On the road again

Our son and his family leave today. It has been a lot of fun seeing them, especially the grand kids. While their parents stayed busy cleaning the travel trailer, the kids and I had fun just doing nothing. It has been a good visit.

They have worked so hard on the trailer to get it in tip top shape. It has not been used in a while and it had become in pretty bad shape. He replaced the carpet, fixed the broken window pane, cleaned it and cleaned it some more. A little squirrel lived in it for a while. Acorns were every where.

Ali and their two dogs. Moose is the chocolate Lab and Daisy is the little dog. Ali bathed her dogs and one of my dogs, Hot Dog wasn't interested.

At first, it was an adjustment getting use to the noise level and getting use to how much my grand kids talk. Hubs and I lead a very simple and quite life. My grand kids love to talk. So you can imagine the level of chatter we encountered, but it was so worth it.

This is Ali below and she is such a sweet young lady. She is very kind and thoughtful and loves animals, but especially horses.

This is Bryan. He is so funny and a delight to be around. He is a very good young man. He is considerate of others, which I like a lot. He is petting Hot Dog and HD loves it.

This is our beautiful daughter in law, Cj. She is trying to do the dishes, but I keep bugging her with taking pictures of her. I love her because she is so passionate about her family, she is very hard working, she is a wonderful wife and mother.

Our youngest son came over to visit one afternoon and it was nice to have all of our family together. My sister never made it because she was still sick. After being around them, I feel so outdated. Our life has settled down to a nice pace while theirs is still at full speed. I am OK with feeling this way. Just something I noticed about ourselves. I don't miss that fast pace at all.

The grand kids did great at finding stuff to entertain themselves. They couldn't believe we had a PlayStation and some of their favorite games. That was nice for them to have it to play with. We rode on the Rhino a few times. I taught our grandson how to drive it. He was elated to learn as he is fifeteen and will soon be getting his driver's license. He met my neighbor's son and they rode in our trails, fed their horses and played football.

I bought Ali some new ear rings and a couple of outfits for her American Girl doll. Ali wanted to learn how to sew. I taught her some hand stitches and promised her that we would learn more about sewing when she returns this summer. She liked the little bit of sewing she did and I look forward to teaching her how to sew.

Family time

Our oldest son and his family are visiting with us. They are enroute to their next base in Montgomery, Alabama. They have been busy cleaning up the travel trailer and getting things road ready for the next leg of their journey.

I will be back after they leave and give a better update.

I have what?

Life is really good right now. I am enjoying my trainer and exercising. The end results is so worth it. I always finish feeling great. Even when I am hurting it just shows me the power of exercise and endorphins. Please don't let the pain stop you from exercising.
I have been hesitant to write about my visit to the arthritis doctor. I had to ponder the diagnosis, in fact I am still working on it. The good news is that I don't have RA. Thank you Lord. I am so relieved to get that information. What I have has been going on for about twenty years or so. I have been to so many doctors about it and never found any solution. I have had physical therapy, taken muscle relaxants, acupuncture, chiropractic, massages, and even put horse liniment on my joints. I am telling you I have tried it all.

I stand corrected in that RA can go into remission. Seems mine has been healed. A great blessing from God. Every inch of my bones was x-rayed and five tubes of blood taken for tests, and a urine test. After telling him of my history, he did an exam on my body. Bending and twisting arms, legs, head, feet and hands and then he did something I have never experienced before...He hit some hot spots on my body that felt like a bolt of lightening. Pressure points is what he called them. Ouch! That hurt!

While I have given it some thought in the past, I never believed I had this syndrome until today. I have seen people with this and they are so incredible tired and depressed and in immense pain. Not me, I could talk myself out of that diagnosis, but somehow all the pieces fit together and made a lot of sense.

Other symptoms include memory loss and trouble concentrating, stomach problems, sleeping problems, depression, wide spread muscle pain, flu like symptoms, fatigue, mood changes, headaches, restless leg, numbness and swelling of the joints, changes in pain related to weather change, stress or physical activity. In the old days it was called Rheumatism. Today it is called Fibromyalgia.

I didn't believe it until all of the symptoms made a lot of sense. What causes it? The cause is unknown, but is thought to be due to abnormalities in the central nervous function, leading to an amplification of normal pain signal. It is as if the volume control is set too high in the nerves in your body so things that wouldn't cause pain in most people do cause pain in people with Fibromyalgia. It can present itself with other forms of Arthritis. The doctor said that I have Osteoarthritis.

