Bill of Health...

Took Papa to the doctor Wednesday morning.  This was a monthly check since the Type II diabetes diagnosis in December.

Papa's blood sugar was okay in the eyes of Dr. Weckman. Yippee!!  Dr. Weckman told Papa that a few years ago they would have called his diabetes 'borderline'.  Then Dr. Weckman said, "That is like saying 'You are borderline pregnant.'" We all had a chuckle.  Then Dr. Weckman told Papa he had diabetes that he can control with diet as long as he behaves.  Papa told him I had cleaned his apartment out of sugar.  Dr. Weckman grinned at me.  Then I told him I found some sugar-free chocolate pudding in a cup. I had purchased that for Papa and told him he could only have one each day. Again, Dr. Weckman grinned.  He assured Papa one a day was okay and then went on to tell us about the danger of having too many of them.  Papa said he was only eating one each day.

Papa's blood density was not as good.  It was too thick.  Papa takes warfarin (the generic for coumadin) which is a blood thinner for his atrial fibrilation.  His blood not being as thin as it should is an issue.  Dr. Weckman asked us to increase his warfarin by half a tablet each day.  Papa and I went to the drugstore after his doctor appointment and purchased a pill splitter. Then we went to his apartment and put the half tablet in his pill holders for the week. 

So, Papa came out with a fairly good bill of health for this visit.  He is doing well enough that he doesn't need to go back till April. Yippee!!  Oh, other than a quick visit to draw blood next week to be sure the blood thinner increase is working as it should.

Now, to take care of Tiny and her vet care that was postponed because of bad roads.

Extra Days...

Waxing thoughtful tonight...

We are again in the grasp of a polar vortex. Freakishly cold air has come down from the north pole and is resting over Kentucky, well, actually all over the middle and eastern states. We made it into the teens today. For most of the morning we were at 3 degrees in Sadieville. There is snow on the ground. And the forecast is for more snow tonight and through the day on Saturday with accumulations of 3-6 inches at my last look at the weather. Next week we will again have days in the single digits.

Now, if one lived in northern Michigan or Minnesota or even Wisconsin, this type of winter temperatures might seem normal. You would also anticipate a deep snowfall to contend with throughout the winter. When we took our trip with Nissa and Todd to the Upper Peninsula of Michigan, Todd took us out to the very northern tip of Michigan. The little community was Copper Harbor. As we drove out to this piece of land in the UP there was a pull off with an enormous thermometer like sign. It had the snowfall depths for past years. This thing was several stories high. These people have lots of snow that they deal with, definitely not like our little bit of snow here.

The deal is, this is not that far north and it is not the normal weather pattern for Kentucky. We deal differently here than they would up there and that is okay.

Our kids have been out of school for 11 days. It should be noted they just had two weeks off for their Christmas break. Now, after starting back, they have now missed 11 days. That is two weeks plus one day.

If the currentweather pattern holds and we get the forcasted snow and it can't melt, we are looking at another week without school. They close for the entire county when they close. There are a lot of tiny winding rural roads in our county. When they are covered with snow and ice they are not a place for a school bus full of children to be driving. Add to that the kids standing out in sub-zero wind chills (if not temperature) and the potential for frostbite, it just makes common sense to not hold school. The national news did a bit the other night from a northeastern city about the bitter cold and the frostbite problems being more than they have ever experienced. They said it only take 15 minutes to have the frostbite begin.

It is interesting to watch Facebook and see how young families are coping. Kids are really ready to go back to school. Parents are wanting them to be able to back to school. But in the face of all that, they are finding interesting ways to fill time in a positive fashion. At first there was actual snow in the yard to play in. That is novel. Our Andie was out blowing bubbles in the freezing air and watching them shatter. She had the kids fill colored ballons with water and watch them freeze so they had jewels in the yard. One mother filled tubs with snow for each of her little ones and pulled out the dinosaurs to play with in that snow instead of going out in the cold. The library is trying to stay open, the movie theater is trying to have extra hours when they can stay open, one mother posted a link to kid's activities for this cold weather in Lexington, all in an effort to give the kids an outlet for all that pent up energy.

In Lexington the news tells us they have places for the homeless to get out of these temperatures. One little cafe is serving free soup to those in need.

How does this affect two retired people in the country? We find ourselves with extra days or extra hours that we didn't expect. Appointments have been moved because roads were not clear. My visiting teaching for January is going to be awful. I have moved several of these visits, including the one for this morning, several times. When that happens, we end up with hours or a day at home that we didn't anticipate. And that has been a good thing.

