Declutter & Exercise - May 2012

Subject: RE: Declutter & Exercise - May 2012
From: wysiwyg
Date: 26 May 12 - 09:57 PM

I actually finished the first run thru the expenses that needed to be sorted-- writing down what each item in the charge-card billing had been for, and getting a sense of the categories I need to set up in Excel. Hardi and I will be able to knock it out Monday, easy-peasy. This is not for tax purposes (we do not itemize), but for a sense of what levels of ministry expenses we absorb without reimbursement ("let's find a donor with that interest"), and for ongoing expenses better budgeted as cash purchases now that the retrospective tabulation will make them more accurately predicted.

~Susan

Subject: RE: Declutter & Exercise - May 2012
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 27 May 12 - 10:13 AM

Another day of puttering, oriented toward finishing a couple of gardening tasks, but I also have some sewing to finish. Looks like Liz is sewing up a storm lately. I simply need to finish the duvet I picked up sheets for - I am trying to finish projects that I picked up materials for, before it all gets put away and forgotten.

SRS

Subject: RE: Declutter & Exercise - May 2012
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 27 May 12 - 02:26 PM

In for lunch and a cool-down. I'm making slow but steady progress in the front bed. Once I get to a certain logical stopping point, I'll shift gardens and work on the one where I need to plant some more crops (I have the bedding plants ready).

SRS

Subject: RE: Declutter & Exercise - May 2012
From: LilyFestre
Date: 27 May 12 - 03:58 PM

Home after a FANTASTIC concert near Philadelphia. Pete and I spent the night laughing, dancing and singing....there will be much more of this in our future.

I'm glad I worked my tail off on Friday...it meant coming home to a house in decent order today which is nice...we can kick back and relax for a bit.

Did I mention that the music was INCREDIBLE and we had FUN?

*Contented Happy Sigh*

Michelle

Subject: RE: Declutter & Exercise - May 2012
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 27 May 12 - 07:55 PM

Sounds great, Michelle! And did Jeremiah spend the weekend with grandma? I bet he enjoyed a "sleepover" also. :)

Picked up some hardwood mulch this evening and spread a couple of bags in the part of the front garden I finished today. Tomorrow is the last big push for a while, I'll try to make myself get up early enough to finish before it gets hot.

I'm going to walk the dogs now, then fix dinner and kick back for the evening. While I was out I stopped for an early dessert - I haven't had an ice cream cone in quite a while. I figure the upper-body exercise today (chopping with the adze end of the pick-adze I bought yesterday) is just like chopping wood. I burned at least an ice cream cone-worth of calories today. :)

SRS

Subject: RE: Declutter & Exercise - May 2012
From: LilyFestre
Date: 27 May 12 - 08:36 PM

Jeremiah did stay with his grandma last night...it was his first night away from us. We enjoyed our adult time but we also missed him and talked about him, talked to him on the phone, etc. He did a good job...had a hard time taking a nap but slept a solid 9 hours. We were afraid he wouldn't sleep at all....he surprised us!!! Wish you could have seen the happy dance we received when we picked him up early this afternoon!! Pure joy!

Well...the car is unloaded, the videos and photos have been downloaded, dinner made, table cleared, some fabric cut and I'm THINKING about starting some laundry but since I'm tired, it will most likely wait until tomorrow.

Pete and I had great conversations within the last 24 hours and there are some changes in the works.

Michelle

Subject: RE: Declutter & Exercise - May 2012
From: wysiwyg
Date: 27 May 12 - 09:13 PM

Where did my long post go?

Here it is again.

Early in June, I have an appt already booked with the current doc, where I will see if he is ready to take responsibility for the two times he has now ranted at me. RANTED AT ME, yup! (Lost his boundaries and he's a stressed young parent, but NOPE!).

I have two excellent references from friends with tricky diagnoses, for two docs who, it turns out, are in a different, newish practice group-- whose senior doc is one of the few MDs in the area I still respect and might trust. One of these two treated me well, several years ago, for shingles. She was located then in an odd spot in the county and had just begun to practice-- I thought she would probably move to the Big City but has stayed and is now closer.

