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Sleeping on the sofa has helped a lot with the pain in my shoulder. I rolled over onto that shoulder last night and it hurt and there is a wee bit of pain this morning, but nothing even close to what it had been - so something isn't right in that shoulder, but sleeping on the couch is giving it a break! Woohoo!
Not much else going on with me. Spending time working on my pastor's blog posts and getting them edited and organized to put on memory sticks for members of the body this Christmas. He's written quite a few poems and one incredible Christmas story and those will be put into booklets for his grandchildren this Christmas. His wife wants to do that for them, so I've pulled out poems and stories as I've gone through the blogs. Wade and I found some notebooks that Mom had done some journaling in - what a great surprise; we didn't know that she had been doing that. I'm sure getting something like this will be a blessing for them since it will help them with their Christian walk!
Well, not much else to tell. Love y'all.0 -
Praying you can get to the bottom of this!0
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I did sleep in my bed the other night and had a wee bit of pain the next day, but nothing like it was - so, I am hoping that means it's getting better! Thanks for your prayers.
Hope all is going well with y'all!0 -
Got back from voting about an hour ago. I know I could do early voting, but with all the shenanigans in various areas, I feel better about actually casting a ballot in person. There are 1,300 registered in my precinct, but the ladies there say we rarely get more than 80% turnout. My husband got there before they opened and was voter #17. I slept in and went around 10:30 and was #203. Neither one of us waited long to vote - maybe 15 minutes. Our state has a "right to choose" proposal on the ballot that's even more outrageous than what they are trying to replace. I pray that God will open people's eyes to the evil in it and it is defeated.0
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I'm on the hunt for another good series to read. My husband is watching election returns in the other room and I just can't.0
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Well, the devil had his way here yesterday. Our abortion up to birth proposal passed here. That also included wording that will allow anyone (for example, a teacher) to help a child get puberty blockers to promote transgenderism- with no age restrictions and without having to notify the parents. God help us all.0
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This world is on a fast track to hell! How evil can people get? I pray Jesus returns before we can find out! Can you imagine becoming a Christian during the tribulation, how evil the world will be, and then people wanting, even more so than today, to kill you because you love Jesus??? Ugh.
It didn't seem like we got the red wave they were talking about, although I think the Republicans did pick up some seats. Things just looked awfully blue to me! I just don't get it. The commercials here in NC for the dem were all about killing babies and how if a republican makes it in office they will curtail a woman's ability to kill her baby! Praise the Lord, it looks like the republican, Ted Budd, will become our governor! We aren't going to turn this country around, but maybe we can make it not quite so evil.
Putting up apples. Old people shouldn't do this! Ugh. I'm hurting all over today and I even got to do most of my part sitting down. I put six trays in the dehydrator for about 11 hours. The apples are still soft, about like they were at 7 hours, so I will probably just do the next batch of them at 7 hours. I have quite a few Honey Golds (Golden Delicious) still to do, and a few Honey Crisps are left. I have a bunch of sliced apples in the freezer. I think I will use the rest of the Honey Crisps to make apple sauce. I can dehydrate the apple sauce to make fruit roll-ups! Very good!
I hope you ladies are feeling well. Love y'all.
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Kansas on the whole is a "red" state, but we have a Democrat governor and our area is very Democrat with a radical Representative. My vote didn't do much, but maybe kept a few of our good ones in office. Our abortion bill was on the primary, and we are now open to anything and everything. I don't know how that it passed, but it did. I think that people really didn't read the wording on the bill, just took it that it meant no abortions for any reason and voted against it, like all of the commercials were telling them to. It really was for legislating anything due to abortion. Now we are wide open.
