Moving Aches and Pains

Wow! I have muscles that I was unaware of that scream with every movement I make! Lifting, toteing and carrying is taking a toll on this ol' body of mine! Talk about out of shape! I guess this time I really am! My idea of taking a car load to "the house" and unpacking it and putting it away each time may be a good one, but it really is time consuming. A friend of mine from work met me there last night and I showed her what I'd done to this point and it didn't feel like much...and there is SO much more to do!

I still haven't done a change of address for utilities, phone or P.O., must do that today!

The girl that saw the house last night didn't want to leave! We sat out on the back stoop and talked for an hour before she finally said she had to go home and fix supper for her family...it was 9 o'clock! It is a wonderful back yard! and, it had just been mowed, so it really was nice.

Gotta go, must shower for work.

Oh, my #1 daughter tagged me for a meme (?)...I'm working on it.

Stuff and more stuff

Yesterday was quite productive at "the house". I took two large car loads over and got it all put away...vacuumed the entire house (it's about twice as large as this one), vacuumed out drawers, and under cabinets in the kitchen, lined all of the drawers and underneath cabinets and got 2 shelves in the kitchen lined...ran out of shelf liner, and swept out the sun porch.

I had a little accident on Saturday with a heavy wooden blind in one of the bedrooms. It fell as I was trying to adjust it and hit me on the right shoulder and gouged a couple of bloody places as it fell. I'm still all skinned and bruised and the dumb shoulder and arm are mighty sore. It's sorta slowing my packing, lifting and toting a bit.

Last night I was eating supper around 8 o'clock when it dawned on me that I hadn't closed the windows on the sun porch. So, Shirley and I loaded up and went to "the house". I saw that others on the street had put out garbage on the curb, so I put my first garbage out on the street...boy, I'll just have to make the time to visit the dump...I sure will miss it!

The best Burger!

After finishing my list of things to do this morning in Thomasville I went to Dairy Queen! I haven't been to a Dairy Queen in at least 800 years! I had the mushroom/Swiss burger...it came with sauted mushrooms, melted Swiss cheese and a garlic mayo! Talk about wonderful! I'd have eaten another if only there had been more room in my stomach!

I got everything on my list done except for taking stuff to "the house"...maybe this afternoon (I may have to sleep off that burger!), if not then tomorrow for sure!

Meat Goats

There is a wonderful 5 week course (cost $20.00!) starting at Florida A&M University in a couple of weeks. The title of the course is Meat Goat Training Course. One of the girls at work raises hogs and goats (along with many other animals) and is considering the course...she's asked me to go with her and I'm thinking about it...I know I'd learn a bunch and I know I'd enjoy it, but it falls right smack in the middle of my move...what a silly dilemma! This course offers everything from record keeping to Bio-terrorism on the Farm. There's a hands-on training that includes physical examinations and selecting and evaluating breeding stock and hoof trimming and administering medications. There's herd health, nutrition management, pasture management and reproduction management of meat goats along with selecting and evaluating breeding stock and establishing the meat goat facility. Only thing is, I can't have goats in town!

I had a message on my phone when I got in from work yesterday from Helen...she's home! Her surgery was Wednesday, and she's home! Wow!

Talked with Mike...his blood salts have stabilized and he actually took a few steps unassisted. They did some x-rays and the abcesses have greatly reduced in size! He will be going back to the nursing home as soon as they have a bed available for him.

Am going to Thomasville, GA this morning...to Walmart...need kitty litter and a couple of other things. I plan to go by the house on the way out of town and drop off a couple of boxes, gas up the car, go by the post office for a phone card, stop by Radio Shack for more minutes on the pre-paid cell phone and then head out...talk about multi-tasking!

Finally, I'm doing something!

When I got home from work yesterday the first thing I did was call Mike to let him know that I'd just mailed him some more lemonade. He said one doctor had said that it looks like he'll be there a while longer and just a few minutes later another doctor said they were looking for a place for him.

Immediately upon hanging up Helen called. She's a bit antsy about the surgery coming up tomorrow. She seems to think she'll have her kidney removed one day and go home the next. I told her that it wasn't quite like having a tooth pulled, it might take a few days in the hospital before she got to go home. Bless her heart! 82 is awfully old for this!

