The bright and dark sides

     On the bright side, I had a lovely lunch with a Facebook friend yesterday. It’s so nice to meet up and truly enjoy someone’s company. The pups love company and were very happy to meet her too. I think they would have skipped their naps for her. 😉

     On the dark side, we got the results from The Curmudgeon’s MRIs and even though they don’t show any new lesions (good news), they do show that the lesions he already had are worse.

     We have no idea what is looming but we can only keep moving forward. 

     If you’re in the area, stop on in. The Curmudgeon could use a bit of cheering up.

     You all have a good one!

Dark side

Time to breathe…

     Yesterday was some day.  The Curmudgeon had two MRIs scheduled. Both were with and without contrast so you could say he had four of them.  I couldn’t go with him because I had a doctor’s appointment as well in the opposite direction. 

     I had wanted to get the last set of the downstairs blinds up but was too danged tired after the day before and the crazy up and down the ladder a million times blinds fiasco. Talk about sore muscles! I was one big ouch.

     Today I am not going to think about it, I am off to lunch with a friend.

     You all have a good one, I plan to.

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What to do next…

    Brand new white blinds on windows sure do make the rest of the house look dingy. Glad I have paint. Can you guess what my next project might be?

     Yes, it could be painting the house. However, don’t be surprised if it is gardening and working in the yard. The yard needs an overhauling too. Yard Crashers where are you????

     Now if only I can find a roofer and someone who can rebuild our over 100-year-old cement front porch.

     Better yet, hitting the lottery comes to mind. I’d buy a nice lot somewhere without an HOA and build a new house the way I want it.

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It won’t be long …

HPIM2924And the front garden will look like this!

Now we have only greens peeking through and crocus blooming.

HPIM2923Looking forward to this!

And, Yes, the skelemingoes are up year round.

In the starting gate…and…it doesn’t open.

     I am going crazy waiting for the weather to get nice enough where I can do some of the much-needed work in the yard.We’ve had cold days, rainy days, but no suitable for gardening days.

     Today was sunny.  I thought,”Oh joy! Gardening time!” However, when I took the dogs out, the wind made it too chilly to stay out for long. Yes, after this nasty winter, I have become a wimp about the cold.

     I need to transplant many plants from around the pond to a holding pattern in the side gardens until I can get the raised beds built. Once we strip the pond garden of plants, we need to do something with the pond liner, i.e. cut it up or slash the crap out of it so we don’t have a boggy area in the yard. Anyone out there feeling destructive and want to volunteer for that job?

     You all have a good one!

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Not a bad day.

     Woke to a dreary, rainy day again yesterday. Managed to get out of the house anyway.

     G and I were off to the recycling center, we dropped all the cardboard boxes I had stacked up on my back porch, shredded paper-two garbage bags full from her, she picked up a new paper recycling bin, and we both got stickers for our cans for yard waste. Yay!

     Then we went to Home Depot where she picked up the paint she wanted. We also found black elephant ear bulbs, I bought two and she bought one.

     From there, we went to lunch. Those shrimp po’ boy flat breads that Ruby Tuesday has are yummy!

     I hope you all have a good one.

     We have crocus blooming!

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Making connections.

     Love it! Reconnected with an old friend on Facebook yesterday. She used to live two doors down from me. One of her 2 daughters is my second God Daughter. I hadn’t heard from any of them in quite a few years. Last time I saw her and her husband was when I had to change flights at their local airport, had a two-hour layover, and they met me there. That was delightful!

     I’m not looking forward to my number one hardest work project of the year that is coming up now that the weather is getting nicer.

     I’m hoping to have a few people come by and remove plants which will cut down on my work a bit. Need to pump water out of the pond and figure out how we’re going to fill it in. 

     Yes, there will be either liner removal or slashing of the liner. I will pay any volunteers in good food and great appreciation.

     You all have a good one!

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Really?!

     “I didn’t mean to say what I said. I wasn’t trying to insult all blanks. Just the ones who fit the description.

