Hello Darkness, My Old Friend. It's Getting Cold In Here Again.

Our kitchen is small. Like postage stamp sized small. We have only the cupboard under the sink and one tiny side cupboard that make up the bottom bank of cabinets. The top cabinets include one double cabinet over the island, (that holds the tiny side cupboard and the dishwasher), a regular size cabinet to the left of the sink, 2 small cabinets that share the corner to the right of the sink, and a bank of small baskets that go above the stove and refrigerator. Did I mention it's small?

There is no pantry. We have a shelf pot rack hung on the wall to hang our pots and pans when not in use, a baker's rack that holds the microwave oven and some small appliances in the cupboard underneath, and a big hotel armoire with four large drawers as storage. We call the armoire the "pantry" just as a way to identify it to one another. And while it holds quite a bit, it really is not nearly as convenient as a walk in pantry would be. One day, I hope that we can build one just off the kitchen in the garage. If we ever do, I would ensure it was large enough to hold a spare refrigerator, all of the small appliances that are in the laundry room, because we don't use them that often, so they haven't made the list to stay upstairs, and the upright freezer we have downstairs. 

Because, let's face it. It's not convenient to have the freezer downstairs. It's also not convenient to have to go down there to get extra paper towels, the waffle iron, or the syrup, and it makes putting groceries away great fun. We definitely get our exercise when we're unpacking the car and putting the frozen stuff away. 

But that is our situation for the foreseeable future, and we'll deal with it. We are actually very, very thankful that we have that extra storage space, and I am not complaining. Just explaining. 

So the other night, I asked Hopper to run downstairs and get the last of the pizzas that were in the freezer. We'd gotten some when we'd gone shopping a few weeks ago, and there were 2 left, and they were going to be supper. We had just stocked up on a few more necessities the other day, so the freezer was full, so I asked Hopper to make sure she closed the freezer well. When she came upstairs, she said that she had, so I popped the pizzas in the oven and forgot about it. 

Yesterday morning, I went to the laundry room to start a load of clothes. I was in my stocking feet, which is abnormal, because I'm wearing shoes 95% of the time I'm awake. But certain shoes throw me a little bit off balance on the stairs, so I kicked them off before I headed down. And I'd barely stepped into the laundry room, when my foot was soaking wet. The freezer was defrosting all over the floor. 

:::le sigh:::

The freezer had been open since the night before, when Hopper got the pizzas out. I know I should have checked on it, but there are some nights that I just need a little break, and that night, those stairs seemed so incredibly long, and I took the easy way out. I needed a break right then. It's probably good I got it when I did, because I've been working on the freezer in my spare time since then!

I can't get mad at Hopper. She did the best she could, and she often says, "no" when she means yes, and vice versa. It's on me. And instead of beating myself up over it, I've decided to just be thankful that the freezer will be clean, and I'll be able to organize it and keep it clean, to prevent this from happening again.

I realized that Hopper had pulled one of the drawers out and then couldn't get it pushed back in all the way, which made the door hinges appear to have been sprung. And as handy as I thought it would be to have drawers in the freezer, they haven't been that great. Then again, we probably haven't implemented them in quite the way they were intended. We've used them to store the frozen goodies from the garden, and come to think of it, the freezer packs that Hubster used to use in his cooler for lunch were in there, as well. I think that they just weighed the drawers down to much to allow them to move freely. So once we stock up on groceries again, I'll make sure that nothing heavy goes in either drawer. 

I've already found a short box that I can stand the freezer packs in that is going to work perfectly to help keep things organized and still allow us to access them easily. 

Don't worry. It's on a shelf. 

I've learned my lesson.

When we go get the groceries to fill the freezer again, I'll have Hopper help me put them away. Hopefully, I can make it a learning opportunity and explain that she can't move things around or pull the drawers out, because we always need to make sure the door closes completely. If need be, we'll start locking it, so she can't get in and rearrange things. 

If all else fails, there is an alarm on the freezer, to let us know, if the door has been left open, but it has a major design flaw. . .

We have to remember to turn it on. 

Grease is the word.

Awhile back, I took pieces of legal size card stock and made lists of things I had to do on each of them. I have them hanging in the hallway, so I have to go past them several times a day, and I find that I'm actually seeing them instead of them blending into the wall, which is a really good thing. And today, after updating the wipe off calendar with upcoming appointments, I marked those things off the lists that I'd gotten done since I hung them up back in August.

Imagine my surprise when I realized that I'd completed all but 2 of the dozen or so things that were on Hopper's and Scooter's lists. There is still more to do, but I'm well on my way to completing the lists by the end of the year and possibly by Thanksgiving. That will be nice. Life will hopefully slow down a bit for us by then, but things will pick up again after the first of the year, I'm sure.

My goal for tomorrow and Friday is to get the last of the tomatoes from the garden canned or made into salsa or sauce. I'm really going to miss the fresh tomatoes over the winter. Store bought tomatoes just don't have any flavor compared to what comes out of the garden. I'm already looking forward to gardening next year and to the canned salsa, sauce and tomatoes that we'll enjoy over the winter months. 

I'm thinking about getting my pressure cooker canner out and canning some soups, chili and stews, too. It just seems like it would be so handy to have it available when I don't feel like cooking or am too busy to throw something together at the last minute. Plus we'd know what was put in it, and we wouldn't have to worry about all the junk and chemicals added to store bought canned foods. I haven't decided what I'm going to do just yet, but I'll have fun thinking about it, anyway.

One of the things I'd considered canning was chicken and dumplings. I attempted my first batch of chicken and dumplings a few days ago, and they turned out really well. Everyone seemed to like them, and nobody objected to eating leftovers the following day, so I know I'll make them again. We are all looking forward to that day.

But because we'd never had them before, Hopper didn't know what they were. And because of her speech and hearing issues, she struggles with retaining certain words until she's been exposed to them enough times that she's got them down cold. I was working with her the day before when she was asking what I was making, and tried to help her get the word, "dumplings", down. She was doing pretty well, so I thought she'd gotten it. 