A lot of problems arise when you don't sleep well. I never got into REM sleep ever until I was diagnosed with Sleep Apnea. In fact, I never got past stage one sleep and I quit breathing several hundred times a night. It's a wonder that my body could not heal. I felt like a walking Zombie all the time. Medication for this varies. I opted for something that diminishes the pain and will help me sleep. It should all make sense to me because I have always been a sensitive person. It was like I was in over load all the time an could not calm down. Thanks to therapy, exercise and medication I am feeling "normal" (what ever normal means) for the first time in a long time. And for that I am very grateful.

Last week flew by

Last week flew by...

Hubs' endoscope went well. The doctor took some biopsies of the Barret's esophagus in his throat, but thought that all looked good. I am thankful, very thankful. Between exercise, therapy, doctor's appointments that doesn't leave much time for fun. I wondered how I would manage, but I did.

My blood work was not as good as I wanted it to be. Cholesterol is down from 211 to 157 and it looks like the medicine worked. The triglycerides were up and he prescribed four fish oil capsules a day to improve the numbers. My A1C for my blood sugar didn't go down either. I am eating too much fat in my diet. I reviewed my food journal to see where I went wrong. I am going to work even harder to get better results. Luckily, my doctor doesn't give up. He said we would double the medicine.

I had a UTI and the medicine for it made me sick. I had tiny red dots on my whole face from it. My ribs are still sore. I can't say that word right now because I get sick at hearing it. I don't care for all of this medicines so I think I will ease myself into the fish oil til my poor stomach gets better. I woke up in time for church, but was not able to go due to upset stomach. Antibiotics kill my stomach. At least I won't have the UTI anymore.

I ended my week up visiting my former town and spent the day with my best friend, Darlene. It was nice to catch up with her. We looked at pictures of her grand kids, saw her son, and ate a delicious meal at a new Italian Bistro in downtown. Darlene and I halved a salad and lasagna and a dessert.

The main reason for my trip was to turn out taxes into our accountant. I didn't have enough time to do all that I wanted to do. It was good to walk around our little down town area. It has been under the Main Street program and it looks amazing. I am sorry that this was not happening when I owned my flower shop. I will have to take my camera next time.

Monday, I go to another doctor for a third opinion on my arthritis. Tuesday, hubs has an endoscopy. The clean out is the worst part. If you have never had this done, please do not be afraid. It is a live saving test.

I am cleaning our home this week. Our oldest son and his family are moving from Colorado to Alabama. They will be here for a couple of days. I am really looking forward to their visit. Our youngest son came to visit yesterday. He is the fire fighter. Right now he has bronchitis from inhalation of smoke. He doesn't sound too good, but hopefully he will get better soon. He still has allergy season to contend with.

My sister, Candy, has been sick with stomach stuff. Please keep her in your prayers. She is coming over this week to see our sons and family. I really miss her. She has been home for about four months. I look forward to us going places together and having loads of fun.

I am working on my craft area and trying to get it all organized. It is hard to have to dig it all out from the closet. I am want all of it to have a space. Where to start? I made a sketch of how I sort of want things to look. Finding the right organizing tools is another task all by itself.

Hubs and I went to the gun shop yesterday. We ordered two hand guns. We went to Lowe's and bought some fruit trees and flowering shrubs. He is outside on the tractor working. It is so hard to start planting over again. Wondering if we will see the fruits of our labor. He is making his gardens in circles this year. I know...what? and why? His reasoning is that his sprinklers are up on a telescope tripod and his logic is that he will be able to water all of the garden with the sprinklers. Well, it sounds interesting.

Spring flowers

This is my next project. I purchased these lovely plants last week for my deck. Life got in the way and I have not planted them yet. Then another freeze came and I brought them inside.
Purple delphinium, daffodils, geranium, feather grass on the back side and the little white plant is sweet alyssum. It is so fragrant. I love, love fresh flowers. It reminds me of my grandmother.

She had planted rows and rows of daffodils and Narcissus in her yard. I remember laying down between the rows as a girl thinking this was my little piece of heaven. I am a gardener because of her. Everything she touched grew from her love. I am not always so blessed with a green thumb, but I never tire of trying.

Thank you Grandmoma for loving plants and passing that love on to me. I miss you so much especially when I see a field full of daffodils.

Special card for Gail

This is a card I made for my friend Gail.

Her sister loves sunflowers

and she wants to give this to her sister for Mother's Day.

