Monday, July 15th, I had a very bad night sleeping. One of those nights where you sleep for an hour or so and your body says, "I'm rested. Let's go!" I have learned to give it a bit to try and get back to sleep. If that doesn't work, I get up and accomplish something and then try to sleep. This night I spent two hours on my laptop knowing if I took a two hour nap the next day, I still would have accomplished during the night what I would have done in that two hours of daylight. Geez!!
In the arena of arm improvement, I was able strip and launder the bed linens for both beds, then put them back on the bed all by myself. Yeah me and yeah my arm!!
In the afternoon, after doing my PT and sitting to ice my shoulder, I was watching something I had DVR'd. An advertisement came on and I suddenly really, really wanted tacos for dinner. When Claude awoke from his nap, I shared my new dinner craving with him and he was on board. That is the joy of being retired. We always said we would feel wealthy when we could get a hamburger anytime. Maybe that also applies to tacos!
I had a full day, even after a bad night's sleep. It feels like I am rebuilding my stamina. Yeah!!
Tuesday, July 16th, time for a PT appointment. Also, we were notified they would deliver Claude recliner at the same time as my PT. That means I needed to drive myself. I first went to the post office to mail something, then to PT followed by a drive to Tropical Smoothie Cafe for a treat for Claude and me. It felt good to drive again. It also feels like I am rusty. I can do it but I am really, really careful.
We went out in the evening. I went to the garage and said to Claude, "I wonder if I can pull myself into the Jeep?" I went to the Jeep and managed to get myself up and into the Jeep without much pain in my right shoulder. Yeah!! We can now ride in the Jeep some.
Wednesday, July 17th, Claude and I are pretty much to ourselves. This day I connected with several people in our lives. Catherine Meo is our next door neighbor. I called and learned about her surgery and healing. It seems some neighbor had taken her trash can as well as our trash can from the curb back to our respective garage doors. Catherine thought Claude and I did it. I assured her we were also the recipients of someone's kindness.
I went outside to check my flowers on my dinner plate hibiscus. My across the street neighbors were sitting in their garage. I went across to thank them for moving our garbage cans. They did not do it. I had a nice quick visit with them and learned it was probably Beverly. She lives on the corner.
In the later afternoon, I got a call from Jessie Carter. I mailed her a nice pink scarf and she received it a day earlier than I thought it would arrive. She was over-the-moon happy about it and called to say thank you.
We purchased a birdhouse on a table leg when we were at Clifton Mill. Claude put two coats of clear paint on it after we brought it home. We placed it in the corner flower bed. I took pictures of it and my dinner plate hibiscus starting to bloom.
Thursday, July 18th, they took measurements at my office PT to check my progress since surgery. These measurement will be sent to Dr. Sajadi, my surgeon. I am doing really well.
This day was a rare summer day with no humidity. It is a true thing that the humidity make the heat in the south hotter and the cold colder. When we have a day with low or no humidity, we really enjoy them. To top it off, Claude purchased a watermelon and we enjoyed that summer treat of ice cold watermelon for dessert. Yum!!
Friday, July 19th, we were bound for Morehead, Kentucky in the morning. Our church, The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, donated a truckload of frozen meat to God's pantry. This would be distributed between 11 organizations to go to families in need. It is always a treat to be with people for one of these events. The CEO of God's Pantry took us on a tour of the regional distribution warehouse. I learned that for every $1 monetary donation, they can feed 6 families a meal. If they have to purchase from a store, one meal costs $3.65. One of the donations they most cherish is a protein donation. This is because protein is so expensive. So this donation was particularly welcome.
After we finished this event, Claude took me on an adventured really geared to me. I love turtles. Turtle is my favorite word. Main Street in Morehead is the only city in Kentucky with a national recreation trail on Main Street! The name Sheltowee was given to Daniel Boone by Chief Blackfish of the Shawnee Indians. It means Big Turtle. The Sheltowee Trail is an interesting hike and we did the easiest part. We saw only 7 of the many turtles that have been placed in Phase I of this project. The brochure tells you all the current locations (pictured below). Some are inside and some are outside. It was a delight to see a few of these turtles. It was a fun way to get to know a community in Kentucky a little better. The two final pictures were in front of Creative Touch Florist. They were painted by the granddaughter of Samone and Steve Ratcliff. We had been with her in the morning at the God's Pantry event. She painted Kentucky flowers that are found in the woods on this turtle.
Claude also harvested his first big tomato this year. It is beautiful.
Sunday, July 21st, I was grateful to attend church and take the sacrament.
In the afternoon, I was able to share Papa's walker with a friend whose daughter is participating in a dance festival. They are doing something with the theme of The Golden Girls television show. Later, this picture of the girls was posted on Facebook. I remember Hayden and Bailey loving the opportunity play with Papa's walker when they were visiting him. Papa would love that other kids are enjoying the walker again.
Our son, Jake, posted this picture to Facebook. I really like this picture of him.
In the evening, we chose to rock out with Linda Ronstadt and the Eagles. Very nice evening.
Monday, July 22nd, I had a dental cleaning appointment in the morning. Claude had a Zoom meeting in the morning so I got to drive myself. After, I went to Walmart to pick up a few things.
The biggy in the afternoon was cutting Claude's hair. His last haircut was done by Nissa, our daughter, a few days after I came home from surgery. I had been talking to Claude about it. My arm can hold up by itself to the height of my shoulder for a bit now. We discussed the possibility of cutting his hair over a two day period. We also talked about having him sit a different heights to help my arm get to where it needs to be to cut hair. Since my arm was not hurting as much, I suggested that, instead of doing my PT in the afternoon, we cut his hair and that would be my PT for the afternoon. We started out with him sitting in a chair from the dining room table as we usually do. This allowed me to cut from his neck to the top of his ears. I then got a wooden step stool from the guest bathroom that is about a foot tall. Claude sat on that so I could more easily get the hair on the top of his head cut. Whew!! It was a process but we did it. Yeah us!! After, I iced my shoulder.
The thing of note for me about this week was the amount of days in a row that I needed to be up and out of the house. I had somewhere to get up, get ready and leave our home from Thursday through Tuesday. It means I am building strength and getting back to a more normal routine. The blessing of being my age and retired, is that I can come home and rest when needed. Progress is happening!!
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