Category: This & That

I was sitting here in the sunshine, enjoying the warmth after the 24 inches of cold snow fell. My mind seemed to drift to various things, so I put my laptop on my knees and started to write.

I feel so saddened by Princess Kate’s diagnosis of cancer. I have read several truly hateful things about her. All I can say is that I hope the Sussexes stay away.

After hearing that people were trying to break into Kate’s hospital records, I was sure I knew who was behind it.

As you all know, I had skin cancer on my nose, and tissue from my forehead was used to close the wound. It left me feeling quite vulnerable with such terrible scars. The scars have faded somewhat, but I will probably always have my Harry Potter scar on my forehead. Therefore, I do Photoshop pictures of my forehead.

There is no photoshopping above.
This was done with slight photoshopping.

Why do I do it? Well, because the scar makes me feel ugly and self-conscious. I’ve been told the scars will always be there unless I have more surgery, and since I do not want any more surgery, I will Photoshop!

I mention this because people have come down very hard on Princess Kate. Knowing what I know now, I fully understand the picture of Kate with her children.

My little Heidi is doing better. I am happy but also worried. It’s been a long haul for this baby. She is now on delicious dog food, which seems to work.

My bathroom/laundry room is nearly done. It is beautiful!  My bathroom previously had a jacuzzi tub, corner shower and toilet. This room is bigger than most New York City Apartments.

I have been carrying heavy laundry baskets up and down the stairs, which included a few falls. So I removed the jacuzzi, and I now have a washer and dryer, a new corner shower, and repairs done to the floor and walls!

I’m also getting my bedroom walls painted and a new carpet. I am thrilled—pictures to come.

That’s it for now. I will try to write more as I get on my feet again.

This is sort of a catch-up post as a lot has been happening, which has kept me from sitting down to write this out. But, here goes…

• • Lili’s left ankle is still a problem. There were two incidents today that exacerbated the injury, and she is once again limping about.

    Limping Lili.

    I still have the anti-inflammatory so she took a dose with dinner tonight, and I will go back to walking her only on a leash. My poor big girl.

  • On Wednesday I had a meet-up with my girlfriends. They’d been dying to meet my little love-puppy, and since it wasn’t raining, was not too cold, off we went to the meet-up.

On our way to the meeting.

• • To say that my little gang of ladies fell hard for Heidi would be an understatement! She was at her very best and flirted with each and every one of the girls!
  • Heidi is an amazing doggy. She will be 6 months old next week and yet she is already well behaved. Heidi can sit, down, roll to the side for belly rubs and sit at my feet. Next on my list is to teach her to shake paws.
  • On my way home I stopped and saw a friend at the Shipping Store. She was Arnie’s girlfriend. (And I even brought Arnie to see her before I took him for his last ride.) She is totally smitten with our new little Miss.

My darling!

• The general consensus is that the world needs more baby puppies like Heidi.
• Did I mention that Heidi got into some gross stuff the other day? She hates baths. So, since I needed a shower too, I readied the bathroom and brought her in with me. It turns out that she actually liked the nice warm shower with Mommy! This is good to know

Happy Thursday!

Wow! There is so much going on in the world, and even in my little corner of the world, so a “This and That” list seemed appropriate.

• • Okay, the slap was heard around the world. I understand the frustration, but as I think more and more about it, I think sometimes you need to suck it up and walk away. I live every day of my life with a face that close up resembles an inner-city roadmap. It’s due to extensive cancer surgery in 2013.People have made comments that felt unkind to me, but so far I haven’t decked a single person. Walk away and choose your battles wisely.
  • I went in on Monday to begin having my two front teeth crowns replaced. It is rather an arduous task and has left my mouth sore. But the end result will be good I am sure.
  • Today Lili was running around the yard and my guess is she leaped from the field down onto the driveway and twisted her ankle. Tonight she is limping badly. If she is not better tomorrow I will bring her in to get it checked.
  • I go to see my Glaucoma doctor tomorrow. I am six weeks late for this appointment as I was sick with the flu when I was due to go in for my last appointment and had to cancel.
  • The bears are awake and starting to roam the neighborhoods. This means that I need to bring in my feeders at dusk and put them out after breakfast in the morning.
  • We had to call for home heating oil today and they came and delivered 202 gallons of what I should call liquid gold. The current price for heating oil is $4.97 a gallon. So there’s $1000.00 I will never see again. But, at least we will be warm and can take hot showers.
  • I got the cutest picture of Heidi today and I love it so much that I ordered a print of it to have on my mantle. I just love this girl!

