ages.  I have some mending to do.  What to do–what to do !!!

Another day of no snow just green and brown grass and a bit of mud showing through.  But I haven’t seen much of it because my tasks have been inside.  I started this morning with the usual jobs.  Feed and water Molly, empty the clothes dryer, fold clothes and put them away, empty the dish washer and on and on!  I finally got the table that I was going to clear off last night done today.  But as you can see….

Some of the stuff from the tree.

It is full again this evening.  I have one container full of ornaments packed and the birds taken down from the pass through.  I still have the other container to set up so I can clear the table.

Also the tree is down.

Doorway clear except for the large plant again.

Yep the tree is jammed (and I do mean jammed) into it’s box again.  My next big job will be getting it off the floor and down to the mud room.  I used the fat wheel dolly and moved the wooden chest and large plant from the bay window to the French door area so I only had to lift the plant once.

It all boils down to it ain’t done yet but I’m getting closer.  How are you doing?

Yesterday was again a slow but busy day.

Stairway To The Loft!

The lighted garland is wrapped on metal frames and in containers.  All the extra chairs, which are metal with wood seats,  are back up in the loft.  Next time the last guy with muscles, after dinner, gets to haul them back up before he leaves.   I have started moving the decorations into blue plastic containers.  All the wreaths are either on the dining room table or already in white plastic, expandable,  garbage bags for easy hanging on the basement walls.

The audio center and Jay's computer desk.

All the figurines and the home made Nativity set,  have been placed in boxes until next year.  The things that were on these surfaces are waiting to be put back in place.  Everything except the birds hanging in the pass through and the Christmas cards, thumb tacked to the walls, have been taken from other rooms  and placed on the dining room table to be packed.

Lots of stuff still out!

This, hopefully, will disappear today.  That will leave only this task to be tackled.

Much to put away here.

But not impossible to achieve with a bit of time.  I don’t guarantee that the tree will come down this week end but I will get started on it.  So there you have it–what happens when an almost 77 year old tackles Christmas.  Thank goodness I had help getting it up!!!!  Thank you Cindy, Dar, and Michael!

In answer to a question on the previous post.  Husband Jay took care of cooking the beef roast while I shopped.  It is a good thing too because I could have chewed off one of his arm when I hit the door.  Thank you Sweetheart!