While I was on the phone with Helen I walked through the house and took everything off the walls. Didn't realize just how much I had up! I completely filled the back seat of the car with wall stuff!

Then I bathed Shirley and stripped the bed and threw the sheets in the washer (I'd already taken all of the linens to the new house).

Then, I took the car load to "the house" and unloaded...there was a large hook type hanger still on the wall in the living room, so I did actually hang one large picture!

After emptying the car I headed out to the humane society to attend my first meeting...the third Monday of each month. What a good group of people! I'm glad I joined! I'll be helping with the news letter and they mentioned several other things I can do. I told them about moving and that I'd like to wait until all that's done to really get my feet wet. Anyhoo...one of the members of the board (a local lawyer, his wife is also on the board) asked if I needed any help with my move and of course, I said yes. He has trucks and helpers and they are going to move my big stuff on the 11th! Thank goodness!

Got home, put sheets in the dryer, showered, made the bed and was ready to collapse when the phone rang...my son! Had a long chat with him and then a glass of milk and piece of coconut cake and went to bed.

This morning I feel like I didn't get any rest...boy am I pooped! and in a few minutes it's off to work again! Wow!

It's begun!

Yesterday was the grand finale of the Watermelon Festival. There was a parade, an antique car show and street after street of arts and crafts and probably 25-30 different food vendors with every thing from ribs to corn dogs, cotton candy, chicken on a stick and of course, watermelon! It was wonderful! (I bought an Elvis purse!)

After the festivities (the Marine band form Albany, GA, played) I went to "the house". There sitting in my carport were my mother and my sister in folding chairs looking quite comfortable. They had opened the house and were just sitting there waiting for me to show up. Odd.

After they left I spent a couple of hours cleaning up builder junk in the yard I filled a 5 gallon bucket twice with things like roofing nails, shingles, plastic and wooden things. The builder had already "cleaned up", but his cleaning really left a lot of little stuff. I'm sure I'll find more.

I got quite over heated doing the yard at mid-day, even though it was very overcast and threw up in the yard at one point, that was a wake-up call! So I locked up the house and came back here. Around 6pm Shirley and I went back to the house and it had cooled off enough to be bearable. I put one of those screwy things with a chain in the back yard and put Shirely out on it...this is going to take some work...she was fine as long as she could see me, but she screamed and screamed when I would go in. I took my first real car load over...things from the linen closet...well, it's a beginning and officially I have until the 15th of July. I also took shelf paper for the kitchen, but I can only reach the bottom shelves, so I need to take a ladder in order to reach the others!

Talked with Mike last night. He's doing okay, or as okay as one who's been in the hospital since the 22nd of March can be doing!

Oh, I almost forgot...the computer I've been using was a cheapy find from Goodwill last year and it was soooooo slow and had NO memory (who does?) and wasn't upgradable. A girl at work told me about a rental place that sometimes had computers that were returned or reposessed and they sold them...she bought a complete Dell for $300. So I went by there Friday after work and for $50 ($25 down and $25 tomorrow when I get paid) bought just the box that is the computer, I had a monitor, key board, speakers, mouse and printer already. It's an e machine and boy howdy! it's remarkable! It downloads in seconds and is so fast that it gets ahead of me! With the old one even getting on line was a chore, now I don't even have time to get a cup of coffee before it's on!

Happy Birthday Daughter!

Forty years ago today I held in my arms for the first time the most precious bundle in the world, my daughter. She was beautiful and whole and when I looked into those intensely blue eyes, I knew her. She is still beautiful and whole and a woman not only I, but all who meet her, want to know. How blessed she has always made me feel. What a wonderful person she has created in her self!

I was blessed when this first child was born into my life and then later I was blessed with two more daughters and a son!

Happy Birthday, Daughter! I love you!

Mom

Count down

Talked with Mike last night. Two people from the nursing home came by his room yesterday at 11AM and brought him his package and visited with him for a little while. How very nice of them! I'll have to call Ginger today and thank her.

Tried to call my landlord night before last to give notice...got ans. mch...just left word that I called. Called again last night and again got ans. mch. This time I told her why I was calling. I was hoping to talk to her in person, an ans. mch. is so impersonal.

