Sudokuaholics Anonymous 11

I do hope Heidi is still sleeping off the effects of the epidural. I am sure if she can take it easy this week the Epidural will last longer.

I had a lovely spring day outside puttering around. I got scolded for trying to lift a big container, only I was not lifting it, just tilting it to see the bottom, if it had a drainage hole. It does, that makes life easier for me

Good thing I got out today, in 75 degree sunny weather. It is still very warm at almost midnight, but raining. tomorrow more rain and turning colder, down to 40 mid day with a much lower wind chill, a high wind warning, not the snow Teresa is getting but still some of the effects of that snow storm up north. Will be below freezing again tomorrow night, glad I have not planted anything out yet.

Time for bed, I will get back to morrow to comment. I did read, but too sleepy to stay up now, hugs to each of yooooooou.

Just briefly stopping by to say Hello!

The best news is that Heidi's epidural was a doozy!

Had a meeting tonight, and now too tired to read, so I'm off to bed. Happy to share lots of healing vibes, {{{{{HUGS}}}}} and JUGS, positive thoughts, prayers and with everyone! Good Night!

I am going to assume that Heidi is sleeping, and a well deserved sleep it is.

FIL is not doing well. Very confused, agitated, wants to go home. It is so sad. He will not be going home as he needs 24 hour care. He will be going from the hospital to a nursing home, and stay there until a bed becomes available in the nursing home that MIL is in.

We are in the midst of a nasty winter storm. Will it ever end? I am in bad need of a dose of spring right now, and I mean right now!!!!

Morning everyone.
A busy day for me today.
Taking MIL to the hospital, she is to have cataract op on her left eye.
In 5hrs time, I pick up Kathy and Jane from airport. They are staying overnight at my house tonight.

Have fun, Rolanda. I've spent time with both of them, and they're both sweet and charming ladies.

Still sleeping it off. I want this epidural to count! The next one is a few hours after I get back from Wisconsin on June 3rd, so it's gotta last and work well.

IH is kinda glad that I'm taking it easy, so he can use my truck. He broke the front axle on his (he won't tell me how) and it's in for repairs. He has been told very specifically that he is NOT to break anything on mine.

I cant count. It is 6 hrs till plane lands
Phew, thankfully there is more time to get one's act together

Just a quick hello! I hope all is well!

{{{{{HUGS}}}}}, positive thoughts, healing vibes, prayers and

Rolanda...You are able to make good use of that extra hour with all that's on your plate today. Have fun with J and K...they are very sweet as Heidi and I can both attest to. Heidi...so glad you are taking it easy with the back. I'm glad they found the right spot and do hope you will have a good run and feel good until time for the next shot ...and well beyond that need.Hope the truck fares as well. Theresa, I agree that seeing the confusion your FIL is having has got to be tough, but know that you are doing the right thing for everyone by seeing he is well cared for. Wish I could send you that needed spring infusion...soon hopefully. Julie...would like to send you some extra hours so that you could spend more time finding ways to not get enough rest...poor thing...we love to know all is well with you and what's going on to keep you busy...but we need you to stay well and you need more rest for that. Keep trying.
Take care everyone...rest,play and love along with many hugs and healing vibes is the program for the day...we all need to try and have as much of each as possible in our daily lives. Peace.

all! Just a quick post to let me know where Im up to!! I love reading everyone's doings and make this page a regular stopover I find people here are inspirational Thank you

LizzyG, glad you could drop in. Do come back and tell us about what is happening in your little corner of the world. Yes, there are a few very inspirational people here, and we all enjoy their posts. wishing you a good avro/night.

We had our cold overnight, temp is going up now, by afternoon I should be able to get outside for a bit.

My cleaning lady and I tackled the blinds in living room yesterday. she took down the planter with plant growing up the window. It looked so healthy on the ends, but I found it is dying off closer to the root. this plant does that, hoping I think that a passing animal will break off the tips and move them to perhaps a better location. I have lots I am rooting now, to go outside later this spring. It will make nice hanging baskets, and I found a 'shepherds crock' type hanger of metal, double hook, that I can hang a couple of pots out in the shade. Now to see if I can find 2 hanging pots, and produce some kind of hangers for them. Might just buy another couple, be a lot easier hehehe.

