Oh My Aching Back! Part 3

We were up early and after breakfast Hubby drove me in to see the doctor. He examined me, wrote out orders for x-rays and three for prescriptions and sent me on my way. He says it is sciatica, Now what is causing it is still a mystery. If the x-rays show something, he will call. If I am not a lot better at the end of the week I am to call him.

Meanwhile, I wait. I have a back brace I am wearing, which is like the worst girdle you can imagine, and anti-inflammatories, muscle relaxants and pain pills. Yes, I feel a little whacked out tonight and I wish I could say, also pain free, but I can’t. Just a little like, I do not care.

While driving to the doctors and back, I was amazed at how high the snow banks are. It seems everywhere we went the snow was piled high, high, high! And guess what?

More snow tomorrow!

However, none of the forecasters can agree on how much will actually fall. Some say 6 inches some say 10. After the winter we have had, I say, what will be, will be!

Well time to go curl up in the fetal position and pray for springtime!

Oh My Aching Back! Part 2

Yes, my back is still bad. In fact I’m getting a little testy because, well, lack of sleep will do that to you. I seem to sleep for about 45 minutes then wake with the back pain, and then the cycle begins again.

Hubby stepped in today and told me to call the doctor. I’m sort of stubborn that way and until something totally stops working or falls off I tend not to go to the doctor’s office. However, after 5 days of little or no restful sleep, I decided he was right and I should go.

Hubby himself had back surgery years ago, so when he spoke to me about this, I really had to listen.

Meanwhile, I have four wonderful and skilled nurses.
Fritz
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Greta
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Arnie
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And Anneliese
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The pups not only are trying to nurse me back to health, but they are amusing me at the same time. Hubby has been wonderful helping me with various household and doggy chores, and I am trying to be as quiet as I can so I don’t make things any worse.

Hubby takes me in the morning, and I sure hope the doctor will have some good news for me, like “Ta-Da, you are well”! Now wouldn’t that be nice?

When Will It End?

It’s snowing…again! When I look outside and I see all that deep white snow, it just boggles the mind! And it is still coming down!

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Now this is not normal for New Hampshire. What is normal is about half the snow that we have already had and a fair amount of icy cold temperatures. This winter wonderland, which resembles the far reaches of our country, say Alaska, are just…not right!

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Hubby is out snow blowing again for the millionth time, and the snow banks are getting so tall that they dwarf the dachshunds! One snow bank in the back yard, must be a good four and a half feet tall!

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Yes, the trees are pretty and the lake is lovely to look at, but as it is only early February, I must ask the question “When is this going to end?”

I want to see the green grass again, to be able to go outside without having to bundle up in my boots and winter coat, hat and gloves. I want the sun to shine on my face, and to see things grow from the earth.

Punxsutawney Phil says we are going to have six more weeks of winter, and I am just not sure I can stand it! Imagine six more weeks of having 5-10 inches of snow every few days!

When will it end?

Oh My Aching Back!

Last night was the worst, yes the worst night as far as not sleeping. I think I was up every hour on the hour because of my silly back spasms. I would walk around, adjust the heating pad and try to find just the right position so I could fall back to sleep.

I really hate back aches. I mean, if I didn’t have 4 dogs, it might not be so bad, but with 4 dogs, who all want to go out at different times, I have found it a real challenge to rest my back at all.

Take today. After lunch I wanted to take a little nap. Hubby was going out to the recycling center and I knew the house would be quiet for an hour at least. So I crawled into my bed, with my heating pad and the three dachshunds. The two girls curled up with me, and Arnie went down by my feet.

Ahhhhhhhhhh………

I drifted in a state of pleasant slumber and then…………”squeek, squeek, squeek”. Arnie brought me his favorite toy to wake me up. Because, well, a nap is fine, but anything over and hour is too long! Or so Arnie seems to think!

The girls and I got up, and I noticed my back is a little better. I sure hope that tonight I get a little more sleep.

Meanwhile, Greta is still not in heat! Never before have I thought so much about a dogs menstrual cycle.

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Come on Greta!

The Dackel Princess Bares All! ~ HA!

We got up this morning as usual. We expected to see more snow today, and we were not disappointed. 8 more inches of the fluffy white stuff had fallen on the ground overnight, and it was still snowing. The puppies knew that the Snow Fairies had been working overtime to send them this joy and they immediately set about playing in it!

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Don’t get me wrong, fresh fallen snow is a beautiful sight and almost any other year in my life you would find me reveling in it. However, this year, this year has boggled my mind. I cannot for the life of me recall another year when we have had this much snow!

All I can say is, enough is enough!

I made our breakfast (an especially hearty one for Hubby, who needed to go and clear the driveway, yet again) and then as I was clearing away the dishes, I stretched over the counter and my back went out! Eeeeek! Wow did that hurt.

I had Hubby help me down on the floor so I could do my back stretches. You see I am no stranger to these back spasms, since I have had them off and on since my car accident all those years ago.

The stretching helped, but I was still quite sore, so I filled the jacuzzi tub up with hot water and climbed in to relax my back. I soon found I had a couple of friends. Please note, this picture has gone through a filter to protect my modesty! LOL

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Now here is another with no filter as I found myself relaxing and becoming less modest! LOL!.