Tuesday, I expect to pick up the older lab printouts that will show how long (in recent years) I've been chugging along, blaming myself (and allowing others to blame me) for what will turn out to have been thyroid issues the current doc MISSED (while he was ranting at me).


Once I get (and look thru) those labs, and put them into my Life Binder, I will make an appt to interview the people at various levels of this newish practice, starting with an hour of just sittin' in their waiting room to see what the vibe is, out front. If I like it, I will make appts with each of the 3 docs to see what the practice's philosophy of care might be, and how well the three docs play together-- and see if that matches the vibe and office peeps' sense of who these people are as physicians.

And if I like them I may transfer there-- I will have had minor stuff in the appts to let them "play with," before I roll out the thyroid history. If I transfer, I will ask to have their best history-taker take mine. A lot of what needs to go in there I'll have to comb out of various journals to correlate with my medical records and the old labs.

And if they do not measure up, there is also a really cool dude near Philly I can see periodically-- I have places to stay along the route now, to make it an easy trip. Holistic/integrative/complementary care due. Might just see him annually anyhoo.


I also have a surgical consult in June for a longstanding problem, just before we go to Calif. to scatter Mom's ashes, to figure into/with all of these choices.

~S~

Subject: RE: Declutter & Exercise - May 2012
From: wysiwyg
Date: 28 May 12 - 11:31 AM

FAIR WARNING

The filler in the generic synthroid I'm taking has a few annoying side effects so I may blow up once or twice till I can use 'em up (90-day supply), and go on something else. SO BITE ME. :~)


I have been trying to correlate Mary Shomon's thyroid book with the May 1 labs I got. Based on that, I just ordered the two antibody tests that were missed, plus ferritin, via HealthCheckUSA-- yup, patients CAN order their own blood tests and get the results themselves. Blood, saliva, all of that stuff, cheaper than the local hospital lab.

I can get the blood drawn later in June, probably when we fly to Calif. to scatter Mom's ashes-- we have overnight layovers near Chicago where LabCorp has testing facilities right near our hostess. Or I can drive 3 hours each way to the nearest, here, or I can pay the hosp. lab to send them out (big bucks). In any event I will have the results by the end of June.

The rest of the old labs I get tomorrow-- I can hardly wait.

~Susan

Subject: RE: Declutter & Exercise - May 2012
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 28 May 12 - 11:39 AM

I hope you find an office you're happy with, Susan.

Michelle, that first night away from home can be a big deal or not, it all depends on if you make an issue of it or not. My kids started doing sleepovers with friends in elementary school and they still do sleepovers in college. :) There was one night when my six-year-old son was feeling out of sorts because his older sister got to go to a sleepover, and I knew the six-year-old granddaughter of my nextdoor neighbor was staying for the weekend, so I called and asked if she wanted to come to a sleepover at our house. She came bouncing across the driveway in her pjs with her pillow and blanket (she'd actually already gone to bed!) and they had a great time. Turns out this was her first sleepover, but because it was so close to home and because she didn't have time to think about it being a new or scary place away from home, it went perfectly. (One of the few things in that child's life that has gone easily!)

Last night I left myself a sink full of dishes, and this morning I found a spider and her web across the top of my blender. It was only overnight, honest, but it had a bit of the abandoned look with that development.

This morning I made a smoothy with banana and frozen blueberries since I was almost out of frozen strawberries. Wonderful! I looked up some of the foods that cause "inflammation," thinking about the hand issue, and find that the "nightshade" plants are on a list to avoid. Ack! Tomatoes, eggplant, peppers, potatoes. Everything that is in my garden! I will see about eliminating the other stuff and see if that takes care of the tomato conundrum.

SRS

Subject: RE: Declutter & Exercise - May 2012
From: LilyFestre
Date: 28 May 12 - 12:51 PM

We didn't make a big deal out of the overnight. I packed his suitcase (yes, he has his very own Sesame Street suitcase...Jeremiah sized and sooo cute) the night before and he had fun lugging it around the house. Pete and I dropped him off at my mom's house, gave him hugs and kisses goodbye like normal and off we went! It really was nice to see that he did just fine. Mom has agreed to take him once a month for an overnight now if we need or want an evening to ourselves.

