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.

ATC's, Dogs and Cats

Bruno trying to fix my computer. He thinks he is so smart.
He likes to watch the cursor when it moves. We spend a lot of time together at the computer.

Dog sitting Carmen while my sister went to Florida for a few days.

This is an ATC which stands for Artist Trading Card. It is beautiful. I have not heard of them before now. It is about the size of a baseball card. My friend Cindy sent this to me. She has a wonderful blog that is so inspiring and is full of love and a great talent. If you have time please go to her blog and see just how creative she is. I think you will enjoy it.

http://ioweitalltohim.blogspot.com/

My silly dogs have two crates. They are together in the smaller one. One for Suzie, my yellow Lab and a smaller one for Hot Dog. Do you think they ever stay in their own crates? They play musical crates all the time. They are too funny. If they get any larger they will have to stay in the bigger crate. Just one of the silly reasons I love my dogs.

Well that is about it for today. I hope you have a good week.

And on the subject of Fall...

We are back to 90 degree days

There has been no rain

Dust is all we have

Fall, Fall, where did you go?

We had two weeks of nice and cool

But then you came and left us too fast

That's how it is in Texas... it never last.

As fickle as can be and always sure to change

I think it will be a while before you come again.

If you could just give us some rain

We could mow our yards without dust

Surely you know that this drought is a pain

We are getting desperate and this is a must.

So please Mother Nature send us some rain.

I have lost my energy because of this heat

I function better when I am not so beat

Somewhere In TIme

Some where between sleep and slumber in the dawn of the early morning I feel no pain. Surely this must be what heaven is like. My life is perfect at this one moment in time. I am thankful for the peace and sense of well being I feel. I will add this to my memories of my happy places to recall.

My happy place is where I go to when the pain is so intense that I can't stand it anymore. It is a visual cue for me. More often than not it works for me. I can recall the sweet smell of my grandmother's roses and daffodils even after all these years. Her yard reminded me of the poppy fields in the Wizard of Oz. I could lay down between the daffodils and become intoxicated from the smell. A wondrous state of being that I cherish to this day.

Sometimes, it is a chord of music that transports me to another memory. Have you ever had this happen to you? How do you cope with chronic pain?

Super Bowl Winner

What a game! I am so happy that my team won finally after all these years. What else can I say? Let the party begin. What a day for New Orleans and Louisiana and all dem Saints fans.

I Can Feel It In The Air

Today was overcast and cloudy with heavy thunder storms this morning. There was a huge crack of thunder that shook my house. The dogs bound to their feet to bark at the maddening noise that stirred them from their deep slumber. As I left to drive to work, I pulled off to the shoulder as I met three volunteer fire trucks heading in the opposite direction. Never imagining where they were going.


It would not be until later that afternoon that I would find out where they were headed. Evidently, the thunder struck a salt water disposal tank and it burned down to the ground. Where we live in east Texas, there are oil tanks, tank batteries, and pumping jacks in every direction you turn not to mention natural gas pipelines. It is apparent that oil and gas reigns here as my husband's job is dependant upon it.


This place we call home now has so many good people. But yesterday, there was a man that was served divorce papers by his wife. He took her off to an oil well lease with the intentions of killing her. Some how by the grace of God, she did escape, but he was shooting at her as she was running away. Luckily, someone stopped their car and helped her get away. Their daughter attends high school and they locked the school down because he had threatened to kill her as well. The wife is in the hospital with a bullet to her arm. The husband went back to the oil well lease and took his life. This is not the usual in this small town. My husband's boss called him to check on the situation and people were sent to the oil lease.

I guess you can see why I don't always blog. You can not escape crime even in a small town of 2600 people. The next largest town is Shreveport, La. and I have stopped watching the news because of all of the crime. A police officer told me that Shreveport is safer now than twenty-six years ago. Gee, that makes me feel better. It seems that the news channels are right on any crime or murder because it keeps people watching the news. What happened to the good news? When someone saved an elderly woman's life or something positive happened? Times are so different now. Are people indifferent to all of this crime? Does crime affect your town?


On a brighter note I noticed today some signs of change. While sitting outside on my deck this afternoon, I can feel that soon Autumn will come soon. The sun shines softer as it shimmers through the leaves of the trees. If you look close enough, you can see the gradual turning of the leaves. It is so subtle that you could miss it. It begins with the saffaras trees. Their leaves turn first in the season from bright yellow to orange then red. It is like a beautiful symphany of sounds and colors that twirl in a soft gentle circular downward spiral. On a single whirl of the wind they fall purposely and very slowly in a long circling motion to the ground. It is awe inspiring to witness something so simple yet so powerful.

I hope you have a wonderful weekend and Labor Day Holiday.

Road Trip Tomorrow

Today I spent outside with the dogs on the trails in the back woods. We rambled to a dry creek bed. The dogs love all this space. Just took some photos and soaked up the sunshine on the walk.
I managed to set up the Christmas closet in the office. I have boxes and boxes of books to unpack. Where did they all come from? I managed to get one box empty and use it as a trash box. Another box bites the dust.

Tomorrow I drive to Longview for acupuncture, then to Kilgore to check the mail at the post office, turn the keys in and give them our forwarding address, get my truck washed, go to the old house and check on it (visit it). I am kind of weird that way. Then to a real grocery store to buy food. And see my friends!

Hubs and I are sharing the cooking since I have most of the unpacking to do. I cook three nights, he cooks three nights, but I clean up his mess on his nights! Then on the seventh day we go out to eat. I am liking this arrangement. This weekend he will move his little home on wheels (travel trailer) to our land. Hubs has a lot of out side work to do. Our youngest son is suppose to come home from Louisiana, providing he is not called out on a fire.

That's about it for me. I am sorry but I won't be participating in Raven's Wordzzle. The words just did not speak to me. If anything comes to mind I will let you know. Y'all have a great weekend.

Blessings to all.

Blue Skies...shining above

Today is a beautiful day with the sun shining.

It's funny how weather affects my mood. We have had cold, windy and

grey skies and that takes it's tole on me. The forecast will be almost a

heat wave for those of you that live in east Texas. While it is nice, I am

going to enjoy the outdoors.