We are having some major issues here and I may not have much time to spend online for the next couple of weeks. We started having some sheet rock breaks in the upstairs of the house (like 10 in a 2 week time frame). That was pretty much a sign of foundation issues. I called and they came out and we have an area that they are going to have to put piers in to bedrock to keep it stable and from sinking further. We were wanting to remodel the basement area this winter, but didn't want to have to tear it all out right now for this issue. This cost is exorbitant if we do the tear out. Whew, I don't even want to know how much it is going to cost to finish the construction and do the rest of Kip's apartment. I'm trying to get bids for the tear out, too...it may be too much for us.
Wow - they are saying that this is all caused from severe drought. I know of 2 other neighbors that have had similar issues. One's cost is $6000 more than our and has a lot more piers going in.0 -
Oh no, Connie, I'm so sorry this is happening! I'll be praying for you.
We have issues too, but nothing that drastic. We paid $17,000 to have the underside of the house (crawl space) shored up and made watertight when we first moved in, but the owner reduced the price of the house for most of that amount, so it wasn't such a hard hit. Our home is a blessing from the Lord, a miracle that we were able to get it and for a really good price - so the minor things wrong with it don't bother me, I am where God wants me to be!
We have a few more apples, but I don't really have anywhere in the freezer to put them! I have the dehydrator going right now and will probably have to dehydrate these as well. The dehydrator can take about six or seven apples at a time, so this could take two or three days to finish off. Right now I am apple-weary! LOL!
Well, I hope y'all have a wonderful weekend. Talk to you tomorrow.0 -
Hi Ladies. I'm so sorry you're having foundation woes Connie. I pray it will come in less expensive than expected and you're able to get it fixed quickly.
And Kim, that's a lot of apples! Honey Crisp are my favorite.
I just landed in Las Vegas for a week of work. As of happens, my husband is also here for work - with a different client. He doesn't travel nearly as much as I do, but that's starting to change. Anyway, he flew in 2 days ago and I don't start my job until tomorrow. So I came in a day early and I'm staying with him at his hotel tonight so we can get dinner together. Tomorrow afternoon I'll take a Lyft over to my hotel. Our jobs end on the same day, so I booked my ticket on his flight so we can go to the airport together.
And guess what?? I was in the window seat with a husband and wife next to me in the middle and on the aisle. She leaned over just before take off and asked me a question. She recognized me from a family birthday party we both attended. Turns out they were my daughter-in-law's aunt and uncle! Small world.0 -
What a small world we live in! My mom and dad always told me to behave myself because someone we know may show up - no matter where we are. We have pretty much found it to be true.0
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How fun, Cindy! Is there a reason you can't stay with your husband at his hotel? I don't know much about your job, but does your work tell you where you have to stay? Wade often stayed overnight somewhere and there was a list of acceptible hotels/motels he could stay at - probably not anything like how y'all do yours! How nice you are in the same place at the same time!
Please pray for our pastor, he's going through a really rough physical problem right now.
Well, I still have slightly less than half a bushel of apples left. I keep trying to give them away. Even if I made apple sauce or dehydrated them, we don't have any more room in the freezer for them! LOL! My poor joints are still trying to recover from the standing I did, and my hands from the cutting. They all need a break!
Love y'all.0 -
The meeting I'm working on is happening at the Mirage - in their convention center - so it makes the most sense to stay there. There's a paid for master account at that hotel with a list of everyone on the crew... and that's where all of us on that program are staying. If I have to be in the meeting room at 7 am, it doesn't make any sense to be staying 20 minutes away at another property.
His program is actually happening at a racetrack in Las Vegas (salesmen come in to learn all about and get to drive the new cars they'll be selling) and that production team is all staying at Resorts World (the new Hilton) on a master account.