So the next day when I was getting ready to heat them up for supper, I asked Hopper what they were called. She could remember the "chicken" part of it, but for life of her, she couldn't remember the "dumplings" part. So I tried prompting her by saying, "chicken annnnd _____?"

Her answer?
 ,

"Grease!!!!"


This girl cracks me up!

Busy. Busy. Busy.

I can't believe it's been 2 months since I've posted on my blog. I remember when I first started blogging I thought I'd never be one of those bloggers who waited so long to write a post. Ha. It's funny how life can get in the way of blogging.

Thankfully, I just have a really sensitive sense of smell, and my blood sugar was not very elevated back in August when I had it checked. My fasting glucose test was totally normal, and my A1C was at borderline pre-diabetic levels, and I'm sure it's gone down since then. Still, it was a much-needed wake-up call! We've made drastic changes to our diet because of it, and we're starting to see some really positive results.

While my asthma still is not under control, it is finally responding to the new medicines I'm on, and I've been able to start tapering the steroids. I am so very thankful! I'm down to half the daily amount I started on back in June, and I'm hoping to be off them entirely by Christmas. And the number of breathing treatments I've needed has dropped by more than half. At the peak of the fires this summer, I was doing 7 a day. I'm now down to 3. It's progress for which I'm very grateful!

We've been busy with medical appointments for the girls. We've averaged 3 to 4 appointments a week since the last blog entry. The only break we had in appointments was after Hopper had surgery a couple of weeks ago. It doesn't look like things are going to slow down much on the medical front before the end of the year. We've already got another surgery scheduled and another one that we'll be scheduling next week. I'm glad the girls are getting the medical treatment they need, but I'm looking forward to a break in the action. I'm tired. 

I haven't done a lot of active dehoarding in the last few months, but I have no doubt that will come in time. I've had bigger things on my mind. The whole blood sugar scare, along with one surgeon wanting Hopper to lose some weight, so she can have a major surgery sometime next year has really opened our eyes to the way we were eating. We're now making a very concentrated effort to eat as healthily as we can. As a result, we've all lost a little weight. I'm down 15 pounds to date, Hubster is down 18, Hopper has lost 5 and Scooter has lost a couple, although she had the least amount to lose. And the best thing is that we've all been healthier than typical for this time of year. Yay for fruits and veggies!

Speaking of which, I've got about 40 pounds of tomatoes from the garden that need to be processed. I already canned several pints of Tomato Basil Sauce that is amazing, but now I need to make some salsa and can it, some more sauce and some whole tomatoes to use this winter. Even though our tomatoes didn't do as well as they did last year, I'm thrilled that we'll have such yummy goodness from the garden all winter long!

I'm hoping to get back to some serious dehoarding one of these days as life slows down a little. I'm also hoping to get back to more regular blogging. I miss it. And now that we no longer need to have the air conditioner on, (it is just feet away from the computer), I can actually sit at the computer without freezing.

There's something to be said for good weather blogging.

K Sare Ah. Sare Ah.

Wheezy.

Wheezy and snotty.

Wheezy and snotty and tired. 

Really, really tired. 

I'm trying to keep things together until our insurance kicks in 5 weeks from now. I have been fighting something, but I'm not exactly sure what it is. I think it's likely just allergies, but whatever it is has decided to play games with my asthma. Stupid whatever it is. And it's not that I'd necessarily go to the doctor even, if we did have insurance. It's just that I'm trying to keep things together, so it doesn't get so bad I have no choice but to go in. That's all. It just feels weird to be without insurance for the first time in almost 20 years. I think I just sort of took it for granted when we did have it and assumed it would always be there.

Needless to say, I'll be happy to see the insurance cards come in the mail when the time is right.

I have slowly but surely getting my mental energy back. The physical energy is coming along bit by bit as well, but I have to admit that I look forward to being able to being able to put in a full day's work more often than I have been without being totally worn out for the following few days. I need to get back into taking my vitamins more regularly. I sort of got off track back in February when I had my second tonsillectomy, and my train is still derailed.

I do have to admit that part of the fatigue today has to do with the events of the weekend. We finally got the second raised garden bed in the backyard built last weekend, and we got it all filled with the good soil and manure and compost and such yesterday. So now my tomatoes and peppers are all planted! I'm so excited!

I still want to get the pallet garden done, so we can have lettuce and spinach and peas and such, but at this point, I honestly think I'll be okay, if it doesn't happen. I mean, I'd really, really like to get it done, so I haven't ruled it out just yet. I just don't know, if it will happen this year or not. 

Whatever will be, and all, right?

Springtime in the Rockies

It's that time of year again. You know, the time when you have record temp lows and snow every Tuesday of April? Yep. That time.

Went out to the backyard with Bugster, so she could grab a planter to plant her mint in, and I couldn't believe the job the wind did on the backyard. I know a lot of it is just as we left it last Fall, but there is definitely a bit of a mess from the wind, too. 

It was a bit overwhelming to see the amount of work we're going to have to do to get the backyard back in order. The apple tree is still only partially down with the limbs reaching across half of the backyard. We'll be cutting it into smaller pieces and possibly splitting it for people to use in their smokers. We also have a couple of ash trees we had to cut down a couple of years ago that we have to finish up. Hopefully, if we get it cut and split, we can sell it as firewood or use it to barter for services and get some help on the yard.

As much as I'm overwhelmed with the backyard, I'm dying to get my hands dirty and work out there! I always feel so much better working outside and getting the fresh air. We're getting an old pickup truck soon, because we have needed one for years. We're getting a good price on it and buying it from a reliable mechanic, so we should get several years out of it, and we'll put it to use on the backyard first.