Mama, hope all is well with you, good to see you posting today. As always I enjoyed your post. Hope spring makes an appearance there, the pear trees here are glorious!

Heidi, hope Gil returns your truck to you in working order. Rest that back, improve the chances of this epidural lasting.

HI JULIE, bye Julie, hope you got some rest overnight and are enjoying whatever it is keeping you busy today. as long as it is fun, go for it!

Rolanda, hope you had a great time with the overnight guests. Looking forward to photos of same.

Theresa, thoughts and prayers to you and your FIL. I hope he can reconcile himself to being at least content in his long term care facility. Also hope the wait to get him into same facility as your MIL is not over long. Perhaps being near her will help him. Does that facility allow husband and wife to share a semiprivate room? that is being done here in a few places.

Almost noon here and still not warm enough for me to want to be outside. Maybe if I put on a hoodie and give it a try soon.

Hugs to each of you, with extras.

Still resting. I can see that IH is fooling around with my tractor right now, hooking it up to a seeder. I have my fingers crossed that he breaks nothing on it. Of course, he won't tell me if he does. I'll just have to stumble on the problem, like the dents that have magically appeared on my truck. No good asking him about them. He'll lie through his teeth.

MizT, the home where my MIL is does have rooms for couples, but there are not many and they are quite expensive. We are hoping that eventually they can be in such a room, but time will tell. FIL also has dementia (early stages), but it seems to be progressing quickly.

Here's hoping they get a room for couples soon, Theresa.

Hi, Everyone!

Heidi, I'm glad your epidural was a doozy and you are taking time to rest afterwards. I think I hear/read resignation in your comments about Gil and the new dents in your truck and his use of your tractor. I wonder if he has any idea of how lucky he is to have you in his life, bailing him out of the situations/problems he gets into.

Hi, LIzzy! Glad you could stop by! Even better that you could comment while here!

Theresa, sending positive thoughts and strength to you! Hopefully your FIL will only have a short wait to get into the nursing home where your MIL is. Even if they can't get a couples room soon, it may be easier for him to be near her while adjusting to the new location.

MizT, you certainly seem to keep busy! With the blinds clean (and no doubt the window), you'll be able to enjoy the spring changes and light even better!

Mama, your posts are always so encouraging and upbeat! Thank you for helping to make this page so welcoming and positive!

Rolanda, I hope you enjoy(ed) your visit with Kathy and Jane!

June, I hope you are feeling better after your massage!

I'm about to head to bed (BEFORE midnight)! I'm scheduled to donate platelets i the morning! Good Night everyone! Positive thoughts, healing vibes, prayers, {{{{{HUGS}}}}}, and for all!

Julie, no we did not get the window cleaned. I ran out of steam, and Mary ran out of time! We will get that another time. It is easier to get to window now that I have rearranged plants and removed the 'little house of horrors' plant growing between the window and blind.

June, could you explain the difference between your massage and a regular massage? I have not heard the term you are using. I hope it has helped, once it stopped hurting.

Wonder just what got in Gil's way to cause the dents? I hope it did not cause damage to property that he also ignored.

I do not see why a couples room should cost more than price of 2 semi rooms, one each for MIL and FIL, but ya know, anything to make a dollar. I hope you get both in same nursing home soon, and his temp home will be at least close in distance so you can visit both more easily.

Today I went to Aldi's, good special offer on bagged garden salad, huge pound bag for 49 cents! Mushrooms, pint, for 79 cents. No good prices on tomatoes though to go with, but the veggie man will come tomorrow. At least I can buy a smaller package from him. I see a big chef salad for lunch tomorrow.

