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Where can I borrow time?
The Wishing Fish Clock in the Regent Shopping Arcade, Cheltenham, may be the world’s tallest mechanical clock. The vertical distance from the duck to the fish is 14 metres. It weighs 3 tons. On the hour the fish that is suspended under the clock revolves and blows out bubbles. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)
You can go to a bank and borrow money. You can borrow a car by renting it or having a friend loan you one. Does anyone else wish you go somewhere to borrow time?
I need a little extra time every day to get everything done that needs doing. I could get up at five in the morning every day and I still wouldn’t have enough time to get everything done around here.
When we were younger, before his MS hit so hard, we thought we had all the time in the world to get things done that we wanted to do. Now, he can’t help so the lists get longer, and I get further and further behind.
I have to wait for Bath Fitters to come and do the shower before I dare do my painting. I know if I try to do it before they come, somehow, someway, my paint job will get screwed up.
I still need more time. Anyone have any to spare?
You all have a good one.
5th Anniversary of this blog!
I can’t believe I have kept this blog going for five years. Wow.
How long have you been one of my readers?
More props…Yeah, I should never go shopping at this time of year.
Wilting roses.
Books that hold a surprise…a spider jumps out at you!
Another Funkin and a second large cauldron.
And more stuff…like paper plates, skull food picks, and other party supplies.
I am getting there…
You all have a good one!
A new drug for The Curmudgeon
The Curmudgeon saw his neurologist’s nurse practitioner yesterday. And, after having a blood test run, it looks as though he’s cleared to start the Tecfidera.
He’s excited about not having to do injections anymore. He’s not excited about some of the possible side effects, but is willing to live with them if it helps.
Wish him luck, he will soon begin this new adventure into the land of weird drugs and MS.
You all have a good one!
The neighbor’s little calico cat is scary smart.
I was outside talking to a neighbor about two new props I bought, when up walked another neighbor’s pastel calico cat. Ella is just a little bit of a thing and used to be quite skittish. So it was extremely unusual that she walked right up to me, rubbed against my legs, and head butted my hand when I went to pet her.
Now the reason I say she’s scary smart is that she was out a couple of weeks ago, I saw her, and led her back to their back door so someone would let her in.
She heard me talking to the neighbor and came to get me so I could tell someone to let her inside the house. Once, I did it once before mind you. She led me all the way to the back door. If I didn’t move fast enough, she ran back to my feet and led the way again. Scary smart.
You all have a good one.
One of the two props.
Could a change in medication make a difference? We shall see.
After having such a bad week last week and a not so bad one this week after not taking his Avonex, The Curmudgeon made an appointment with his neurologist for Monday to discuss stopping the Avonex completely and switching to one of the new drugs, Tecfidera.
This what Web MD has to say about Tecfidera:
How does Tecfidera work?
It appears to have anti-inflammatory actions and brain-protective actions. The main problem in MS is that immune cells are getting into the brain and the spinal cord and they are attacking the nerves. One of the main ways they cause damage is by inflammation, particularly in relapsing-remitting MS. So Tecfidera does a number of different things to lower inflammation and lower the ability of the immune cells to get in and attack the central nervous system. Additionally, it may protect nerves from damage.
For Tecfidera, the common side effects are abdominal pain, diarrhea, and some bloating. And it causes flushing. You also have to watch the white blood cell count and the liver enzymes.
The Curmudgeon is hoping he has better results with it than he’s had with the Avonex of late. Keep your fingers crossed people!
You all have a good one!
Side view of the brain and spinal cord (Photo credit: Wikipedia)
Mid-week updates
So The Curmudgeon decided to skip his Avonex shot Monday night since he had so many bad days last week. So far this week, he hasn’t been nearly as bad off as he was any day last week.
Both of the pups were itchy last week. I went over them with the flea comb. They each had two fleas on them. Damn it, we haven’t had fleas here in almost twenty years. So far since then, I’ve gone over them daily, found three more, have vacuumed the house like a maniac, and we are now two days clear of them.
The Curmudgeon mowed the lawn. Took him two days but he did it.
My tomato plants are done, pulled from the pots, and the green tomatoes are inside ready for me to fry them in the next day or two. It looks as though I may get two more eggplants before the frost kills the plants.