He came out on the 9th and is staying until the 17th. I came out yesterday and stayed with him, but my program runs 12-16, so I'm actually coming back here the night of the 16th and we'll ride to the airport together on Thursday. It works. I don't mind it. If our schedules are different, it could be disruptive to the other's sleep anyway. I know I'm working until 10:30 tomorrow night and he has to be up at 4:30 every morning to be at the track by 6 am. This is his last city of a 5 city tour. I have two programs in December and then I'm done for the year. The first one is in Frankfurt, Germany. I've never been and I'm hoping for an afternoon to at least go for a walk (if it isn't too cold).0 -
Oh ... Germany! Enjoy, and make sure to take a little walk (or short tour).0
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Well, I found a somewhat reasonable contractor for.the tear out and they were able to finish it today. They left it "ugly" but exactly as it should be, and cleaned up after themselves very well. They built our fence last year and did good work. They have given me a quote for the labor on the rest of the tear out and rebuilding everything. I have one more quote coming. I am going to see if I can get Bill involved in figuring out how much of everthing we will need in order to have an idea of the total cost.0
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Wow, Cindy, y'all lead very busy lives! Germany - the home of my ancestors (well, some of them). Germany, Austria, Prussia and Romania are my roots. Austria is the one that I would like to see. There is a place in Northern Germany where a bunch of family came from - Gutzlafshaggen. I wouldn't mind visiting there either. Oh, I hope you have time to take a look around!
Connie, praise the Lord at the least some of the work is done. How awesome if Bill would participate!
Y'all stay in my prayers!
I've been looking for something to wear for the holidays. I've been wanting a black skirt and I ordered one from Amazon today. The skirt I liked the best went away on Zulily, but it was a wee bit more than I wanted to spend. This one is a little bit smaller than I would normally order, but the waist is elastic and it has spandex in it too, so hopefully it won't matter! All my other skirts have prints and are hard to match. I ordered a wine red top for Christmas too. We had points so I paid for the top with that and part of the skirt came out of a refund gift certificate. Now that was strange. I had the thing ready to go for UPS pickup, and in the morning Amazon sent me the refund and said the return was complete - huh? The package is still sitting on my counter! The UPS guy came that afternoon and I sent it off. I don't mind getting the refund early, but it sure doesn't help this aging mind!
Love y'all.0 -
November is National Caregivers Month.
This pretty much sums up my life right now - except the chickens and baby goats. I have really enjoyed her books and was so surprised to fins out we were dealing with a lot of the same things.
By Stacy Monson
Sometimes I'm just tired. Mentally, emotionally, physically. My brain can't think, my heart hurts, and my body aches for sleep.
The caregiver life is a lot like fruit basket upset. (Anyone remember playing that in school?) Sometimes it's one fruit at a time. Other times, the fruits are a mess. A jumble of confusion, frustration, laughter, anger, and grief. Lots and lots of grief.
But we make the best of it day by day, hour by hour. We roll with whatever comes our way. Sometimes we react "well." Other times not so much. At times we have lots of grace for them with some left over for us. Then suddenly we can't even remember how to spell grace let alone want to give it to anyone.
As caregivers, we tell ourselves it could be so much worse. Those are the moments when we're trying to make our strange lives seem normal. Then that normal goes wonky, and we grit our teeth and hang on until we reach the NEW normal. And we realize that allowing, even for the briefest moment, the thought that it could be worse (knowing that it WILL get worse because all dementia roads lead one direction) just might send us screaming into the next county.
We let go of dreams and plans, telling ourselves it's okay and we'll get our lives back someday. Then we remember that that someday will be after we lose our loved one. And that darn grief piles on heavier and goes deeper. So we cry for a bit, feeling sorry for ourselves and our loved one, then we refocus on the here and now, on providing the best life possible (despite how difficult dementia makes it).
Everyone, EVERYONE, is dealing with stuff. Caregiving is one type of stuff. So is dealing with ongoing health issues (dear friends come to mind as I type that), financial hardships, family dysfunction, infertility, addiction...
Right now, I can only speak about the stuff in my life and encourage all of us to treat each other gently, knowing that every single person you encounter, in person or online, is dealing with stuff.