Mother and Bert brought a key to the house over last night. Shirley and I got in the car and immediately went over. I'm beginning to get a little excited. It is a very nice house. The workmen have used tha bathrooms and the toilets were really nasty. I took bleach over with me and just left the toilets sitting with bleach in them. I'll go over after work and do a little cleaning. This is now a count down. I've got to line up movers and pack.

Fleas and things

Got the hood of my car fixed yesterday. The fellow I met at the dump last week fixed it for $45.00. When I left his place it was fine, but I drove a rather bumpy road and it popped up, so I stopped and closed it, drove a little further and it popped up and I stopped and closed it again, then turned around and went back out there. A little piece wasn't seated correctly, so he fixed it. So far, so good.

Talked with Mike last night. They put his pick (?) line in yesterday. He said it went in at his elbow and followed a vein to his heart. Wow. He was in good spirits.

At lunch yesterday I talked with the nursing home. They said they would hand carry his package over to him. Nice.

This rain has really increased the flea population around here! Poor Shirley is covered again. I bathed her at 9 o'clock last night. It seemed to help, but as soon as she went out this morning she was covered again!

Nothing much

Nothing much new is going on...same ol', same ol'.

Talked with Mike this morning. He was in a lot of pain. Said they are talking about putting a semi-permanent IV port in (I forget want it's called), and that it looks like he's going to be in the hospital for a while. Asked me to call the nursing home and have his package sent to him there.

Went by the house today. The blinds have been hung and the driveway's finished. Looks good. Only two or three things to be done before I can move in...motion sensor lights need to be hung and the catches on the kitchen cabinets fixed. Something else, but I can't remember what.

Need to give landlord 30 day notice of leaving. This should give me enough time to do things like move linen closet, line kitchen shelves, move kitchen ( except for 'fridge and microwave) and get a lot of the little stuff moved in before asking for help for the big things. I still don't have a key.

George

George died yesterday. He was truly a loved cat. He was almost 17. The last six months of his life were less than ideal, but the first 16 were grand! He'll be missed...he was Mike's best "bud"...and he and I both loved him very much.

I talked with Mike this afternoon. They still don't have a handle on just what's going on with him. They are talking of perhaps doing another surgery. He's in good spirits, sounds good and thinks he's being taken very good of. I know the hospital and the doctors and I agree with him.

This is very early in the hurricane season for a named storm, but we have one! After going through 3 extremely bad hurricanes in central Florida just 9 months ago, I'm really not relishing what tomorrow may bring with this one. North Florida (where I am now) was impacted by Ivan last year and you can still see his results.

I have canned goods, water, flashlights and batteries...and a full tank of gas in the car if need be...should be good to go...it's just sorta scary doing it alone.

Mike and other things

Just got off of the phone with Mike. He's not better and they have him on two antibiotics via IV. He said a doctor was in earlier and told him they think he has a skin infection...said he couldn't remember the name the doctor said, but that it sounded "Hiwanian".

Had more to say, but it has begun thundering lots...will close for now.

It's just the pits!

I called the nursing home when I came home for lunch today and talked with someone in the office. I told her about them misplacing all of Mike's things the last time he went to the hospital and that no one seemed to be able to find them...she said she would take it on as a personal project and find his things. Then I told her about the package I sent on Monday and she said, "Oh yes, it's here, I was in the mail room earlier and saw it", well, I said I was worried that it would be lost like his other things and she said that as soon as we got off of the phone she'd go get it and keep it in her office. I felt a lot better after talking with her. I believed her.

Talked with Mike when I got home from work. He told me last night that they were planning to do a CAT scan today...they did, at 1:30 this morning! They found 3 pockets of infection. They had also gotten back his blood work and he has two bacterial infections in his blood stream, he didn't know what they are and didn't know what their plan of action is. He did say they mentioned taking him back to ORMC. I worry about how much more he can stand...he's so weak and is in considerable pain. It's all just the pits!

Prent called me this morning. It's been a couple of weeks since we've talked and I depend on his calls so much. It was like medicine for me to talk with him.

Helen called tonight. I love her like a mother and worry so much about her. She has been such a good friend for so many years. I hate not being there for her now while she's going through so much. I worry about her and very selfishly worry about losing her.

I wish I could cry.