Well, that, and getting some pallets for gardening. We have an area that always seems to end up overflowing with weeds at the side of the house. It borders the fence between our house and the neighbors', and it will be perfect for pallet gardening. It's about 25'x3', and it will be home to all sorts of lettuce, spinach, peas and assorted herbs, as well as a pumpkin or two that will be allowed to travel the fence and make its way down the edge of the driveway. It may not happen this year, but eventually, I would love to grow enough pumpkins that the kids in the girls' day program can come out and each year and pick one. 

 And although it would be pretty growing in a pallet garden, I don't think I'll be growing any mint this year. Bugster brought some over last night that she got to plant in her own garden, and I made the mistake of smelling it. In fact, I smelled the peppermint and spearmint along with the other two varieties she bought. It brought on a lovely asthma attack, and it reminded me that I need to be careful of certain things. So when I want some mint-infused water this summer, I'll have to borrow some of Bugster's mint. Not that she'll want it back. I'll offer to return it, anyway. 

I'm thinking a pallet garden is the way to go to make the meddling neighbor happy, too. We put up a privacy panel with lattice at the top at the side of our house shortly after we moved in. It was a little on the narrow side for the space, so we took more lattice and attached it to our panel and the neighbor's fence post. Unfortunately, the lattice started coming down, and between the wind and a little extra help from our neighbor, there's nothing there now. It doesn't look very good at all. If we get her consent, we'll go ahead and put up a small pallet, attaching it to her fence on one side and to our panel on the other, add some flowers or ivy, and I'm hoping she'll be happy with it. It would definitely be an improvement over what is going on out there right now.

I think I need to start making some lists with all the big things we have to get done around here, so I don't feel so overwhelmed. It's funny how just writing it down makes things less stressful. 

I'm sensing a theme here...

Getting there...

I'm doing my best to get out of the rut and into a groove and having some success...

Went to the dentist first thing this morning to see, if I needed another root canal. A few weeks ago I went in and had one of my molars prepped for a crown, and it hasn't stopped hurting since then. The dentist tapped my tooth with a fair amount of force, and it didn't hurt, so no root canal is necessary. That was a nice surprise.

When I was done, I had to return some headphones of the girls that had broken. This is the 2nd pair in the last month that we've had to return, but they lasted quite awhile. One pair lasted 8 months - the other 9. The really good thing is that the store no longer carries them, so we'll get a store credit for them, and we can still buy the headphones online for less than half what we paid for them in the store. Plus we'll get to go shopping and spend the store credit. It's a win/win.

When I was done returning the headphones, I ran to the hardware store. I needed to ask a few questions about small fluorescent light that we bought to go above the kitchen sink. We'd had one for a little over a year, but the ballast couldn't be replaced. If we'd known that when we bought the thing, we never would have bought it. Who buys what basically is a disposable light??

Got the information I needed, picked up 4 packages of light bulbs for 50 cents a pack, since each was short a bulb or two, grabbed a fluorescent bulb that is in the sunshine spectrum, (hoping it helps with my seasonal depression over the winter months), and came home to wire a cord onto the replacement light Hubster picked up this weekend. It was supposed to be hardwired, but there's no wiring in the area we wanted it installed, so I just reused the cord from the disposable light. Wiring it with the cord took no time at all, but I got distracted by the garden once I was done.... 

Picked over 3 gallons of tomatoes today. There are still a few that have pockmarks from hail damage, and they'll spoil quickly, so I need to do what I can to process them tomorrow. I'll be blanching and freezing most of them, but I'll make some sort of sauce with the really ripe ones. I will just let it simmer on the back burner for most of the day and make some sort of pasta dish with some of it and toss the rest in a freezer bag to use later.

After taking the girls' temperatures to see, if they'll be going to school and the day program tomorrow, (they won't be - they are both feverish), calling them in sick, and getting them to bed I started working on installing the light above the kitchen sink. It took quite a bit of work to get it installed, because the only stud I could mount it to was centered above the sink, and the screw holes were on either end of the light. I took a scrap of 1x6 that was out in the garage and attached it to the stud centered above the sink and into wall anchors on either end. Then I just screwed the light fixture onto the 1x6. It worked well, but it was a literal pain in the neck due to the odd angle I had to crane my neck in order to see what I was doing.

By the time I was done, my head was throbbing. It's obvious that the girls have shared, and I've got whatever is giving them the fevers. The good thing is that I will sleep like a dream tonight. Hubster helped me put plywood between our mattress and box springs, and it has made all the difference in the world! It's the first I've awakened in a really long time without my back hurting me all day long. 

So yeah. Now I'm ready to go to bed and see, if I can't get rid of the rest of this headache.

How dost thou tempt me, oh Spring!

The battle with caffeine withdrawal has gone pretty smoothly. I was able to stave off the excruciating headaches until almost a week after giving up the evil that is caffeinated soda, so I don't think these headaches have anything at all to do with withdrawal. I just think I have whatever Hubster has that is making him miserable. A bad head cold.

I'll live.

Granted, it will be with the aid of meds that can help with the headache, but I will live.

I'm still trying to plug away and get things done in spite of how I feel. I have more success some days than others, but that's nothing new. I do feel good at having gotten some more deep cleaning done. I moved the stove and refrigerator out and cleaned underneath them. There was something really sticky under the edges of the appliances that seeped further under the refrigerator than the stove. My guess is that Hopper spilled something when she was attempting to fill a glass. Considering the stickiness of the spill, I'm assuming it was rootbeer. As dirty as it gets under appliances that get cleaned under every 6 to 9 months or so, I can't imagine what they'd look like, if I'd have waited any longer. Yuck.

This weather is making it doubly hard to be sick. It's so nice outside that I am dying to get out there and do some gardening. I've got some major cabin fever. I want to get my hands in the dirt. I want to turn the soil and plant the seeds. The fact that the apple and pear trees have just finished blooming and the strawberries are doing so well that every single plant has blossoms on it makes it so much harder! I am so tempted to go out and plant my garden already, but I know it would be a mistake. It's still too early to plant, in spite of the current gorgeous weather.