Go out of your way to offer kindness. Find ways to encourage those around you. Help carry someone's burden, if even for 10 minutes. Make someone laugh. Scatter love and friendship everywhere. Be a secret Santa all year round. Better yet, be like Jesus all year round - and don't be secret about it! Sharing a smile, a laugh, a hug (regardless of how different your "ideologies" might be) is being Jesus with skin on.
Because if there's anything we need to face life each day, it's Jesus.
And friends. He provides those to be Him in person. And chickens help. I'm finding chickens really are helpful. Grandkids are too. And chocolate. Definitely chocolate. Oh, and baby goats...
Life is best done together. Thanks for listening.0 -
Very true! When we were caring for Mom, things just seemed to get worse very quickly. I was so grateful that I had the opportunity to care for her. She had cared so wonderfully for her family for so many years, including making me feel like a daughter and not a daughter-in-law. There are times I look back and wish I had more patience during certain episodes - but then, patience wouldn't have made her understand any better than trying to be brusk and get her to respond, to break whatever her mind was holding onto, so we could do what needed to be done. But then there were the times when she would respond, or when we would be able to laugh together for a few moments before we lost her again. What special times! I'm so glad we could care for her for that short time. I've thought about writing a blog, maybe helping someone understand what they are about to face because I had no idea how hard it would be, and we never would have been able to do it for as long as we did without the help of our pastor's wife who came over every day to help me. I rejoice that she is whole and strong with Jesus now. I think about you, Connie, and pray for you and Bill (and Kip) every day.
Love y'all.
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I've had a long travel day and I'm not very coherent right now, but Connie, please add my prayers to Kim's.0
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Thanks for the prayers. Yesterday was Bill's 85th birthday. He had no idea how old he was....sad. But he had a good day. His daughters came over and brought donuts and had a nice visit.
My Mom sent him a little cash in a birthday card and told me to use it for a meal. I asked Bill if he wanted to go out and eat, but he said he really wanted KFC at home. So, fried chicken it was. And they threw in 6 chocolate chip cookies.0 -
Oh, happy birthday, Bill! How fun! Thank you KFC. Could y'all eat those cookies??? Hey, no sweat Bill couldn't remember his age, most of the time I can't either! LOL!
Wade and I went to IHOP last night for dinner - much more expensive than we have been used to paying there, and it wasn't anything great either! He was rather upset!. I have protein pancakes left over. I was going to eat them for lunch, but I had made a loaf of blender rice bread and wanted to have a slice of that, so I will eat the pancakes tomorrow. Ham/potato bake is for dinner tonight.
We had three losses of family this year. Mom in February, her sister (about two years older) in April or May, and their sister-in-law passed away last night, she was probably 88 years old. I don't think that there has been any other year in our lives where we've lost so many. There is one more left, a BIL over 90! A whole generation, but they sure lived a long time, all of them were over 80 years old. Praise God we had them for so long. God is good.
Love y'all. Gonna rest a bit before I make supper.0 -
Kim - so sorry for the deaths in the family. I know that is really hard.
Whew, when it rains it pours. Our next door neighbor came over on Friday and told us that there was a water leak under our driveway. I called the water company and they said it would be fixed this week. Well, it got worse and worse and more neighbors called about it, so Saturday evening they came and dug out the entire end of our driveway and down probably over 5 feet to get to the lines. They got the lines fixed and put a huge plate over the drive between our concrete and the road. What a mess. I called the pastor and reported off for Sunday, but we were actually able to be there. They put the plate in about 10pm. Now they need to get something better and more permanent done...that plate is a hard on the car tires going over it. At least this was the water company's problem and they are responsible for the cost of fixing our driveway.
They are in the house now working on the foundation issues. I asked several times if the stool needed removed from the bathroom and was told "no". Then the guy came up here and said it needed to be removed today...I told him that he needed to make it work because I was told that it didn't need to come up. I was about to the end of my rope. Anyway he made a call and they are moving the pier by 6 inches. Whew!