I was able to buy FRUIT today! past my 8 week mark on eating plan, and time to start adding some low impact/low glycemic carbs back. I had 13 grapes with my dinner, then some regular peanutbutter on 5 gram bread for bedtime snack. OH, and milk comes back, will have that if I wake up around 3 or 4 am! Must have a carb now every 5 hours or less, but only ones from the list. I had STRAWBERRIES for my afternoon snack, cause I was out and missed lunch. Never knew 7 strawberries could be so good, I love strawberries!!

I also found the Boston Fern that our director asked me to get/plant at front door. They are HUGE and were $11 each, a good price for the size. I got the 2 best shaped, fullest ones they had and these had just come in, were not out in last night's freeze! I also bought a 6 pack of the prettiest mounding snapdragons, yellow with a touch of pink, fading to peach. I have never grown snap dragons, hope they like the spot where I shall put them! Anyone can guess what I am doing tomorrow??

OK, intermission is over, time for bed. I slept from 7-10:30 in my chair. Back was really bad when I got home, luckily I got back just in time for meds. Once the pain was relieved, I fell sound asleep. Bad back pain can be exhausting, right Heidi(and others)? My pain clinic appointment is MONDAY, 4 more sleeps!

Hugs to each of you, with extras. Till later.

Just popping in to say HI, and hope you are all having a great day.
Hugs to all.

Quick drop in. Alie has her follow up and all is good. She is singing again and sounds good, though she isn't doing anything big yet.

Tahli poured milk onto Dana's TV while Dana was in the loo and killed it. Sigh.
I'm good , though tired

Kids will be kids.

OH DEAR, Suzy, I am sorry to hear Tahli killed Dana's TV! As Heidi said, kids will be kids. Good to hear that Alie is singing again and sounds good. Were you concerned that the surgery might change her voice or ability to sing?

HI NOLA, bye Nola
Will you be off work for this weekend? Have plans? As I said once before, I only worked every other weekend, but how pleasantly different it was to have every weekend off once I stopped working. Hope you find it doubly the same.

Enjoying grapes again with my lunch. Before this 8 week 'rest' I would have wanted a much larger serving. Now it is very filling to eat 13 grapes hehehe Eating much smaller servings now means I have to eat the same things often before they go bad. Two pounds of grapes (prepackaged size sold) is a lot of servings now.

Lunch is finished, I am off to catch the veggie man for tomatoes, and then to gather my gardening group to plant the ferns. I hope some one of them can come help.

Hugs to each of you, with extras.

MizT, it's not that a couples room is more expensive than a semi-private, but the amount of my in-laws' pensions will probably prohibit them from affording one. We're not sure yet. MIL is in a ward room (4 beds) right now.

Poor Dana ... maybe Tahli heard that milk makes you grow, and she wanted a big screen TV???? Glad to hear Alie is doing better.

Love your gardening stories, MizT. I will have to live vicariously through you. It will be quite some time before any planting happens here. Sigh .....

Hi all..
Suzy,I suppose that was the only TV that Dana has.
Glad the Alie is getting back into the singing and going well.
MizT,No work for me this week-end. It is such a big change and I love it. You are really getting into the gardening now.

And just think, Suzy... Alie will have no more problems with tonsillitis.

IH returned my truck today, after today's trip to Tennessee to pick up some research calves. I went out to inspect it, only to find the electrical trailer plug in harness ripped off and hanging underneath the truck. I immediately yelled my head off. First IH told me that he hadn't noticed it..... he had to have seen it when he was hitching and unhitching the trailer... and when I scoffed, he told me that it was like that for a long time. I really yelled, then. ''It was not broken when I last used my truck!!!!'' He's had it for the last 4 days. I try to be nice to him. Really I do. But it's so hard when he keeps breaking things and lying about it.

I meant plug-in.

Theresa, sorry, I was not aware of ward rooms in nursing homes. I have never been in one in US that has such, I have only seen semi's and private rooms. My Mil was in a semi, and she received a very low social security amount, so I assumed we only had semi's. I was not aware. thanks for clearing that up for me.

I may be jumping the gun a bit planting now, our average frost date is March 15 (for a low of 28) to April 2 for a low of 32.I figure I can protect them from isolated one night colds of 28-32 with a blanket covering for the big ones, if necessary, and bring the smaller planters inside. Crossing fingers I am right.