One thing after another

Shortly after I got home from work today I got a phone call from Helen, my oldest (82) and one of my dearest friends. She had gotten a message from Mike on her answering machine today asking her to call me and let me know that he wasn't in the nursing home and was in a hospital. She thought he said "Sun" hospital and she gave me a phone number that she thought he left. Well, I called the number and it wasn't a good number and then called the nursing home, the nurses were with patients and not available and the girl on the desk didn't know anything about Mike. She (like me) hadn't heard of "Sun" hospital. So I called Helen back and asked her to get one of her boarders to listen to his message and see what he thought it said. Helen called back and gave me another number which wasn't a correct number, but was a room in a hospital. The lady in the room gave me the number of the nurses station and it turned out that Mike was there and she transferred me to his room. Bless his heart, it's just one thing after another. His red blood count had dropped to a dangerous level and yesterday they put him in the hospital and gave him two transfusions of whole blood and have him on minerals (IV) and sucrose because his blood sugar level had plummeted and his blood pressure was almost non existent. He's scheduled for a CAT scan tomorrow.

In the meantime, Helen found out several weeks ago that she has kidney cancer and she will be going into the hospital on the 22nd to have the kidney removed.

And, I'm not feeling so hot myself...I feel like I'm falling apart. Not sick, just coming unglued. I keep telling myself that it's just a matter of mind over matter, "If you don't mind it doesn't matter", but the reality of everything is that my entire world has crumbled and I feel as if everywhere I stand the ground quivers.

When it rains...

When it rains it pours! Isn't that the way it goes?

The nursing home still hasn't found Mike's things. How stupid can they be? He keeps thinking they will find it, I wonder. Yesterday I sent him a package with still another pair of glasses, books, magazines, snacks and a bunch of little things that may make him more comfortable. I need to get a clothes package together for him and some shoes. He has an appointment with the ORMC clinic today. I hope they'll get him there...he missed his last appointment there because the dumb nursing home didn't arrange transportation. He said on Sunday that he was going to verify transportation on Monday. I hope he remembered to do it.

I went by the Humane Society after work yesterday to make sure I could find it as a meeting was to be at 7 o'clock and I wanted to attend...was told that they were under quarantine because of parvo (have lost 12 dogs to date) and wouldn't be meeting...next meeting is scheduled for the 3rd Monday this month.

Drove by the house and they were in the process of pouring the driveway, 2 hours later we had one of the worse storms we've had...wonder how the driveway held up? I'll go by after work today.

When I got home I used vice grips and opened the hood of the car (had to check the oil level), well, when I was finished, the damn hood wouldn't close. Now I don't know what to do...it goes down, just won't latch...sticks up and you can tell it's open. DAMN IT!!!!!

Something fun

Today is the beginning of the 55th Annual Watermelon Festival! The kickoff began with a bar-b-q and a bed race. What with the weather being so ugly and unpredictable, I didn't stay for the race. I did, however, partake in the food! Actually, the chicken was smoked, yummy, no sauce. There were green beans, baked potatoes, a wonderful tossed salad, and an entire table of luscious desserts (I got cocoanut cake!). As I didn't know anyone there, I brought mine home and shared with Shirley, she's really good company!

After work today I had to run by Progress Energy to pick up some ad copy and since it's not far from "the house", I ran by to see if anything had been done. Well doggy, the driveway has been staked and formed out and the electrician was there!!!!! I talked with him about 2 more things that need to be done, the dining room light is on a toggle chain and I want it on a wall switch and I need an electrical outlet on the sun porch. He said that was no problem and that he thought things could be finished today! Oh, I'll keep my fingers crossed! I don't know when the driveway can be poured, I hate to wish for dry weather!

Tuesday Mike was moved from the hospital back to the nursing home. When I talked with him last night they still hadn't found his personal things that were left in his room when they took him to the hospital and he's in a different room now. It all seems so disorganized! It makes me worry about the level of care there, but he seems comfortable with it. I need to send him a clock or watch or some sort of time piece...they said for a week that they'd get him a clock and haven't yet.

As for the abscesses, the surface one was packed and Mike said the deeper one is draining into his colostomy bag, so evidently it also ruptured. He says he actually feels much better, though he is still quite weak and bed ridden.

I hear thunder, so I think I'll get off of here for now.