Today I made a project.....a little tote bag made of strips that I cut this morning, some fusible interfacing,etc. It's even lined! I used teal (for ovarian cancer), peach (for uterine cancer) and dark purple (for SURVIVOR) for the stripes. The top color used for binding and the lining of the bag are also dark purple. I'll be using this bag to carry my medical paperwork to appointments. I love the dark purple..makes me feel strong! :)

Later I'll be out in the raised beds that Pete made me (close to the house so I can get in and out of the sun quickly...bright, hot sun makes me sick and meds make my skin photo sensitive).

Laundry is going, dishes need to be done later.

A Gotcha Day party is in the works too!

As Travis Tritt likes to sing..."It's a GREAT day to be alive!"

Michelle who loves having home time with her guys.

Subject: RE: Declutter & Exercise - May 2012
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 28 May 12 - 02:54 PM

I've almost finished digging the Louisiana iris in the front bed. I came in to cool down and have lunch. Once the iris are out I'll dig the soil a bit more (I know I left a lot of rhizomes behind) and mulch it. I worked carefully around my Texas star hibiscus (four plants out there).

Subject: RE: Declutter & Exercise - May 2012
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 28 May 12 - 05:51 PM

Second wheelbarrow full of weeds will head to the compost in a few minutes. I came in for a refill - I'm on my third tankard of ice water. Now to the veggie garden for some surgical weeding - a few spots that had a crop (potatoes) and now need weeding before putting in other crops (squash, okra, and some beans). Yes, it's too hot for beans, but I thought I'd like to have a climbing plant so I'll find someplace to plant it.

It is a holiday so I took a steak out of the freezer to grill later. The chard is looking good so I'll bring in a few leaves, and let the dogs have the stalks in their dinner. I'm glad I started putting raw veggies and fruit in their dinner dishes--I think it's better for them and it means I don't waste some of this stuff that I don't get around to eating. I've been eating a few of my cherry tomatoes, still waiting on the big ones to pinken before bringing them in (I don't want the birds or squirrels to notice them so I don't usually leave them out much beyond pink. This kind of ripe tomato is so different than the ones they pick in fields that are hard and green for the trip to the store. Here, "windowsill ripe" is the same as "vine ripe." :)

SRS

Subject: RE: Declutter & Exercise - May 2012
From: LilyFestre
Date: 28 May 12 - 06:08 PM

Sewed together 45 5"squares...it's the beginning of a nice coverlet. :)

Michelle

Subject: RE: Declutter & Exercise - May 2012
From: katlaughing
Date: 28 May 12 - 11:06 PM

managed a modified qi gong in a chair for about 20 minutes and about 6 x's up and down our hall, last night

scrubbed the batrm today and took a few more steps whilst shopping. No naps today...working on getting new schedule going with alt. meds. and other changes.

morgan will be here all day for the next two weeks and I get a new tip up on IV iron this Friday

done with tylenol for pain and benadryl to kill the itching because of tylenol. it looks as though we've found a painkiller which really helps.

i'll write more when more of the ultra-shock wears off from docs with dickheads.

Subject: RE: Declutter & Exercise - May 2012
From: wysiwyg
Date: 29 May 12 - 11:20 AM

Rats! Missed the non-lightning window of time for the pool while setting up some things for health needs, so..... I guess it's stair-climbs in the house and porch today!

~Susan

Subject: RE: Declutter & Exercise - May 2012
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 29 May 12 - 12:45 PM

Kat, that's good news about the new painkiller. Getting rid of the tylenol/benedryl will give you a lot more energy.

Well, the tree guy was here, but he left again, to get his trailer. It has a flat tire - but I came in and checked my water bill - the second week next month is bulky waste so we can pile all of this at the curb. His phone skills aren't great, I tried calling. I even texted him a short message that no trailer was needed. I wonder if he will read it and come back. It's warm and very muggy out there today, but there seems to be a lot of outdoor activity - next door is having tree work done and across the street they're painting. Lots of traffic on this end of the block.