This is Colorado, after all. I know that the moment I took the plunge and got my hands dirty in garden soil, I would regret it. We would get a monumental frost, and I'd lose all the effort that I'd put into the garden in an instant. I'm doing my best to fight that primal urge that Spring brings every year.

I will not be able to resist temptation much longer. Thankfully, I shouldn't have to. It's usually safe to plant Mother's Day weekend. Only 3 weeks to go. Not that I'm counting or anything.

I just hope I can hold out that long...

Immobilization. It's not as fun as it sounds.

What I didn't mention in my last post from a couple of weeks ago is that I've really been struggling lately. I said that we had a really long and stressful day getting state IDs and flu shot and all the week before and made 7 pints of salsa. And I mentioned that I was still getting things done.

However, my effectiveness as a person slowed to almost a complete halt during the days after that outing. Dehoarding stopped. Most house work and laundry came to a screeching halt. Yep. I have been pretty worthless.

The night before we spent the day getting the documentation for the girls that was needed my stomach started churning. Flipping. Rolling, if you will. Nonstop. Like I had a hamster on a wheel in the pit of my gut. It didn't stop at all for over 2 weeks.

You know how your stomach jumps when you see a baby almost fall headfirst down the stairs? Or you see a ball roll out in front of you in the street while you're driving, and you notice a small child in your periphery? Or you witness an accident caused by an erratic driver? 

Yeah. That kind of flipping.

When my stomach did finally stop flipping it was short lived. As in about 18 hours or so. And then it started up again. I felt like I was going to jump out of my skin. Even when I was expecting a call, I'd nearly jump out of my skin when the phone actually rang. I felt like I was trembling all the time, but when I would hold my hand up to check to see, if it was shaking, it wasn't. I was just shaking on the inside. 

I made an appointment to see my doctor, but I had to cancel the first one due to bad roads. The last thing I needed to do is get in a car and drive on ice in the condition I was in. I knew I needed help, and that I was having a problem with anxiety. I also knew that I didn't know how to make it stop on my own. That I needed help. Because when your stomach is flipping and turning all the time like that, it's hard to concentrate. To eat. To sleep. To function.

The doctor confirmed that I was suffering from anxiety. The only other time I've had anything even close to this happen was when I had a reaction to a medication a few years ago. I have to wonder, if that reaction made my body more susceptible to anxiety. I guess it doesn't matter. I have it now. 

We met with the attorney on Monday. Plunked down the $500 for the court costs, but we won't actually have to pay the attorney's fees. Hubster signed up for some sort of legal plan through the company he works for last year, and it pays the attorney. And although we could technically do this on our own, we'd much rather have the expertise a lawyer can lend to the situation. I shudder at the thought of what the anxiety would be like, if we weren't going through an attorney!

I have no doubt that the stress is due to the whole guardianship thing, and I believe it will go away once everything is completed. I am thinking I'll likely start 2012 in a totally different state than I'm in right now, but until then I'll stay on the meds the doctor prescribed. They've already helped tremendously, and it's been less than a week.

Thursday, Bugster came over, and we made salsa together. Once we tasted the salsa I'd made awhile back, we realized that it wasn't going to be enough to get us all through the winter. So we made a day of it and canned 14 pints and 1 quart, since we couldn't find the last of the pint jars. We're set until next Fall when we'll likely make more from the tomatoes, peppers and onions we'll hopefully have in our gardens. 

I'm still behind on housework, but I know I'll be able to get it done in plenty of time for the home visit. I won't have all the dehoarding done, but I'm confident that we'll pass with flying colors. I'm sure we'll be granted guardianship, because the best place for the girls to be is with us. In their own home. With their family. And when I look at each part of the guardianship process individually, I know we'll do fine. But the whole of it is more than overwhelming.

Hubster asked me out on a date the other night. We need time to reconnect and get away from the stress of it all, so I jumped at the chance. Hopper and Scooter are going to spend the day with Bugster, Hubster and Frank after we all do a little shopping together.  We haven't all been out together in months. In fact, Scooter just started back to school this past week after the whole fiasco of the hospitalization, head-to-toe rash, and weeks of steroids to get the allergic reaction under control. So we need this as a family. All of us.

I'm ready for some decompression. 

I dream of Rip Van Winkle.

I'm making progress and have gotten a lot done in the last week, but I feel like I'm in serious need of a couple weeks' worth of sleep. Just straight through for two weeks. 

Ever feel like that?

I don't see it slowing down enough to sleep for 2 weeks straight anytime soon, but that's okay. I'm getting things done that need done. I'm making progress.

Friday of last week we got our flu shots, got state ID cards for both of the girls and got a bank account set up for Scooter's direct deposit for when she starts getting SSI payments. Then Monday I got Scooter's application in for SSI and got replacement social security cards ordered for each of the girls.

I worked on paperwork a bit for a couple of days and then headed into the kitchen to work on tomatoes from the garden. I got 9 dozen tomatoes washed, blanched and peeled to further process. 

I made some into a base for homemade chili for when it gets colder outside. I made chili  a few weeks ago with tomatoes from the garden, and we couldn't get over how much tastier it was than when I've used fresh tomatoes from the grocery store. There really was no comparison, and I want to recreate it as much as possible when I make chili again when it snows. I'm actually looking forward to the colder weather just so I have an excuse to cook a batch up again!

Several pounds of tomatoes were diced, along with onions and bell peppers to make salsa. I used my new canner for it, and I have to admit it was fun breaking it in. I'll really put it to good use next year when we have more to our garden than tomatoes, but I'll be happy with an abundance of maters next year, too. The rest of the tomatoes were frozen whole to be used as I need them over the course of the next few months. I'll definitely be using them to make homemade tomato soup. There's nothing that tastes quite as fresh and clean and yummy as that, and I can't wait!