I have been able to finish three books during this last week in preparation for an upcoming trip. What a treat!! Tonight I am going to start another baby afghan. Even having productive things with which to fill our time, we still get a little stir crazy. Today Claude and I drove into Georgetown and did a few errands, got milk for Papa and for us, and then took Papa to lunch at our favorite Mexican restaurant. We all commented how great the food was. It was just because it was so nice to be out again.

I am grateful we have been able to get Papa out twice this week between yucky weather. That feels very good. And, I am grateful we have enough on had at Papa's and at our home so, if we are totally shut in, we can do just fine. Monday, we didn't have bread. Not a problem. I had frozen loafs of bread dough in the fridge. We just let two thaw and rise and baked them up to go with some delicious chicken soup Claude made. It felt good to be prepared.

So I will take my 'extra days or hours' as they come. I will revel in the ability to accomplish things at a nice pace without filling I have to rush to accomplish 15,000,000 things in a day. I shall be grateful for being prepared and for having safe journey when we do get out. And I shall enjoy the view of our snow covered hill with the little herd of deer out there trying diligently to get a few blades of grass. It is a little miracle.

Crafty Lady...

Each month I make a little treat for the ladies in our Countryside Homemakers Club. It is just a little something, not a big thing. 

This summer I perused the Dollar Store to get ideas and found little things.  There are 14 of us and that means 14 items each month September through May.  This summer I found 5 clips for a dollar.  I purchased 3 cards of clips for $3 and determined I would figure out how to give them later.

While recuperating from my Tuesday adventures, I searched in Pinterest for quotes about organizing things.  I saved some to a Word document for later use. 

This morning I made little cards for the clips to be attached to.  I had a picture I took of a tablet Claude has in his office.  It is a "To Don't List".  That is one one side of the card.  The other side of the card has two of my favorites from the organizing quotes I found Tuesday.  The first quote reads, "Have nothing in your house that you do not know to be useful or believe to be beautiful." by William Morris.  The second reads, "Organizing is what you do before you do something so that when you do it, it is not all mixed up." by A. A. Milne.

I think they turned out really cute and I am feeling good about this little jester for March's meeting.

A Mighty Change for Me...

Tuesday morning, January 14th, I had a colonoscopy and endoscopy.  The results were twelve color pictures of my innards. 

I know I have reflux. These pictures showed concerns with how bad all of this reflux is and what is actually happening inside of me. While I was pretty groggy as Dr. Robbins discussed his findings and what these lovely pictures tell him, Claude was there to hear and remember what Dr. Robbins said.  I heard things like diverticulosis and hiatal hernia and excess bile, etc.  The most disturbing thing was the need to change my diet.

I love fresh raw veggies.  I love to keep a bag of sugar peas in the fridge for snacking on in the evening.  Raw fresh veggies are now 'off the list'.

I love a fresh salad.  Claude and I even have big chef salads for dinner, especially in the summer.  When we go to Fazoli's my meal of choice is a salad.  When I go to Zaxby's my meal of choice is a salad. These are now 'off the list'.

It turns out corn is not easily digested so...corn and pop corn are now 'off the list'.

We keep a bag of almonds on the counter in the kitchen.  A handful makes a nice snack instead of a junk food.  Thought I was doing a good thing with them.  I love pecans.  My grandparents had pecan trees and we had all the fresh pecans we could eat as kids.  I love the nuts they cook in sugar and cinnamon.  Guess what?  They are 'off the list'.

I keep crunchy granola bars on my counter for a snack that is somewhat better than candy.  It too is 'off the list'.

Apples, pears, hard peaches and apricots are now 'off the list'.

Dairy...I am not a milk drinker. Never have been.  But I do love cheese, cottage cheese, cream cheese.  These are not completely 'off the list' but not to be indulged in.

I may have cooked veggies, peanut butter, hazelnut butter, grits (Yeah! I love grits), cornbread, corn tortillas and cornflakes, soft fruits like bananas and citrus fruits and soft berries, cooked oatmeal, cooked rice (I love rice), and soy milk, almond milk or rice milk (How do they milk rice?).

The worst part, absolutely the worst part, is that I cannot have soda pop anymore.  My beverage of choice is Dr. Pepper or Mountain Dew.  I also enjoy Mr. Pibb or Mellow Yellow.  These are all absolutely 'off the list'.  I like to have a soda a day and on difficult days I have two.  Not anymore!!