SRS

Subject: RE: Declutter & Exercise - May 2012
From: Bat Goddess
Date: 29 May 12 - 06:45 PM

When I was 5 I did my first away from home stay -- with my grandparents on the farm a couple hundred miles from home. I rode to Colby from Milwaukee with a couple great aunts. My mother called after I'd been there for a couple hours and was very hurt that I didn't want to talk to her. After all, I had just seen her a few hours before...

Linn

Subject: RE: Declutter & Exercise - May 2012
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 29 May 12 - 08:41 PM

I have some antique cameras to take to work tomorrow for an exhibit, then I'll hurry back home and see if the tree guy has arrived YET. My goodness but this is a long drawn out process. I saw him for a little while, but he didn't come back after he went to get a tire for his trailer.

I have been weeding the garden, one spot is a little low and must not have good drainage, it's where the basil grows but it's full of nutsedge. An annoying weed. I'll water and pull some more tomorrow. After a while the basil will be big and crowd it out, but so far the sedge is winning.

A sink of dishes has piled up, and I need to clear more space in the sun room, it's time to post some more eBay stuff. I made some sales on the china and there are more pieces that have popped up but no one else is having any luck selling it. I'm going to bundle what I have and put a low-ball price and see if I can ship it out of the house that way. I've kept a few pretty pieces, that's enough of an impractical design.

SRS

Subject: RE: Declutter & Exercise - May 2012
From: wysiwyg
Date: 29 May 12 - 09:59 PM

Got some of the old labs, more to order from other labs.

3 sets of stairs today plus pool this evening-- 30 hot minutes 172 - 188 BPM.

~Susan

Subject: RE: Declutter & Exercise - May 2012
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 30 May 12 - 12:35 AM

Dishes finished, kitchen cleaned, laundry all folded and put away. I didn't mow the front today, though I hoped to find the time. I've been working on a kind of complicated and tedious article for work so I spent more time on it to get it out of the way (I hope to finish it tomorrow - it's a compilation of information for a campus organization for the last 25 years. I think the last 10 years should be in digital form and I can cut and paste. The rest had to be transcribed.)

Weather is supposed to cool down for a few days around the weekend. I'll work on my indoor stuff tomorrow and see how yardwork looks on Thursday.

SRS

Subject: RE: Declutter & Exercise - May 2012
From: ragdall
Date: 30 May 12 - 01:17 AM

You people are all so energetic! I get tired just reading about all that you do in a day.

From: Stilly River Sage - Date: 24 May 12 - 12:31 AM
Sometimes, Rags, it pays to hire a carpenter to come in and do this -especially when it keeps getting bigger. They are usually a lot faster than we are at the same job. Just a thought.

SRS, I tried to do that. He wouldn't even call me back, let alone come to do a cost estimate. I'm on my own with this project.

The old tiles are sorted, broken pieces too small to use are piled in a box. Broken pieces which might be made to fit somewhere are with the "reusable tile". I discovered that the tiles had retained moisture from the leaky walls. Some were wetter than others. They have all been set out on the deck railings and tables in the sun on three days. At night and now all are spread on tarps in the living room, continuing the drying process. Mr. rags and I have removed the 25 year old dried mastic and grout from all the whole tiles and most of the large broken or cut pieces.

Today I bought 13 ft² of plain white tile to use to make up for the old tiles that broke when I was removing or cleaning them. I'm planning to use them along the bottom of the walls where I will need to cut tiles to fit. I'm afraid the old tiles will shatter if I try to cut them. They're irreplaceable. At least if these white ones shatter I know where I can buy more of them.

I'm still scraping dried mastic off the plywood walls. I can't do it for very long at a time because my hands go numb and I can't hold the tools. I hope to have a sound dry surface to work with soon. Because the shower is in the ensuite bathroom, in anticipation that I'll soon be able to start gluing tile, I've relocated our bedding, clothing and toiletries to the basement where we will hopefully be safe from any fumes.