We've been babying the tomatoes we had left in the garden for the last few weeks as it's gotten colder outside, and they were actually still blooming. Unfortunately, it got cold enough that the plastic we had up didn't keep enough cold out, and the leaves started to freeze, so today we cleared out the tomato beds. Thankfully, we only lost a couple dozen tomatoes to the cold, but it was hard to take. The tomatoes are so tasty I hate to lose a single one. Still, there were several dozen on the plants still, so the loss of the 2 dozen is just a drop in the bucket. There are plenty more.

Tomorrow, I'll be wrapping the greenest tomatoes in newspaper and putting them in a box in the garage where they'll stay cool. I have it on good authority, (Thanks, Mom!), that I should have fresh tomatoes ripening for several weeks, and I may actually still have some left in late December or even early January. I'm really hoping that's the case. It would be great, if we could get them to last that long!

 

I have to be honest. I am looking forward to having the tomatoes done and out of my hair soon. It will just be a relief to have them done, so I don't have to worry about letting them go and them being ruined, because I got busy and put them off too long. 

I'll have to do something with the pumpkins from the garden, too. We had so many tomatoes that the pumpkins didn't go crazy, but we did end up with 4 small ones. I am hoping to make a pumpkin soup with one and bake the others, so I can make them into pies or pumpkin rolls for the holidays. I've never tried pumpkin soup before, but I want to try it. I think it will be fun. I'm just glad pumpkins last awhile, so I can finish up the paperwork before getting to them. 

We brought the two pepper plants in that still have little peppers on them. I'm hoping I can get them to grow indoors, so I can harvest them and use them in the chili I'll make a bit later. I'm not worried, if they don't do any more growing, but I'll be thrilled, if they do. 

In the meantime, my bed is calling me from the other room. It's been a long day, and I doubt I'll get a full 8 hours tonight, let alone a full 2 weeks. 

One can only hope...

More of a miss than a hit day.

Whatever this stomach bug we have floating around our house has been so sporadic. It seems to be hitting one of us every other day, and not to complain, but it's getting old. It's making it hard to accomplish much of anything.


Yesterday started off as a good day for Hopper. She'd been looking forward to going to her day program all last week, and she woke up in a great mood yesterday. She was ready to go to 'work'. Happy and out the door in a flash when her ride got here.


However, she was out of sorts when she got home. She burst into tears on several occasions and just seemed so sad that she had to wait another week before going to her program. She went to bed within 30 minutes of getting home, and she was sound asleep by 3:00. She didn't get up today until after 1:00, and she was back in bed by 5:00. She's not feverish, but she's definitely not feeling well.


I might be concerned that something happened at work, if she were upset she'd be going back next week, or if she weren't begging to see the aide she's paired with each week. She loves work. She also has been very much aware of the fact that she would only be going to her program once a week over the summer, so I don't know that it's even that she is sad over not getting to go more often. It's more than just seeming off. She even looks off. 


Then again, that doesn't really surprise me. I woke up feeling just fine this morning, but I ended up feeling horrible within a short time of eating breakfast. I couldn't eat anything all day. When I finally started feeling better this evening, I ended up with a headache and stuffy nose just from going out to get the mail. There's a lot of smoke in the air from the different fires around the area and from the major wildfires in New Mexico that the wind is blowing into town. 


I couldn't smell the smoke this morning when I went out to turn the soaker hose on to water the garden, but I think it must have been worse than I realized. I was quite dizzy when I came in, and I figured it had to do with whatever's been ailing us. However, after my sinuses being assaulted the way they were when I checked the mail, I'm beginning to think the dizziness this morning was due to the smoke messing with my sinuses. The asthma was an added bonus. 


I need to leave the mail checking and garden watering to someone else until the air clears. 


In the meantime, I'll be looking for the rest of the receipts I need to finish up the paperwork. I've found several of them, but I need to find the rest. While I'm going through the paperwork to find them, I've been bagging up more shredables to be put through the professional shredders. I was making decent progress when I realized I made a mistake, and I had to go through 4 bags to pick out somethings I shouldn't have tossed. 


I realized some time ago that I don't need to keep Hopper and Scooter's report cards. They don't really get what they are. They don't really get grades, so the cards don't really say anything. Instead, they have IEPs that have chronicled their progress over the years. I'd torn up a few of them and tossed them in the shredables thinking that I didn't need them. And while we no longer really need them, I realized it was a mistake to throw them away. I want the information in them. They tell of how far the girls have come, and I don't ever want to forget. 


Eventually, I'll get a portable document scanner and scan them all into the computer. Once that's done, I'll be fine putting them in the shredables. It's going to take a little time and some tape to get them in good enough condition to scan, so I'll set them aside until I have time to get to them. 


In the meantime, it's time for bed. Past time, really. 


So hoping tomorrow is a better day. 

A little of this. A little of that.

I've been a bit out of sorts lately, but I think I'm back on track.


My Christmas gift has been in the shop for 3 of the last 4 weeks. I finally got it back last week. The Hubster was a bit frustrated that they didn't fix my netbook the first time it went in (when they replaced the hard drive), but he's glad they fixed the touch pad, and I have it back. It means he gets to use his again whenever he wants, since I used it while mine wasn't available. I'm really glad to have my computer back and in good working order again. And I'm superdeeduperdee thankful that Bugster figured out the password for the network, so we didn't have to reset it, and I can access the internet again!


Bugster, Bubster, Hopper, Scooter and Frank surprised us with a gorgeous arrangement of 25 roses that Bugster made for us for our 25th wedding anniversary. She did an amazing job, and they are still gorgeous a week later! Then Bugster and Bubster came over to our house and hung out with Hopper and Scooter, so we could go celebrate.
                            



We spent the day enjoying one another's company and got some much needed alone time. We did a little shopping, went out to eat at a Greek restaurant that was out of this world, and went to the movies. But our favorite part of the day was spent at a paint-your-own pottery place where the customer paints the piece, and the shop fires it for you. We've gone to this little place a few times over the years for our anniversary, and I have to say it's one of my favorite ways to spend time with Hubster. There's no stress, pleasant conversation, and one on one time with my favorite guy. It's a win-win all the way around.