5-month-old Heidi.

Thursday was almost a good day. It started with a meeting up with my good friends. I am so lucky to have these wonderful ladies that I love like sisters.

We joked and laughed and just had a really great time. I came out of that meeting feeling pretty good. Yay!

I had a fun time playing with Heidi, solved Wordle in the nick of time, and enjoyed a nice lunch before heading out to do errands.

I picked up the mail, went grocery shopping, and still had time before my dental appointment to bring it all home and put it away.

I was expecting good news, but what was discovered was a crack in my crown! I need a new one. Yikes!  $500.00!!! At least I did not have cavities!

Well, nothing brings you down like a big break to your piggy bank!

Ugh!

But the absolute bright point in my day is that Mandy and the kids called and after a bleak afternoon, I felt very loved and cared for! I am hoping to see them at the end of the month.

Happy Thursday everyone!

The last few days I have been pretty busy. I’m so anxious for Spring to arrive and I have actually enjoyed the pouring rain we had at the start of the week, which washed away a lot of the snow.

However, we had a dramatic drop in temperature, and everything turned to ice. Some you could see and some were invisible. It was the invisible ice that got me on Tuesday morning and found me falling down like a sack of potatoes.

Lili and Heidi were with me and both ran over to me, covering me with kisses lest I be seriously injured! I wasn’t, but my gosh, I sure felt all of my 63 years.

I’ve had the Spring Cleaning bug and I’ve been trying to get things washed down and cleaned. My next big step is to take down the curtains and give them a good wash.

Heidi is a real character, and this morning she was posing in the funniest ways. The first was looking up at me.

And the second was taken as she slept in her favorite spot. On my chair between my knees!

As you can see in this picture, the poor baby has no toys! LOL!

I have binge-watched “Sex and the City”. I somehow never watched it the first time around and now in my geriatric years decided to give it a shot.

I nearly stopped watching the first two seasons, but then I got caught up in the growing up of Carrie and her friends. I’ve now gone all through the TV, both movies and the revival. And I actually can say I liked it.

Now don’t judge, it was pretty graphic. But if you look past that to the character development it was a good show.

It’s snowing again. I am so over that. I am really ready for Spring to come!

I think as we grow older, and if we are caregivers ourselves of a loved one, we tend to neglect ourselves. And so it has been for me. Tending to Jack, with his medical problems, keeps me very busy. I simply do not have time to tend to myself.

That being said, going in for my physical was a good thing. The findings made me realize I need to slow down a bit and make myself a priority.

I’ve been delaying going on cholesterol medications, but the new numbers are kind of dreadful, so I’m going to relent this time and start trying to find a medication that works for me, without messing up my other medications. Also, I know I need to get back to my walking, which I sort of gave up when Arnie became so ill.

If I am being really honest I will also stop eating a lot of red meat, and get back to more poultry and fish. Topping it all off with a lot of salads and vegetables. All things I love, but honestly, the last six months I have not been as careful as I should be.

So starting tomorrow morning…Monday…I start back strictly following the WW Green Plan. No more excuses.

And today I may even go for a walk. I will be lonely without my Arnie, but, who knows…one day I might have a new baby to walk with me.

Well, the Internet Gremlins got me yesterday. Not only was Facebook down, but good old Microsoft downloaded an “Update” for my computer that totally wiped out my printer settings!

I was too busy to pay too much attention to it all. And actually quite annoyed by it all.

Starting tomorrow I plan to begin Autumn cleaning. I have two rooms that really need to be cleaned out and have a lot of stuff thrown away. I’m ready…

My goal is to get our house spick and span clean so I can hunker down and hibernate once the snow falls!

It was a great pajama party with my grandkids. But something odd occurred. I was watching a kid’s movie with them and I fell asleep! I took a much-needed nap!

I guess at 62+ I have entered the phase where a nap is a reward and no longer a punishment. And oh, how lovely that little nap was, although my grandson Quinn told me that I snore!

Have a great day everyone!