Still Here

I am shocked to see how long it has been since I posted. I got on Facebook with family and have posted quick updates there but I forgot to come back here and let my group friends know what was going on.

I left it hanging that I had to take a bunch of tests and there might be a heart blockage. A heart cath showed NO blockage at all. How about that? I was able to tell all those people who kept claiming my excessive meat and egg eating was going to block my arteries "Neener neener." LOL

After all the tests, the final diagnosis was enlarged heart with only 20% function or chronic systolic heart failure. The good news, a new test last month shows me up to 40% and I have lost 83 lbs since May 2011.

In Jun 2012 I had a series of x-rays and was diagnosed with extreme osteoarthritis in both hips, knees and shoulders. My doctor was supposed to send me to a specialist but then she moved and I still can't find a new GP so I can get a referral. In addition, we found a small spot on my left breast in May and I am supposed to do a follow up scan in Nov but, again, I need to find a GP in order to have the tests ordered. If all else fails, I will have to return to the clinic where the Nurse Practitioner blew me off for 5 years when I kept complaining about shortness of breath and chest pains until I insisted she run some tests.

I am still very tired most of the time and in a lot of pain when I try to sit up or walk but I am able to do a few things at least 2 days a week. Before it was one day a week and I would spend the rest of the week in bed recovering. I do manage to cook and keep a few basics done like the dishes washed, the bed changed, the laundry done and the animals cared for. However, vacuuming is done sitting down about once every six weeks and dusting? Well, let's just say I don't have to hunt for a pen and paper when someone wants to give me a phone number LOL.

I still have another hundred pounds to lose and my entire life these days is really centered around my diet. I cook everything from scratch and reinvent lots of recipes so I can have my favs and still keep losing. (Yes, I am going to try to post them on my diet blog since so many have asked for them.) My latest goal is to find some low impact exercises that I can start and build on. Otherwise, the fuzzy butts and I are doing fine. We had our first dusting of snow this morning and I am stocking up the cabinets over the next few months in case I get snowed in this winter. I baked a fresh loaf of bread when I got up and have been staying wrapped up and enjoying hot tea and toast all day. Mmmmmm:)

Hugs to all,
LindaB in TN:)

Hot! Hot! Hot!

A big change in weather here. We are in day 13 of a heat wave and I am melting LOL. With the rain gone I am trying to get the fence finished but it is a major undertaking.

I am still very weak. Two hours of work in the yard for me means getting about 15 minutes of work done for anyone else. I work (very slowly) for 5-10 minutes then I sit and catch my breath and wait for my chest to stop hurting for about 15-20 minutes.

I wear an MP3 player and listen to audiobooks so I am able to keep going for 2 to 4 hours. The books keep my mind off of the pain and make me willing to stay outside and keep going.

I am also tackling this mountain of laundry and dirty blankets. The yard is shaded until about 1pm so I work there early. I come in side, grab something cold to eat and plop down in the recliner for an hour or two.

About 3pm I load up on more ibuprofen and head out to the deck to fill up buckets and wash, wash, wash. The hardest part for me is wringing out the clothes. I checked out buying a wringer. We are talking $125!!!!! I can buy a mini washer for $199 or a used full size one for $100. The dryer is only $250 and WM is offering free shipping on both right now. I am debating trying to save up enough to treat myself with one or both for Christmas. I guess it depends on how the medical bills go.

The good news, the mountain of clothes is slowly disappearing and the fence is getting closer to being done. The bad news, I did too much over the past week and I have been too sore to move since yesterday. Gives me time to catch up on the blogs but it means no projects are getting done *sigh*.

Off to make some lunch,
Keep cool,
Linda B in TN:)

What a Week

WOW what a week!! Tornadoes all around but they missed me by about 15 miles. The royal wedding, the Washington Press party and then Obama's announcement about Bin Laden have kept my TV humming. I mean, dang, and that was just 5 days!!

Add to that the fun of being told Wed I have a weak heart and have to go to the hospital for some tests and possible corrective surgery for a blockage. The bad news, the doc says I have to lose some weight, cut out all salt and sugar, and can't get into the hospital until late June. Can you say "cranky old biddy"?

Now we have gone back to freezing temps and I just finished packing up all the winter clothes and the heaters LOL. Oh well, maybe my body will burn off some of this stored fat in order to keep warm :)

Jim Harrison and Old Gas Stations

I stumbled onto this site where they are selling some Jim Harrison art.
http://www.joebuckalew.com/printdetail.asp?print=670

This painting of the old gas station/grocery is one of my favorites of his. It reminds me of my childhood. You could walk 20 minutes or ride the bike 10 minutes in any direction from our home and find a place just like this.