We didn't get to the shop in time to finish the painting in one sitting, so we'll get to go back and spend some more time together at some point in the upcoming weeks. We're very much looking forward to having that time together and seeing our finished creations. I'm definitely looking forward to finishing our mugs and picture frame, but I'm most looking forward to seeing the necklace Hubster makes after the beads he painted have been fired!


We did a lot of sitting the day we went out, and my back has bothered me ever since. I've been having problems with nerve pain in my legs and feet again lately. It happens when I'm in the middle of a fibro flare, and one started up a couple of weeks ago for me. I took a medicine I'd been prescribed quite some time ago, and it took care of the neuropathy pain within an hour. I felt so much better, but the pain started up again the next day, so I tried it again with good results. However, the third day when I took it, I made the mistake of taking it on an empty stomach, and I couldn't seem to stay awake for the next 2 days. If I sat down, I dozed off. So I stood. A lot.


I'm feeling a bit stupid for not trusting myself to stay away from the medication that I'd stopped taking once before. I won't make that mistake again. If I am as out of it as I've been after only 3 doses, I know that it's not a medicine I can ever take again. I just have to try to figure out how to keep the fibro from flaring, so I don't have the neuropathy issues as often.


I am hoping to get some help this weekend to make a raised vegetable garden bed, so I can get my tomatoes and peppers in the ground. As much as I love my umbrella planter, I don't think I'll be doing upside-down tomatoes in it anymore. I don't think they get quite enough sun to really flourish, so the tomatoes and peppers are going to go in the ground this year, and I think I'm going to try flowers in the planter. The strawberries looked great last year in them, and they did okay, but they didn't come back this year, so they're out, too. I can't afford to buy new strawberry plants every year.


Right now, I'm going to go work on pinatas and dishes and laundry and such. Maybe if I get something done, my head will stop aching. 

One can hope.

Mindless meanderings.

I did a bit of Spring cleaning today, but not as much as I'd have liked. I took the curtains down above our bed and vacuumed off what had to have been a 1/4" of dust. I'm still coughing from it. I don't know why I never think of wearing a mask until after I've inhaled a cup or more of dust. Maybe next time.

After I got the curtains washed, I sewed a piece of fabric that I'd had to cover the wood above the window air conditioner. I've just draped it over the curtain rod for years, but it's never laid right. So today I put a couple of casings in the ends, so I could hang them on the curtain rods, and it would look like a curtain that belonged rather than a random piece of fabric with frayed edges. It looks nice, and it covers the piece of wood we have atop the air conditioner to seal off the window. One more small thing checked off my very long list of things to do.

I also used some of that yellow expanding foam and filled in all the areas that air, dust, or bugs (including the yellow jackets!) could get through. It doesn't look very pretty, but it did already seem to make a bit of a difference in how cool the house stayed. I'm not sure why I was afraid of doing it in the past, but I'm glad I it's done. It's nice to know creepy crawlies aren't going to creep and crawl through the window above my head when I'm sleeping. And another thing of my list.

I'm feeling very thankful today that Hopper is feeling better. Her appetite is almost back to normal, and she didn't put herself to bed early this afternoon like she has been. I'm so relieved. In my opinion, one of the worst feelings in the world is when your child is sick, and you can do nothing but sit back and watch. I always feel so worthless as a parent when I can't do something to help them.

My little garden plants are loving the sun. They're getting roughly 16 hours of sun each day now that the tree is gone. They only got 5 to 6 hours of direct sunlight when the tree shaded them so in the afternoon. I hope it means that they'll flourish as much as I'm thinking they will. I did noticed that I lost a couple of plants the other day. I think it had to do with the 70mph winds we had. It's also why I planted something like 22 peppers, 20 tomatoes and 8 strawberry plants. It doesn't bother me as much when I lose one or two when I have this many planted. I'm hoping for a good harvest. Which reminds me...I saw a few red strawberries today. I'll have to pick them tomorrow, if the birds haven't gotten to them already.

I noticed apples on our apple tree today, too. I'm hoping we can get some decent apples this year. Some years they do great and others there's just nothing there, or we lose them to the birds and squirrels. Someone told my husband that, if we feed the squirrels nuts they'll stay out of the fruit, because they like the nuts more. I'm not sure how much truth there is to it, but I'd be willing to give it a shot. Especially, if we get anything on the peach tree this year. The squirrels and birds like our peaches even more than they like our apples.

I think I'm just going to shut up now. I'm just rambling, and nobody really wants to listen to that. ;o)

*Good googalee woogalee!

Today was a long and productive day. So long I had to record the series finale of LOST on the DVR to watch as I can this week. Shh! If you know, please don't tell me what happened!

I took a couple of Benadryl last night, and it helped me to actually get some sleep! I woke up every hour on the hour, but I was able to drift back off within minutes, and I'm so very thankful. I desperately needed the sleep. I'm wide awake now, though, and I don't know that I'll have as much success sleeping tonight.

Bugster came over, and she helped me plant most of the tomatoes, strawberries and peppers in the buckets on the umbrella planter. I still have to find one more bucket to drill holes in and get it filled with plants, because the only other one I have that has a hole in the bottom doesn't have a handle. The first buckets I'd painted and made wire handles for, but I only got 4 finished. I need 8, so I have one on each tine of the umbrella planter, but it won't happen until next year that I have all matching bucket planters for it.

I really enjoyed the planting, although I probably should have worn a mask. I got some planting soil that was full of fertilizer to use to give my plants the best shot, but boy did that stuff stink! I've spritzed my nose with saline several times, but I feel like I am still smelling that stuff. Yuck! But if it means we get bigger tomatoes and peppers, I can deal with it. I'll just wear a mask when I finish up the rest of the planting.