I'm afraid to get started with the gluing in case I mess this job up. I wish I could remember how I did it 25 years ago, but I have a hard time now remembering a few minutes ago.

rags

Subject: RE: Declutter & Exercise - May 2012
From: wysiwyg
Date: 30 May 12 - 07:20 AM

rags, I salute your commitment to the history of the old place, really I do, but plywood is not a historic material. Would it not be better to remove that and start with underlying material that will keep the old tiles from having to be taken off in 5 years? Here we would use a type of sheetrock with built-in moisture prevention....

===

I have a selection now of old labs going back a number of years, from one of the providers who "missed" my thyroid Dx. I have a few more laboratories to solicit for some missing pieces-- one would have probably been a more complete testing battery by an endo but first I have to spot that appointment in time before the hospital will go back into what are now archives, and I am not sure I need them just yet-- what I have plus new labs I will get in June will probably add up to a Hashimoto's Dx. For now I am going with what I know.

~Susan

Subject: RE: Declutter & Exercise - May 2012
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 30 May 12 - 10:24 AM

I agree with Susan - try another carpenter and have him remove the plywood. You should be using a greenboard version of drywall - it's meant to go in shower surrounds, kitchens near the sink, etc. The carpenter needs to take down the entire wall, though, and replace it, then you put new tile up. If he's careful he can take down the old wall and the tile and you can pick it off. Might be easier and cheaper to replace all of the tile and have the whole surround replaced with greenboard. It isn't cheap, necessarily, unless you consider the times in the future you'll have to fuss with plywood.

Taking stuff over to the office - this almost guarantees that the tree guy will arrive five minutes after I leave. I will leave the lock on the gate but unlocked so the neighbor can corral the dogs, and I left a hoe near the gate so they can mend any new holes the dogs dig (since I filled a couple an hour ago.)

SRS

Subject: RE: Declutter & Exercise - May 2012
From: wysiwyg
Date: 30 May 12 - 02:46 PM

I made the lab results into a chart even a doctor can read, and binderized the lot.

I remade a screen and started another-- we have enough to do that I need Hardi to convert a screen-making bench out of the scrap table on the back porch, and then it might be a 1-perspon job to make them all. I'm adding a layer of scrim fabric to catch Marcellus dust on the main floor windows, else they have to be kept shut except for rainy days. I have some pretty scrim on hand-- so nice to look thru-- that I am saving for the two LR windows yet to make, which have a weird metal spline I am nervous about removing till I find where I can buy replacement rubber spline.

Then I have a lot of old fabric I can slice out of old sheer window panels for the tall kitchen's narrow winders. TBTG I recall how the old farm workshop's screens were made to do a batch the easy way! It was.... circa 1999-ish but it's as clear as a bell, thanks to the thyroid meds. Maybe it's NOT strokebrain.

Also sprang up the stairs and did a buncha chores up here. Headed back down now, tra-la!

~Susan

Subject: RE: Declutter & Exercise - May 2012
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 30 May 12 - 05:09 PM

The tree guy and his son are here, the trailer is up and running (it had a flat tire yesterday) and they're hauling branches and limbs out of the yard. The dogs are in the kennel that is half sun, half shade, and they enjoy watching the guys work. It's a cooler afternoon than we've had lately (high 80s today), making the job easier. I need to mow back and front this week, I've left the back till they finish so I can mulch in all of the leaves that are left behind.

Gave myself a scare today - I got to the feed store to buy dog food and had no wallet in my bag. (!) It was on a chair at home, having fallen out. This was a good reminder that I need a scan of everything in my wallet for "just in case."

SRS

Subject: RE: Declutter & Exercise - May 2012
From: katlaughing
Date: 30 May 12 - 08:02 PM

There's some life, yet. Managed to do a small amt. of dishes this morning. A whole day of Morgan, good as he tried to be, was very tiring. He did water the perennials, annuals, fir and redbud trees. He also played with the dogs.