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It snowed another 2 inches, so we have probably 10 inches total right now. Hubby has been busy all day. What a guy!

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Lastly, I went to Weight Watchers tonight and I lost 4.2 pounds!!! Call me happy! I worked hard all week, keeping track of my points, eating wholesome foods, and limiting the snacks in my daily life.

I am so grateful. Grateful to the program, the guidance and the people at Weight Watchers. Right now, 6 weeks into my program, I have lost a total of 17 pounds!

Packages

I had ordered two things from LL Bean on sale. A new shirt for Hubby and a berry pink fleece robe for me.

M55642_Berry_Pink

I was excited when I got a tracking number, letting me know that my package was on the way and would be delivered today.

Once again we have terrible weather. When I went out today to the hairdresser’s, I took the Jeep and there were a few times I did have to slip it into 4 wheel drive to get through the miserable snow/sleet/rain combination that fell all morning.

I checked my computer when I got home from being beautified, and saw that the package from LL Bean was still on it’s way! Great!

They are forecasting 6-8 inches of snow overnight tonight, so I asked Hubby if he thought it might be good to get our groceries today. After lunch we headed out to stock up.

We arrived home a couple of hours later, and I quickly put all the groceries away, fed the dogs, and made our dinner. We sat down to eat and once I got the dishes done I decided that perhaps I should check in to see where my “package” was.

The report from the delivery agency said that the “package” had been delivered to the mailbox. Now, we don’t have a mailbox so I knew this was bad.

I tore out of here in a flash, and drove up to the top of our driveway to see what was going on. There, tied to the tree next to the sign that says our name, was the “package”!

It was in a big plastic garbage bag, tied there in the drizzling rain. So I took it down and brought it home and opened the package. All was well, but I was still pretty angry about it.

So I Instant Messaged LL Bean and chatted with a Customer Service woman and explained it all to her, gave her the tracking number and was assured that if anything happened to my items they would have been replaced.

But that isn’t the point! The point is, it shouldn’t have been left there. It turned out okay this time, but what about the next?

I’ve had my say now and the people at LL Bean can do with my grievance what they want.

Meanwhile I am enjoying my new bathrobe, and the shirt is a perfect fit for Hubby!

Okay, Sometimes Life Is Weird

I don’t claim to be perfect. In fact if I ever used my name and the word ‘perfect’ in the same sentence my friends and family would all burst out laughing! But today I topped even some of my finest moments. Here’s how it went.

I woke up and grabbed my robe, silly medical boot and my rain boot and put them on. I hobbled from our bedroom into the family room. I had expected to see rain coming down, as the forecast from the night before said “RAIN”! This is what I saw:

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In the end we had 9 inches of fresh, heavy snow!

I bundled myself up and walked the pups and came in and after the coffee was done, made breakfast for Hubby and myself. I mentioned that I’d take the Jeep today because I had a hairdressers appointment, but when Hubby looked outside and saw that it was starting to ice, he said he wanted to take me.

My appointment was for 10 o’clock, so about 9:15 we got the three dachshunds into their sweaters and got into the Jeep to go to the next town where my hair dresser has her salon.

It was such a pretty ride, and we got there just before the appointment. So we sat waiting for the salon to open. But no one came. Finally Hubby asked if I was sure my appointment was at 10. I opened my purse and took out my pocket calendar and looked. The appointment was for the next day at 10AM!

Silently, Hubby started the car and we began to drive home. I could tell by his silence that he was annoyed. I smiled weakly and said, “Well, look at the nice ride we had with the dachshunds, and we got to see the beauty of this snowy day!” I’m not sure he was thinking along those lines.

We stopped down town and picked up the mail. Today we did not have to work at finding a parking place as there were no other crazy people like me on the street. We also stopped at the dry cleaners and picked up Hubby’s suit, and the hardware store to show off the pups, before coming home.

Then Hubby got busy with his ancient, but mostly reliable snowblower, and worked over our 500 foot driveway.

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I did redeem myself this evening though, while cooking dinner I was able to find the problem on Hubby’s computer and get it fixed for him.

I’m not usually such a space cadet, honestly.

Maybe it was the snow!

This & That

You’ve all heard by now, I’m sure. Yes, the New England Patriots lost the Super Bowl. It was the worst game I have seen them play in a very long time. I feel shocked and disappointed, but then I remind myself…it is, after all, a game.

So I did constructive things this morning instead of watching the news, or Regis & Kelly. (I did not want to hear anyone gloating about the loss!) I made my Curried Butternut Squash Soup, rearranged some furniture, did my usual in and out with the dogs and actually took Anneliese with me to the Post Office.

The soup came out really well, reminding me how much I love this recipe. So I decided to share it with you all. You can find it below this entry.

The diet continues to go well. I had measured my waist when I started Weight Watchers and I measured it again and I have lost an inch off of it. A whole inch!!!

In other news, Greta is still not in heat. I talk to her every day in fruitless attempts to encourage her to hurry up and do this. You see, she is so late now going into her heat that soon Anneliese will be due for her next heat.

Oh yeah, that would be a ton of fun. Two females in heat at one time.

I’ve decided that I should order some extra pants for the girls!

Does it get any better than that? HA!