It is SO noisy here! The jack hammer has been going all day. They said that they probably will have to finish tomorrow....so more! And I can't leave the house. AARG!!! I can't wait until all of this is finished.0 -
Well, the piering is finished. They are supposed to send me pictures, so I didn't take any. Last night when they finished for the day, there was dirt, rock, etc more than knee deep in Kips living room. I about had heart failure! When they finished this afternoon, all of the dirt was packed (via compacting tool on the jack hammer) back into the 7 holes drilled to bedrock. The floors were pristine and concrete poured. So...part 2 of basement is finished. Part 3 starts on the 5th.0
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I'm glad it's at least moving along now Connie. Take heart- hopefully it will be finished soon.
I have all the kids and grandkids coming over on Thursday and I'm a little stressed out. (I know this is minor compared to what others are dealing with.) The house is a wreck because I had so much work in October and early November that I wasn't home much. I did get both bathrooms deep cleaned last weekend, so they won't need much. But I need to dust and vacuum the main living areas. And I was really hoping to make a lemon icebox cheesecake tomorrow. My daughter is bringing banana bread and my daughter in law is bringing pumpkin bread. (We're having pumpkin pie courtesy of Costco.) That's enough dessert I think.
Happy Thanksgiving if I don't make it back here before then.0 -
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Beautiful picture, Connie.
We are having Thanksgiving Dinner with our Church family. It will be the first time we are all together in one place since Spring. Our meeting house is mostly done (walls, flooring, heating and AC) so it will be awesome to be together again! I have several things to make - but the pecan pie is from Sam's Club, so I don't have to worry about more than throwing it into the over. We will bring a turkey too. I need to find a recipe for pumpkin casserole since I don't have any sweet potatoes! Sigh! Hope there is such a thing. Gonna bring some corn as well, someone else is bringing a green bean casserole.
Happy Thanksgiving, y'all. Love you0 -
Sounds like it will be a great celebration with your church family. I am just cooking a turkey breast with a few trimmings for the three of us. We have plans to go to Mom's on Monday after my yearly Dr. appointment. I didn't want to travel over the holiday weekend and with the Dr appointment I couldn't spend the holiday with her and get back for it without the holiday traffic mess.0
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Hope all goes well at your doctor's appointment. I have an eye appointment at the end of February. I will probably have my blood work done again in January. I'm kind of skipping out on doctor's appointments until I'm able to get Medicare, a year and a half!
We had a great time yesterday, tons of food. We were supposed to bring what our family would eat, but made enough for everyone, so we could all share. It was such an awesome service that we had too. One of the young girls that sings (10 years old) wrote a song and sang that yesterday - oh wow, it was really good. She is very gifted. Her sister also did a song, so good! Several of the men shared as well, and our pastor and his wife shared a song over Zoom. So far he is on schedule to come home today. Praise the Lord. He still has two or three weeks of recovery, but he is doing much better.
I hope y'all had a great time as well. Love y'all.0 -
So.glad that your pastor is doing well. God is good!
I'm not worried about the Dr.appt. The blood work.is back and the only thing off is the cholesterol is borderline high again...I have been eating eggs again, so I know I can get that down.0 -
Praise the Lord, that's great!
Got a call from the eye doctor this morning. I already had an appointment in May! She asked if I felt like I needed to see them earlier but I didn't so we will have our eyes checked again in May. I'm not sure what kind of glasses I will get this time. I don't like the progressive or the bifocals! Too small of an up-close area. Maybe I'll just get up-close and just use my eyeballs to see far away since there isn't that much difference from wearing my glasses and not. It would be a whole lot easier than what I am doing now. I keep having to push my glasses up to get the full effect of the reading area - sigh! I do wear readers when I am on the computer, I kept having to move my head all around with my regular glasses on, but with the readers I just have to move my eyes.
We still have some apples left so we are going to make some apple pie filling and freeze it, then if Wade wants some apple dessert it will be all ready for him!
Love y'all.0