In those days families usually had only one car. The SAHM's would be stranded and pay me fifty cents to run to the store for them. I would have an RC Cola and a Moon Pie just to recover from the trip. Then I spent 10 to 15 minutes agonizing over the penny candy counter or Little Debbie cakes. I could spend 10 cents, the other 15 cents went into the bank for movies, records and magazines when I went to town on Saturdays.

Even now, over 50 years later, I can still remember the sounds and smells of those little places. Wooden floors were stained dark brown with a gorgeous patina. They creaked and echoed as you stomped around selecting your goodies. Some stores had concrete floors. The grit from the gas pumping areas would be tracked in so you crunched everywhere you walked.

What about the smells? The only smells in today's groceries is the chicken roasting at the deli. Otherwise it is cold and sterile. In those old stores there was no air conditioning. Just a big overhead fan or a giant fan in a corner that was cooling the register area and the owner more than the rest of the store. you could smell the fat back bacon that reeked like dirty socks. In many of the stores they would pull out a big tube of bologna and bricks of cheese to make sandwiches with Miracle Whip and mustard. In addition to the sandwich smells you got the bonus odor of the sweaty construction and road workers that stopped in to grab them for lunch.

My favorite item was the box cooler. You lifted the lid to get your soda but you could also dip your hands into the icy water to cool off. Many of us would even dip a cloth in to cool our necks and faces and no one said a thing about it. Yes, we dragged a soda out of there, popped the top and drank away without fainting or hunting for the Purell :)

If the Coke cooler was out of your favorite RC or Orange Crush, you could check the minnow cooler to see if there were some pre-cooling. No, we didn't wash those either.

Oh, and that old white fridge in the back? Well the top shelf held bowls of fresh eggs and tubs of butter while the bottom shelf held white round boxes filled with dirt and worms. If you were lucky there might be home made pies and cakes on the middle shelve that you could purchase by the slice. Yum!!

My least favorite thing was the jars of pickled eggs and pickled pigs feet by the register. Ewwwwww!!! They just seemed too nasty for me. A friend convinced me to have a pickled egg a few years ago and I was shocked to find I enjoyed it. Even so, I am pretty sure no one will ever convince me to try the pigs feet. LOL

Ah, such fun and lazy days.
hope your memory travels are fun too,
Linda B in TN:)

I'm a Basket Case

I don't do statuettes, ceramics or most knick knacks for decorating. My preference has always been baskets, tins and glass bottles. Baskets are my passion. From the teeny doll house sized ones smaller than a dime to giant laundry baskets, I love them all. Every room in my house has them stashed on top of bookcases, in little nooks on shelves and sitting beside chairs. There are baskets made of wicker, pine straw, yarn, fabric, plastic and more all through my house. Some I purchased, some I made. I actually have one carved from a peach pit by a former co-worker. It is one of my favorites.

I know most people have junk drawers but I prefer junk baskets. I have designated baskets in every room that get batteries, lighters, matches, pens & pencils, misc screws and nuts, and all those "what do I do with this" items. Got a loose part and you can't remember what it goes to? Put it in a basket. Finish a bookcase and have parts left-over? Toss them into a basket. Remote control missing a back? Hunt through the junk baskets.

I have been through several phases of mixing other items with my baskets. In the late 70's I split a booth at a craft show with friends that sold brass. They gave me wholesale prices and I stocked up. I loved the look but after a few years I realized that the constant polishing was a royal pain LOL. Little by little I gave the pieces away or tossed them into yard sale bins because my to do list is too long to need extra cleaning chores LOL.

On a smaller scale I love "tins". My favs are tiny tins, especially with hinged tops and vintage designs. My pride and joy for many years was a small palm sized tin that had a vintage cigarette ad on the front. It had a hinged top and I used it for a long time to carry my change and money at work. I gave it to my son when he started rolling his own cigarettes. It was perfect.

Sadly over the years I have had to toss some of the tins out because of rust. They were too much work to redo by the time I discovered the damage. However quite a few have survived and still hold tea bags, rock and jewelry collections and more.

My one other collectible is glass jars. I prefer larger ones with bale clasps like the antique mason jars but I have a variety stashed here and there. There are old ketchup and medicine bottles found on various digs. They are as much a reminder of the fun of the day with friends as they are valued for their history. There are some large bale jars found at yard sales that hold popcorn, rice and other food goodies. If they keep it $1 or less I will buy any bale jar at any flea market or yard sale LOL.

I do have two little shelves on my bedroom bookcase that are for gift items - tiny stuffed bears, mini statues saying I'm the best friend/mom in the world. These are my tiny treasures saved for my eyes only. Some days when I am sick and stuck in bed I can look up and see my little collection of "love tokens" to cheer me up.