We've got to cut a big tree down in the backyard, because we lost a major branch of it during a wind storm last fall. It's going to mean a lot more sunlight to help out my upside-down tomatoes and other plants, but it also means that there will be a ton more sun and heat on the little window air conditioner that we had in the dining room window. So we took it out and put it on the other side of the house that only gets the morning sun. Hopefully, it will still cool enough of the house over there to make it worthwhile. It was quite the undertaking, but it's in place now, and we'll be able to start working on cutting the tree down in the next week or two.

Hubby cleaned up the side of the house that the code enforcement officer mentioned needed done. He got the trundle beds sprayed off well with water and then doused them with a bug spray to kill any spiders/critters that might be hiding in the springs once they dried. They're now securely under the beds in the house, and it's a big relief to both of us. Just one more thing off the list of things that need done.

Our bitter neighbor lady can't complain now. We have until the end of July to get the storage unit on the driveway unloaded, so I'll be concentrating on finishing the basement as quickly as possible after I finish planting the rest of the garden plants. I am anxious to get things together down there, so we can start using the basement like we envision. It will be nice to have a place to hang out and have a craft area and a place to work out. We're very much looking forward to it.

I have a few projects other than housecleaning/dehoarding that I have to work on in the next couple of weeks as well.

It's going to be a busy summer.

*I told my husband that I couldn't think of a title of the post. This was *his* idea! :D

How embarrasing. I'm red in the face!

When I saw my doctor yesterday to get my TB test, I decided to have him listen to my breathing. We've been sick with a lot of coughing around here, and it's been really hard to try to get under control. He said that I have asthmatic bronchitis. He figures it's viral, but he also doesn't want it to get any worse. So I'm back on steroids and a cough suppressant. The last time I had asthmatic bronchitis and it wasn't bacterial I ended up in the hospital. No sense in repeating that!

Unfortunately, the meds are keeping me wide awake. All. Night. Long. By the time I'm done with the meds in a few days, I'll be a walking zombie. While the meds keep my mind awake, they don't give me any energy. And they make me more than a bit irritable. And they make me gain weight, which I really don't need. I've gained close to 30 pounds in the last year due to steroids. It packs on a lot more quickly than it comes off. But they're a necessary evil. I'd rather gain a little weight and still be breathing and not in the hospital.

And although I didn't get sunburned when we were out shopping for garden plants today, the medicine makes me look like I have a 3rd degree sunburn on my face. It feels like one, too. So tomorrow when I go out to plant my upside down tomatoes and my strawberries and my peppers, I'll be wearing sunscreen, a big old floppy hat, and a great big grin!

After we took Hopper and Scooter to have their TB tests read, (thankfully, they were negative!), we went garden shopping. I found some small tomato plants packed in 9 count containers for $3. They're pretty small, but they're easier to use in the upside down planters anyway. I got a few larger ones as well, so we'll have staggered harvests. And I got a few varieties of peppers we haven't tried before. All in all, we got chocolate, purple, red, orange, yellow and green bell peppers as well as some banana peppers. Decided to try some yellow tomatoes again this year, too.

Lastly, we got some strawberries as well. We couldn't find any bare root strawberries, but I did find some 4 packs of 5 to 7" tall plants for $4. The one nursery was charging $4 for a single plant, and strawberries typically take off pretty well, so I think we made a good choice. The Bugster* got the holes all filled in the crown moulding and baseboards downstairs today, so I'll have her help me outside tomorrow. We'll have to drill more holes in some of the buckets to make them into strawberry planters, but it will be nice to keep them on the umbrella and out of the squirrels' reach!

Hopper begged to get some onion sets, so we could plant some onions, so of course I obliged! She LOVES onions just like her mama. When I was little, I used to sit on the counter and talk to my older sister while she watched dishes. I would enjoy her company and eat an onion like it was an apple. Hopper is the same way and always has to have several bites of onion when I'm slicing or dicing them for cooking. Onions also help with asthma, so I'll have to make sure we baby those little sets until they're big juicy onions ready to enjoy!

I'm so looking forward to fresh veggies from the umbrella garden this year! It's hard to beat fresh veggies grown in your own backyard!

*I changed our oldest daughter's nickname to The Bugster or Bugster. If you're interested you can read why here.

The Bugster*, Hopper and Scooter.

I have to say that I really struggled when I wrote the post about the code enforcement issue. It's such an embarrassing thing to have them called on you. You know? But I am wanting to be honest about being a hoarder - even the hard and embarrassing things. Because I need to remember them, so once I've gotten my house cleaned out I never go back there again.

And I have to say thanks to all of you who have supported me through this and haven't judged me for being in the mess I'm in. It's not been easy, but all of you have made it easier for me to make the changes I need to make and to know I can go on and reach my goal.

I've made a decision to change something about my blog. Instead of constantly referring to 'our oldest daughter', 'our middle daughter' and 'our youngest daughter', I will now be referring to them by their nicknames. It just gets a bit too wordy the way I've been doing it.

Our oldest loves ladybugs and always has. Thus, she will be 'The Bugster*'. Besides, she's really good at bugging me, so it fits on two levels.

Our middle daughter will now be referred to as 'Hopper'. We can be downstairs, and all of the sudden we hear her hopping on the floor above us. It's totally random. I usually have to say something at least 4 times before I catch her attention and get her to stop. Still. It's a cute quirk she has, and she loves when we call her by her nickname.

And our youngest scooted for years before she could ever sit up. She did the backstroke to get from room to room. As a result, she had no hair on the back of her head. She had it on the tops. She had it on the sides. And she even had some under the bald spot on the back of her head. I used to pull it all together for a long, but quite thin pony tail to sort of cover up the lack of hair. That is until Hopper was 3 and grabbed her by the pony tail and dragged her like a little cavewoman into the kitchen, so I would get finished with the bottle I was feeding! Shortly after that I cut her hair, but she still kept scooting. Thus, she will henceforth be known as 'Scooter' on my blog.