In addition to these 'off the list' items, I will take a medicine for three months to heal my innards. 

Today is Thursday.  I have been obedient for two days.  I haven't experienced a miraculous change but I dimly remember Dr. Robbins said it would take a bit for the meds to work.  I shall persevere and get used to my new diet.  Today Claude took me to Qdoba. I found a soup I could eat and a cheese quesadilla. I ordered a bottle of water instead of my soda.  I did just fine.  I missed my soda but the food was good.

Now, the silliest thing I remember about this entire experience was when David, the nurse, came in and started to wake me up. I was beginning to wake up.  In my fog I remember my first words which were a question.  I asked David, "Will I still be able to go to Egypt?"  I vaguely remember him saying through a grin, "Yes, you will."  Poor David probably thinks I was just verbalizing rambling thoughts.  He has no clue I really am going to Egypt.  It gives me a grin when I think about it. 

So happy these tests are done.  So happy nothing too horrible was found.  And I am grateful for a hubby that was there for me through the prep, took my car and had it washed from my mud hole incident while I was being tested, and then took me for meds and lunch and then home to rest.  He had me rest for an extra day because I am really just worn out.

Safe Harbor...

With the broken valve at the Church, our meetings for Sunday were moved to the Frankfort Ward building. The key to the nursery toy closet was given to me and the Primary closet was left open so we could store the microphone there when we finished our meetings. The plan was for me to take the key to Laura's home after the meetings were over.  I would leave the microphone in the closet in the box in which it is stored.

As our Primary progressed I was ever watchful for the closet door to stay ajar.  Once it closed it would be locked and I wouldn't be able to store the microphone there.  At one point one of the children almost let it shut. I found myself calling loudly from the back of the Primary room to be careful of the door.  Amy, my counselor, picked up on my cries of concern and made sure the door was more ajar.  Then, as I was teaching the Sharing Time lesson, I went to write on the chalkboard which was on the door.  Yep, I heard a click and that was it, the door was closed and locked. Somewhere during the meeting I realized I could leave the nursery key locked in the closet with the microphone and not need to go to Laura's.  Now, I realized I would definitely need to go to Laura's and take the key and the microphone.

After Primary I headed into the countryside around Frankfort to Laura's home.  They have a long driveway to their home. It had several puddles in it and I splashed through them going to their house.  I visited with Laura and then headed to my car for the drive to Georgetown to visit with Papa.

As I left and approached the puddles, I had the not so bright idea to drive along the edge of the driveway and not splash everything.  At the point where there is an underground stream of water I did not know existed, I found my car sliding a bit further to the left than I wanted. I tried to steer the car back to the driveway but I started to spin. Now, to get out of snow you are supposed to rock the car back and forth.  I tried this several time and it seemed at points like it might work but that is not at all what was happening.  I was actually digging a hole, or four of them.

I gave up (which I should have done much sooner) and started to open my door to walk back to Laura's home. Imagine my surprise when the ground was level with the bottom of my door.  This was NOT good. I was in Sunday dress which meant heels and hose and a skirt.  This was NOT good either.  I stepped out onto the grass and my feet sank into the very wet ground. Oh no!!!

I looked up and saw Laura walking from her home to my car.  She assured me Jessie was getting Howard.  She also assured me to steel myself for some sarcasm.  It would be justly deserved.

Howard said, "Do you have AAA?"  Well, we have some coverage with our insurance which is not with AAA.  Howard walked around the car and around the car and assessed the situation.  Bless his heart, he was the most patient soul I ever saw in my entire life.

Eventually Howard determined the best way to handle the situation.  He drove his truck in front of my car, took out his tow strap, fastened it somewhere under my right front tire (how he found the spot in the mud I will never know).  Then he gave me instructions as to what to expect and what to do. He gently pulled my car and I kept the steering wheel where he instructed and soon I was out of the mud.  Laura thinks she can plant potatoes in the holes I left.  Goodness!!!

Never did Howard raise his voice. The restraint that took is admirable and a mark of his character.  For his kind help I shall be forever grateful.

Here is my car:

As I drove to Georgetown flinging mud behind me,  I pondered the events of that evening.  I am 63 years old.  But I thought about my parents concern when I was a child that I have good friends.  It was so very important to them that I have good friends.  I told Laura later that evening that, if my parents even had the ability to be aware of this situation, they would say, "You have good friends."  How grateful I am for these good people and their patience with my huge mistake.  May I learn from their lesson.