Heidi, Einstein says insanity is doing the same thing over and over expecting different results. You are getting close there, with IH. You know he is going to break something every time, you really know that, don't you? I do hope it will not be expensive getting it repaired. I do wish there was some way you could charge the repair to HIS account.

I fell asleep again watching TV, at 7:30, slept till 10:00. Hurting major again after all the planting I did today. It took 2 and a half hours to get those ferns planted, what with amending the soil in the containers. I had some help today, Naomi, one of the residents here. We left a bit of a mess when we left, dirt on the front entrance sidewalk. Pots with dirt are too heavy to move, so we had to fill them in place. I needed to stop before we did, and once the plants were watered in, the major things picked up, there was no way I could sweep. Heck, I do not sweep my own floors often. Happy to say Naomi took her own broom back down and swept the front, she could not stand the thoughts of the dirt at our entrance until the rain would wash it away (one of the staff's suggestion hehehe)

Bed time again. Hugs to each of you, with extras.

Good Evening, Everyone!

MizT, seems you have been busy with shopping and planting. I hope some good sleep helps remove some of the pain from the planting! Hopefully the weather will cooperate with you and the new plants! Take care! I know you have mentioned your weight loss. Have you recently begun on a different diet? I noticed that you mentioned being able to eat fruit again.

Hi, Nola! Enjoy your weekend!

Suzy, so glad Alie had a good check-up and she is able to do some singing! Was Dana's TV in the kitchen? So sorry Tahli's milk didn't 'agree' with it.

Theresa, I hope the wait to get your FIL into the same facility as your MIL is not too long. As with MizT, I was only aware of private and semi-private rooms.

Heidi, I hope you are feeling better! IH certainly can be very aggravating! Maybe the next time he wants to borrow your truck, he should rent a vehicle from a rental facility. He would definitely be required to pay for damages in that case! Hopefully repairs to your truck will not be overt expensive or time consuming! I hope the calving is going well!

Time for me to call it a night! Sending healing vibes, , positive thoughts, prayers, and {{{{{HUGS}}}}}!

Tricia... I already put my foot down. Hard. He WILL be paying for the repairs or looking for a new place to live. He has been told so, and agreed to it.

I need to get dressed and head off to the local Extension Expo. I decided to grab Angel and take her along. She loves socializing.

A good time was had by all. I got a lot of free stuff, including ~12 trees. Th pines are only a foot tall, and the oaks are 2 feet tall. Angel HAD to be petted by all the kids there, and half the adults... and I bought her 2 beef hot dogs and some home baked dog biscuits. And she shared my cheeseburger. She kept wanting to go back to the beef booth to get more to eat.

I think I'll take a short nap now, then do a cow check.

Very busy day sorting cow/calf pairs into a different pasture, then feeding hay to everyone. Tomorrow we run the remaining calves from last year through the chute. The 5 to go to Iowa will be getting vaccinations, then go back into our little feedlot. The remaining 6 Red Angus, and 2 dairy steers of Gil's, will be loaded up in my trailer and taken to the sale barn. Monday I crash.

Actually, there are 7 remaining Red Angus, but one is staying as a research calf for Gil. She had a bad accident as a 3 month old... broke her shoulder... and is badly stunted now. We keep her in a clean pen with all the food and water she wants easily within reach, and she doesn't seem to be unhappy or in pain. She just can't walk on the one front leg.

I hope I have done the right thing tonight. Friend Myra phoned me, she was hurting so severely I could barely understand her. Found her sitting up on her sofa, rocking in pain, could not stay still. Myra calls me when something is going on that worries her or scares her, I think because she knows I am going to tell her to call 911. Just cannot make up her mind herself, you know? Just like I phoned my daughter when I thought I needed to go. Just a reality check kind of thing. tonight she needed me to answer the phone when the 'fallen and can't get up' people called her after pushing her help button. she really could not talk, or think.