Next project is to figure out how I’ll get the house painted. Do I wait until they do the bathroom? I think so, I’d hate to have them damage a new paint job getting the old bath tub out of here.
I can always get to work on the much-needed, much neglected caulking on the back porch.
Then there are those voodoo dolls I need to make for our Halloween porch decorations. Anyone ready to volunteer to lie down on my tracing paper so I can draw my life-sized patterns? 😀 I have coffee.
You all have a good one!
She’s my bestest friend. :D
I had planned to go to the grocery store yesterday, but certainly not in the round about way I did, and not exactly to the store to which I went . 😉
I was drinking my first cup of coffee after a lousy night’s sleep. My eyes barely open and my brain still lost in the fuzziness of sleep deprivation. The phone rang. The Curmudgeon answered it.
G was calling, she needed a favor. Keep in mind that my brain had yet to regain consciousness. It took her three explanations to get through the fuzz.
“Oh!” The light went on. “I’ll be right there.” I made a quick trip to her house, grabbed her spare car key, and hopped in my van. Dadada DA dada! To the rescue!
I pulled into the South Side Giant to find her standing next to her car. She waved at me. I pulled the van into the space next to her, opened my door and, with a big grin, dangled her spare key from my index finger. She laughed and showed me her keys, on the seat, behind the locked door.
I decided that while I was at a Giant, not my regular one, why not do my shopping? She joined me, which made the hated chore go by fast and somewhat painlessly.
You all have a good one.
No post today.
I am too effing tired and too effing depressed to post. Really bad day for The Curmudgeon.
Less junk, less clutter…less pressure?
For the past week we’ve had someone cleaning out some accumulated junk from our yard. It probably would’ve taken a mere day if the guy had proper tools and no interruptions.
The dogs suffered from shy bowels for a solid week. Poor dears. Neither one could go as long as the guy and his friend were in the yard working. It was hysterical.
I am happy to say that the old Cushman buggy and the old mobility scooter are now gone. The scooter couldn’t be fixed. Unfortunately, this means we’re out a mobility scooter for The Curmudgeon. The yard looks better. The majority of the clutter is gone.
The scooter was great for those days when The Curmudgeon had difficulty walking. He could still take the dogs out and help out a bit. Now there’s very little he can do to help since most days are bad days.
With us soon paying for the removal of the old tub, and replacing it with a shower that The Curmudgeon can more easily use, the cost of a new scooter is prohibitive. It sucks. However, we will manage.
Before anyone jumps in telling me to start asking others for money… We do not do chip ins or anything of the sort. If we can’t do it ourselves, it will wait until we can. We have always taken care of ourselves and never depended on anyone else. We do not plan to change that.
You all have a good one!
That downward spiral that is MS
It would be so nice to be able to write that The Curmudgeon had a great day. I do not see that coming down the pike any time soon.
If anyone tells you that watching a loved one go downhill due to an ailment of some sort, isn’t the hardest thing in the world to do, they are full of shit.
I’ve watched The Curmudgeon trudge that downward spiral for years and the last few have been the worst. I dread waking up and going downstairs each day. I fear what I’ll find. Is he having an okay day or is he having another bad day? Far too often the bad days outnumber the good.
The strong man I married is no longer who I see. I see a stranger. I see his frustration, his bitterness, and his flagging spirit. He lashes out at me on occasion. I lash out at him too. It’s on days like that where I need to find someplace to escape to so we both can decompress.
I lost my weekly Border’s decompression when they closed their store. The gym just doesn’t cut it for me, it is not a place where I am at ease. Starbucks here is a little stand at a mall. It seems to me there are no more comfortable places for a writer to go around here. Don’t suggest the local library, they don’t like it when you come in to hang out and there’s no coffee.
The pups need chef hats
So I had a craving for something chocolate yesterday and remembered I had some Ghirardelli brownie mix in the cupboard. Yes, I made brownies.
Too bad The Curmudgeon went to bed early and didn’t get any. I managed to limit myself to one and we will each have one after dinner tonight.
I had two assistants while I made the brownies. I felt bad telling the pups they couldn’t have any because they aren’t allowed chocolate. They were all ready to volunteer to taste test them. 😀
You all have a good one!
San Francisco, California (Photo credit: Wikipedia)
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