This is the inside of the card.

I wasn't too sure if I could create this flower or not, but I cut out all of the leaves in two different colors and then highlighted with pens. I hope Gail likes it.

I really like the colors. Gail, I need your address.

I won't be around much this week as I have something to do everyday. Hubs is having some test run to see how his Barret's esophagus is doing. Keep him in your prayers.

All in a days work

It was cold and rainey today. Instead of house work I took a break and made some note cards. Can you tell that I am waiting for Spring?I can't decide which ones are my favorites.

It's amazing what a little bit of ribbon can do.



I adore dragon flies
I made 27 cards yesterday and today.

If any of you want some cards let me know and I will be happy to send you some.
I also have some pink note cards that I made.


I have to buy some envelopes from Hobby Lobby.

I like this little daisy card a lot.

Here are some of the pink ones.

Anyone like pink?

If you would like any let me know and I will send them to you.

Here is my email if you want any cards.

Just email me your address.

tannehillp@yahoo.com

Have a wonderful weekend.

Facing my fear

Overcoming my fears is something I never thought I could do. In the past, I have overcome my fear of flying. Check that off the list. I am not saying that I am a frequent flyer, but I have been able to get on that giant plane and fly by myself.

In therapy this week, we had a really good session. I think I really surprised her when I told her all the things I had done last week. The gun safety class was the biggest fear that I overcame last week end. My therapist and her husband shoot competition archery. One common denominator is we both like to watch Top Shot on TV. My shooting will be simply for fun and practice to improve my aim.


Another biggy for me is to eat out in a restaurant alone. I have a phobia about eating out by myself. Pretty soon you will know more than you care to know about me. Yikes...Out of the blue I wanted Mexican food. I went to a new place that I had not been and ate lunch by myself. The food was not very good so I didn't stay long. The important thing is that I did it.


Another accomplishment is I bought a new chest of drawers. In my former home, I had the most lovely closet system, then we moved and I had nothing to use. Hubs has his own dresser. I have been using a shelf in the closet for my things. I guess I am a slow learner since it has taken me two years to realize that is what I needed. Anyway...it felt great to get it all organized and in place. I like my closet better without all of the messy stuff.



I tend to let hubs do anything I don't know how to do on the computer. The other night I was determined to send my pictures from my computer to be developed. It took me forever to get them selected and loaded. I did that only to get confused at how to do pay pal. Seems we live so deep in the country that they could not recognize our address. I felt the pang of defeat and left it until the next day. This time I payed directly to the store and had to go pick them up. Next time I will figure out how to have them delivered to my home.


Along with that I scrap booked all 116 photos. I still have some finishing touches to do, but I completed my mission. Geeze...I am starting to call myself an over achiever. LOL! Not really. But all in all it felt good to be on a roll again.

On a good note, I committed to joining Anytime Fitness for two years. My home gym was just not making it for me. I also committed to two days of the week with my trainer. Writing that check was hard to do. I know I am committed now to getting healthy. I bought some new exercise shoes and clothes as well. It helps when your clothes fit right and not so baggy. Wednesday,I had a great session with my trainer, Kristen.


With all of the positives this last week and getting out of my comfort zone I had a set back with my food. I have been craving sweets and indulging in them. I do OK for three or four days and then it hits me...I want something sweet. Argh...The struggle is so overwhelming and I lost the battle. The hardest part for me is to not beat myself up. I am trying to change my whole outlook about food. Letting go of things that don't work and adding it new alternatives.


My therapist brought up an interesting fact. She said that when I get out of my comfort zone, I go back to my old way of comforting myself and that is with food. I hate that I can control so much of my life in many areas, except food. I am learning a new mantra from my dietitian. I did not become this way over night. It will take a while to learn to eat healthy. So I am going to stop beating my head up against the wall. I am focusing on one day at a time. I am afraid of personal success and I use food to undermine myself.


You know this whole thing has been a challenge for me. So much to take in and process. I hope you don't think I am selfish because all I write about is this. This is the first time in my life that I have concentrated on myself. And it feels awkward to say the least. But here I am sharing all of this with you. Thank you for listening to me. I found out that it is OK to be myself.


It is going to be hard to top this week. Next week I concentrate on getting the house clean as a whistle for when our son and his family come to visit on the 19TH. I still have plenty of phobias to over come. Like the dentist. Shudder... that creeps me out to have to go to this dentist so I am changing to a kinder more gentler one. I decided that I do have choices...