Tomorrow, The Bugster is coming over to help fill the holes in the baseboard trim and the crown moulding in the basement. She'll be coming on Sunday to help finish it all up. I'm hoping it will be all finished by then, anyway. It just kills my neck to look up all the time, and it kills my back to get on my knees to fill the baseboards. So I'm thrilled that Bugster is going to be helping me out. In return, she and her new hubby get the china hutch we bought when she was little. I think she thinks she's getting the better deal, and I think I am. so I think it's a pretty fair trade.

She helped me out a bit tonight, too. Since it's been so warm since I painted the umbrella planter except that we got torrential downpours for a solid hour about 3 hours after I put the second coat on). Bugster helped me get the clematis started up the pole again. I lost several shoots from it which is upsetting, but I'm really hoping it just causes it to grow in overdrive. It stretches about halfway up the pole now, and there are several buds waiting to spring open. I'll get pictures and post them when it starts blooming. I'd love to see it grow all the way up the pole and go down the tines eventually. I think that would be absolutely gorgeous!

We'll be taking Hopper and Scooter to get their TB tests read. So far they're showing not showing much of a reaction at all. Although Scooter seems to possibly be getting eczema at the injection site. I'll ask about it in tomorrow. I'm just praying that they both have negative tests. The antibiotics that they would have to take, if they tested positive are some pretty serious and nasty drugs.

When we're done there, we'll be dropping off some stuff at a friend's house. Just things from the girls' bedroom that I think they can use. So we'll be completing a bit of dehoarding tomorrow by getting it out of the house. That always helps.

And then we'll stop at Home Depot. We've got a gift card we need to use, so it doesn't expire. I'll be buying tomatoes and peppers and strawberries, if they have them. If they don't, I'll be getting some bare root strawberries somewhere else, if I have time to get them planted. I'm thinking of just drilling extra holes in some of the bucket planters I use for the tomatoes and peppers. Not sure exactly what I'll be doing, but I'll be doing it with a smile.

I'm just glad I'm going to have a mini garden this year. There's something so fulfilling about it, and it helps take the mind off the neighbors!

*Edited after the comment by Amanda. Didn't even think of that, since I'm not from England, but thanks for pointing it out. I thought of a couple other names for her to choose from (The Bugster and Buggerina), but she didn't care which I used. So her daddy got to vote, and he liked The Bugster best. So our oldest will now be known as Bugster or The Bugster from now on, because truth be told, she's always loved all bugs and not just ladybugs. :)

What's an umbrella have to do with anything?

Thankfully, the sun did come out and dry up a lot of the humidity today. It was quite the relief. It was dry enough for my husband to mow an entire yard full of dandelions and fill 3 huge trash bags with grass...er...weed clippings. If they were actual grass clippings, they'd go in the compost pile. Or at least some would. But I don't put weeds in there. I don't want weeds planted accidentally any more than I want them planted voluntarily.

We desperately need to just regrade the yards and save up the money for sod. I don't know that grass seed would even work. We mostly just have weeds or dirt in the backyard. It was like that years ago when we bought the house. Having dogs running back and forth for several years just made it worse. And now that the dogs are gone, the damage remains.

I need to look up what all needs to be done to regrade a yard. Maybe we could at least get that part done on our own. Of course, if we got sod for the yard, we'd attempt to install that ourselves as well. However, before we laid any sort of sod for the yard, we probably need a sprinkler system installed. That's even more money. So yeah. We have a yard of dirt and weeds. It will be that way for the foreseeable future.

While the hubby was mowing, I decided to paint a coat of Rustoleum on the umbrella planter my hubby and I made a few years ago. It was starting to rust through the rust-proof spray paint I painted it with when we put it up. I'm hoping the paint I used today with the brush will last a little longer, since it goes on thicker. I don't think I'll be able to paint it once the clematis really gets established.

We made it in memory of my dad who passed away three years ago and for my nephew who died just a short few months later. We planted a purple clematis at the bottom, so it could climb the chicken wire we stretched around the pole, because purple was one of my dad and my nephew's favorite colors. It's made of rake tines from an old hay rake that used to be used in the fields. They use different equipment now, but you can still find the rake tines from time to time.




We call it an umbrella planter, because it looks like an umbrella that's lost all the fabric, and all that's left is the frame. Daddy had made one in his and Mom's backyard, and I just fell in love with it. So it just seemed like a fitting tribute to his memory.




Daddy also loved to grow tomatoes, so I had to try my luck at growing upside-down tomatoes. We cut holes in the bottoms of 3 gallon buckets we'd gotten at the supermarket bakery and planted tomatoes to grow out the bottoms of the buckets. Peppers are planted in the top, so the soil isn't as apt to blow away in the wind, and we can have peppers, too. This picture was taken the first year we had it up right after we planted the tomatoes and peppers.

I'm hoping to get my tomato and pepper plants this week. If I don't, I don't know that I'll be able to get anything planted this year at all. The stores will likely be all sold out by the end of the month. Although, this Spring has been a bit cooler, so I may still have time. People tend not to get their plants right away unless it's consistently warm at night. There's nothing quite like losing a garden (hanging or otherwise) to a frost. It's just such a disappointment!

We have cut that stupid tree that's between the planter and the window down several times. We're hoping that the stump killer we'll be putting on it this year when we cut it down will kill the thing. We also will be cutting down a really tall tree in the backyard soon, too. It's the same type of tree, but it's not the most stable thing. We lost a rather large branch in a big windstorm last Fall, and we just don't feel it's safe anymore.

So with those trees all out of the way, my tomato and pepper plants should really take off. I'd love to get 4 more buckets and get all 8 tines filled with upside-down tomatoes this year. I may just have to stick with the 4 that are hanging right now, though. I would just love to have enough to can some. There's nothing like tomato soup made from tomatoes from your garden in the dead of winter!

Eventually, I'll have a large garden, but it may be a few years off. Still. It's fun to plan it in my head. What about you? Do you garden at all?