     Yes, you did actually. You claim you aren’t a bigot but then you make a blanket statement about a certain occupation or religion it is the same as if you were talking smack about another race. Bigotry comes in many forms. You only ‘apologized’ when I called you out on it.

     Do not paint a whole community with the same brush if ONE person does something you don’t like. Do not expect it to go unnoticed when you do it.

     I am walking away from a group I used to enjoy because of things like this. Some people in there have become too critical of others and that bothered me. Then, in this case, I felt extremely insulted and am finding it very difficult to forgive this person because she does this too often, and with her backhanded apologies, expects quick forgiveness. Not going to happen.

implied facepalm

Is dat cake?

HPIM3707Patty sez, “It beez my birfday Dad, iz dat my birfday cake?”

HPIM3708Gonna gibs us some ob dat?

HPIM3709Maybe iffen we do pitiful face.

HPIM3710“Gabin you needz to look more pitiful like me.”

HPIM3711Gavin sez, “Dat’z it girl werk it!”

They did get some crumbs in the end.

12 things I’ve learned over the many years since his MS DX

  1. The first thing I learned is there is no cure for Multiple Sclerosis, but everyone thinks he will get better.
  2. Secondary progressive MS means a downward spiral to the worst possible scenario you can think of happening.
  3. There is no cure for MS.
  4. No one really cares. They are just glad it’s not them.
  5. When asked point-blank for help, MS organizations do a few token things to make them feel better. They don’t really help in ways that are needed. There is no such thing as help.
  6. So-called friends stop visiting. Leaving the MS patient very lonely and therefore more apt to drive the caregiver crazy.
  7. It’s impossible to do dishes and listen to him ramble on about something on the TV I didn’t see or hear because I was doing dishes and can’t see or hear the TV much less his mumbles over running water. No one else is going to do the dishes.
  8. Caregivers never get a break from the daily insanity.
  9. I’m always terrified. You can learn to live with fear.
  10. I cry and cuss much more than I ever used to.
  11. I miss hugs. He used to hug me every day.
  12. You can’t lose weight when you are always stressed.

     There are more things but I figured 12 was enough. You all have a good one.

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Do I really hate the house I’ve lived in for over forty years?

I hate this house. I have hated this house for over forty years. We made the HUGE mistake of buying the house from the in-laws. Never buy a house from your in-laws. We weren’t in it a week when we discovered we had termites, thirty years worth of them. Did the in-laws pay to get rid of them? Nope, we did. Yes, I hate this house.

Our first winter in the house the furnace blew, filling the basement with smoke and leaving us without heat on the coldest week of the year. Yes, I hate this house.

The roof leaks. It has been repaired more times than I care to count. It only leaks when we finally get ALL the damage repaired from the last leak. It’s enough to make you stop repairing the damage.

Back by the back of the house, where the outside cellar door is, we have another leak. A leak that we can seem to stop. We’ve tried everything available to do so and yet, it still leaks. Yes, I hate this house.

The cement front porch has decided to decay, badly. This winter wasn’t kind. Repairing it is going to cost us a small fortune. Yes, I hate this house.

 

 

Swamp monsters and frustration

     The Curmudgeon is still having problems getting around. He usually takes the dogs out and feeds them in the morning, he’s having trouble doing that. He’s doing less and less. It is frustrating for both of us. It’s difficult for me because I do need to get some sleep sometime and mornings are when I usually get my sleep.

     There’s no help in sight. The MS Society scooted off as soon as they figured they’d done their token bit of help. Two safety bars, a seat for the bath, a lame counselor for me to talk to (because they were afraid I was crazy)  to me it felt like talking to our old prying, nosy neighbor, and then there were their empty promises of help to get the house in order so I can keep up with it. I haven’t been able to catch up with the dirt since the heart attack–that’s over two years ago.

     With two days of rain, the pups have ceased being cooperative. They don’t want to go out in the rain and mud any more than we do. I swear as revenge for making them go out in the rain, they purposely seek out the muddiest areas of the yard to traipse through. My kitchen floor my never be clean again. Little swamp monsters!

HPIM3581Who us?  We is innocent!