So as she was going out the door, I asked the medic, where will you take her. He said, I do not know, all the hospitals are full or nearly so, many are not taking patients. No matter where she goes she will have a long wait to be seen. OH NO, I do hope she is not siting on that uncomfortable gurney, waiting for someone to do something. And certainly not in a hospital where they do not have her records. she could easily be thought to be a drug seeker. Having pain is not going to get you any sympathy in hospital now. But she had the final say, they could not take her till she answered yes when asked if she wanted to go to hospital. Now I cannot go to sleep worrying about her, and of course no way to check on her, I do not know her cell number and not even sure she has it with her! Thoughts, healing vibes and prayers for Myra, please. And a good wish that I get to sleep sometime tonight, please.

Thanks for reading, it helps to be able to 'talk' to you.

Greetings, Everyone!

Heidi, I'm glad you laid down the law and IH agreed to the terms! Sounds like you and Angel enjoyed yourselves at the Extension Expo! The calf sorting sound like a lot of work for you! I hope you were able to take breaks and get some rest. I hope you get top dollar for the calves at the sale barn!

MizT, of course you did the right thing! Myra agreed that she wanted to be taken to the hospital! Hopefully the medics were able to take her to the usual hospital. I remember once MIL had to be taken to a different hospital, and they kept her for 4 days, insisting they had to do a multitude of test, because they had no records for her. I will be thinking positive thoughts for her and sending prayers her way! I hope your are able to get some sleep!

It's past midnight, so I should head to bed. Sending positive thoughts, healing vibes, prayers, , and lots of {{{{{HUGS}}}}} for everyone!

I had a good day today, outside doing garden stuff. I am getting a long list of people who say they would like to help. If only part of them can follow through, it will be great for our EP garden. I have one volunteer I call my little eager beaver, she was almost jumping up and down with excitement. Said she just stays in her apartment all day. She needs to get out and do more, especially now she is trying to quit smoking. K is younger, has had some brain damage, a stroke or something, leaving her with no use of one hand, brace on foot and leg. But she gets around well, has learned to do in spite of the 'different ability'. Yesterday she learned how to dead head pansies, today she saw me out and came asking 'what can we do today?'! I was meeting with my second in command, Loraine, who is also in a power chair, cannot stand at all. Two real gimps in charge of the garden, right? We were showing each other things we thought needed attention. I found out we think a LOT alike. So K tagged along, helped as needed and always asking can I do this? Does that need trimming? AND she helped me keep up with my cane and my notebook when I put them down to do something. then she still wanted to know if she could clip out some plants that were winter killed. SURE you can hehehe

Was talking to another lady I had not known before, and she offered me a donation on the spot, she would like to pay for the flowers and amending of soil for an area or whatever I needed it for. YEAH, and the amount she mentioned was as much as we will probably get from the resident's association. She is aware of what it takes to do a garden correctly and like Loraine and me, she feels this is our forever home now, and we can contribute to making it more attractive. She is also more able bodied than I am, can get down to plant flowers and would love to help. Just have to figure out how we as a group will handle donations, if it somehow has to go through EP or can come straight to me. I must figure out how to ask that question of the staff to get the answer I want hehehe.

Then late in the afternoon, one of the staff was on site overseeing 2 college freshmen who had to do community service as part of a course. their service was to come put out snacks and then play board games with us. Looked a lot like make work for them, and the staff member told me they get enough peop0le wanting to volunteer that they have difficulty finding things for them to do. WHAT? turning away volunteers when we need help we cannot afford to hire for gardening? I asked if she could offer volunteers a chance to work in the garden, no gardening experience, just able bodied and able to follow directions, I could find something for them to do most any day! She asked when I would need to start, and I said NEXT WEEK, we can always do soil preparation now and plant later. Cross fingers we can get some help.

Can you tell I am having fun? Pain has been a problem, when I come in, and again today I had a

ooops, forgot to save before posting, so you are missing the last. what I remember:

today I again had a breaking out in a rash when I came inside. this is the third or 4th time this has happened. I should probably go back on Claratin every day, cannot give up my garden group!

Hugs to each of you, with extras, causeit is time to go back to bed!