So what do you collect? In all honesty, these are just my "accent" pieces. I collect books, movies, music, sewing fabric and notions, tons of stuff for crafts (one entire room full of stuff), and enough yarn to open a shop. I am in the process of getting rid of most of these items so I can move into a small studio apartment in town. All of the VHS movies (almost 1000) are gone - or transferred to one small basket of DVD's. I am currently working on books and music. Also I plan to hook up my knitting machine and use up some of the yarn making afghans this winter so my stashes are dwindling. The baskets, tins and glass are staying but everything else is going.

Hugs,
Linda B in TN:)

Belated Happy Thanksgiving

Yes, I am a day late but I am still celebrating. After 15 years of working
in a tourist area where I didn't get holidays off, I am used to spreading
it out over several days. Also between having only a hot plate and
counter top oven to cook with plus tiring very easily and aching joints, I
spend several days just preparing a meal like this.

First I bought my pies pre-made last week and have already sampled
them - chocolate pecan and pumpkin - yum :) I made my stuffing, cranberry sauce and cabbage Wed night. Thurs I baked a loaf of bread but mostly enjoyed the gorgeous sunny day and gave all the critters a bath.

After a long nap I got up about 1am this morning and made mashed sweet potatoes, got another loaf of bread going, cleaned the kitchen and put the turkey in the oven. It will take about 3 - 3 1/2 hours to bake. The oven has a 2 hour timer so when I get up later I will stagger to the kitchen and turn the timer to start the first round of cooking. When I finally drag out I will set it again so I can finally have Thanksgiving dinner for brunch or dinner today plus warm the kitchen since the temps are currently dropping and will be down to the 20's by evening :)

Hugs,
Linda B in TN:)

Fall is Almost Over

Blowing winds today and heavy rains are yanking the last of the leaves from the trees. I suffered a until mid Oct with that miserable heat. Many of the leaves turned brown from the heat and fall wasn't quite as glorious this year but it was welcome. We had our first snow about a week ago. It only lasted a couple of days and then we were back to more normal weather. I have been in heaven.

I started last spring with a remodel and clearing out of my crafting room. I had fought with mice and rats the last two winters and finally drove them out but they ruined everything in there. Much of my stuff from the shows was packed in banana boxes and was chewed up, shredded or peed on. I tossed out tons of bags of stuff. Even my towels and crocheted washcloths had chewed and shredded bits. It was so disheartening.

The heat moved in early and I tried now and then to work on it but it was just too miserable. I had moved a lot of stuff into the living room and it was stacked with totes and boxes. Since the weather has cooled I have been working hard, in between raking and winterizing, to finish the room. I still am only able to work one or two days and rest for a few.

Lately I have really been pushing in order to have it all done in time to put out my Christmas decorations, something I haven't done since I moved here in 2006. I have one little section in the corner left and some more sorting and it will finally be done. Most of the stuff is out of the living room. Now I want to rearrange it. I am hoping I will be able to finish it by Thanksgiving but it is good enough for company right now if my son decides to show up for dinner.

Not long after my last posting Miss Snow pushed the screen out of the porch window and discovered the back deck. She loves it out there and also has staked out an area about 50 x 50 feet over by the pump house. It is a weedy area at the base of the hill and she loves to go over there and sit for hours, even in the snow and light rain. Every morning when I let the dog out she heads out too. She lounges on the railing for a little waiting to see if I am coming out to sit in the middle of the bench so she and the dog can get on either side of me to be scratched and petted. Then she makes a beeline for her little patch. I don't know if she is chasing mice out there or just likes it because the dogs outside leads will not let them into that area of the yard. Maybe she just wants some time away from all the dog smell LOL.

Oh and the guy I traded my car to, he did half the jobs then hasn't shown up again so my deck didn't get the mold power washed off and I still don't have my little fenced in yard for the dogs. I have run long leads off the back deck and hook them to the dogs when they go out. It gives them about 50 feet each. I also rigged a gate that they haven't figured out how to get out of so I just turn they onto the deck if they need to go out during the night or I am not able to handle going out to hook them up. Some days it just isn't that easy. I was really hoping for that small fenced in area to give them an area to run around and could start keeping big dog inside all the time. He is too strong for me to wrestle with all the time so he stays outside except on cold days and nights.

Today was grocery day and I am exhausted. Lately the best bargains have been at SavALot which does not have an electric cart so I am pretty beat by the time I get out of there. Just wanted to pop in and say hello. Hope to catch up more soon.

Hugs
Linda B in TN:)