We've been talking, all along, about death and dying. Young as he is, he's already been touched by it when his step/only-dad-he-know's dad died when they were up for Tksgiving. We have very frank discussions. When his mom was 8, she popped up one day with the question of a vintage fur coat I had. Wanted to know if she could have it when I died. Made me laugh at the time. Yesterday Morgan commented he hoped I wouldn't go on a holiday. When I asked him why, he said 'cause they would all be really sad on that holiday. So, we talked about being happy someone has been released from pain, etc. if appropriate and how they'd probably want you to have a good time, etc. over the years. I do love him so.

Subject: RE: Declutter & Exercise - May 2012
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 31 May 12 - 12:32 AM

Hard lessons for kids. He sounds kind of scared, Kat. I hope you helped him understand a bit.

The branches are all gone, but so is one of my pines. After cutting and loading all of the neighbor's down limbs on his trailer, I had arranged for Mr. Molina to take down a hackberry at the fence (that was going to break the fence). As they pulled it over with a rope once it was cut, it became snagged in a tall spindly pine (one that was never very healthy) and that tree snapped off halfway up. Last year's drought and growing in the shade were too much for it, so I'm short two trees and all of those limbs. I'll put in a better variety of pine (Italian stone pine instead of an Afghan pine - they're a true desert tree and don't like the prairie so much). With more light back there, a new tree will be healthier also.

SRS

Subject: RE: Declutter & Exercise - May 2012
From: wysiwyg
Date: 31 May 12 - 11:53 AM

Tip for the day:

LEPTIN.

LEPTIN!

THE READER'S REVIEW DESCRIBES ITS RELEVANCE

~S~

Subject: RE: Declutter & Exercise - May 2012
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 31 May 12 - 03:42 PM

Amazing how all of the different parts of the body can mis-behave or respond to stimulus. Good luck with that one!

We had an amazing stormy night, between 2 and 3 inches of rain, and now the yard is well-watered to the point that it is gooshy. I'll wait a couple of days before I mow, but I'll also take advantage of this good soak to do more work on a new bed over the weekend.

Susie got a note on her door from the code inspector that if she didn't remove a bunch of branches (her son trimmed trees for her) at the bottom of her driveway by June 3, they'll write a ticket. Trouble is, bulky waste for our area is starting the week of Jun 11, when the city would pick it up. They won't cut her any slack for barely being back home let alone able to do anything. I told her about my neighbor Antonio and he came up to meet her this morning (she and her grandson walked 2 1/2 blocks to my house for her exercise). I drove her to run a couple of errands and then back to her house and he was there to cut up and haul them to the city dump site in his pickup. And she has also arranged for him to mow her yard every 10 days (to keep it in the budget she has for it and for the amount he'd like to be paid per mow job). This is great - it means Susie has someone else she can call for these jobs, and Antonio has another source of work. He himself was badly injured 10 years ago (broken back, spine has pins and plates in it) but he can do these things. He said what he doesn't do now is heavy lifting or standing or sitting in one place for a long time. After years out of the workplace it has been difficult to find a regular job, so at least we can give him this kind of thing to help with the bills and use word-of-mouth to get him more jobs.

SRS

Subject: RE: Declutter & Exercise - May 2012
From: katlaughing
Date: 31 May 12 - 05:28 PM

You sure seem to have a great neighbourhood, SRS.

I don't think Morgan is scared and as we talk, he seems very self-assured, accepting. His mom was that way as a child, too. Kind of "in the know," but of course I do work with him about such things. He does know it will be hugely different some day when I am no longer here, but we've already gone 2-3 days without calling or seeing each other (a first for us!) as he matures, 8.5 yrs now!, and as he is used to never seeing his other granddad since almost two years ago. He is also very aware psychically and in ESP communication.

He was wearing me out, yesterday, so I sat him down and got a little exact about what I am working on healing and how stress doesn't help. I specifically told him I'd like to be here to see him graduate and do a lot of other things, so my days need to be less stressful, ie. we both need to use our communications skills, better, esp. listening!:-) It got through. We had a great talk and today was much better.

Subject: RE: Declutter & Exercise - May 2012
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 02 Jun 12 - 01:43 PM

I forgot, I was distracted. I'll do that now.

Subject: RE: Declutter & Exercise - May 2012
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 02 Jun 12 - 02:00 PM

Here you go. June 2012.