On my pad so I won't try to say all the things I thought, yet. Our news is we had Dana and the kids over for our weekly dinner thing today. Dana and Alie spent an hour blowing up a bounce castle for Tahli, and Tahli was running up the yard and face planted. She does it a couple of dozen times a visit, but usually on the grass. This time she did it on the concrete path! She has bruises and grazes on her face, poor little bugger. We put her straight in the bath to get the dirt out of the grazes and she looked a lot better, but she's going to hurt tonight and tomorrow.

Poor Tahli, hope she is soon better.
MizT, if someone offers a donation could you ask them to hold it till you shop for, plants soil etc and then they could contribute to that cost. Hope you friend will be OK. Hope you are able to get plenty of sleep.
Heidi, please keep taking things as easy as possible so the back pain keeps away as long as possible.
I am having a lot of pain with my shoulders, especially at night when I am trying to sleep. It does mean I will not get the back bedroom painted before J&K arrive. it will now have to wait till after Easter.

Happy Sunday/Monday to all...weather has continued its roller coaster ride. Today is very cool, a drop of 20 to 30 degrees from yesterday, but sunny and dry. Snow is expected tonight and tomorrow. Think I need to find where Spring is hiding and pull it out...Oh....wait a minute...this is early Spring weather....just have to hold on a bit longer for it to settle....hard to do thought after such a long, cold and snowy Winter. I know Theresa shares this feeling, as do some of the rest of you. Well, we'll just have to keep reading Tricia's gardening plans and watch how she goes about forming a gardening group to help beautify their home and enjoy the early greening and color until we can get started where we live.
Way to go Tricia...may it continue...It sounds great.
June, sorry your shoulder is still giving you a lot of pain and you won't be able to paint the bedroom as you had hoped to do. I think this is what bothers us a lot, we know what we want to do, but are held back by pain or aches that delay or stop us...a major frustration to be put on hold like that. The good thing about it though is that no one but us is usually aware of what we considered a 'real need' to do something because so much other good stuff was going on as well. Hope the pain eases soon and you enjoy the meet up with J and K.
Heidi, Sorry about the truck..but not totally unexpected. Add my voice to the chorus in hoping you are able to rest more and keep the stress off of your back for a long time...we don't like anyone to keep hurting here...we have all been there and know how hard it makes life....but we also know that we still have things that must be done, and places to go...so we sing...be careful over and over...hope you don't mind.
Suzy...poor Tahi will be hurting for a short while...but perhaps she has learned or will lear to slow down a bit. It seems to hurt us as much because we can't protect them from these falls or take that hurt away and we wish they'd hurry up and learn to stop hurting themselves...but they are a resilient group and all will be well. A big kiss on the boo-boos usually eases their pain more than ours... Hope you are getting some rest too...we can't kiss your boo-boos away.
Hey Julie...hope you got to bed earlier than normal for you and had a good night's sleep for a
change.Hey Tricia...looking for an update for your friend/neighbor who was in so much pain and had to go to the hospital...Prayers with all in mind for health, less pain and the strength to continue moving forward are being asked for daily...healing vibes and gentle hugs accompany my post for all, and may the Good LORD continue to bless us and direct us in sharing those blessings. Peace.

What a day!!! Yesterday felt like summer: sleeveless shirt weather and sunny. Today I had to bundle up in my parka to round up the yearling calves; while rain, sleet and some snowflakes came down hard on our heads, and our boots kept getting stuck in the mud. We revaccinated the calves going to Iowa and ran them back to their area. All the rest got loaded on to my trailer and I got to drive them to the sale barn on wet, slippery roads, in high winds, with the electric brakes on the trailer not working. In a couple of days, I plan on taking the trailer in to get re-wired before I take it down to Florida in a month. I'm now home and happy, and am about to make myself some hot chocolate with whipped cream.

It is ugly outside again. Everything is encased in ice with a dusting of snow on top. It may look pretty, but it's murder getting through gates, and really hard on baby calves. I have to go out in it in a little to check the cows, and other stuff. Not happy.