Accomplishments #56, #57, #58 and #59

Not overly productive the last four days, but keeping up and ahead of the game most of the time.

Here is the list:

#55:  A little laundry sorting, cleaning of the kitchen, and some work in my bedroom.

#56:  Living room picked up, cleaned out the refrigerator, and gathered garbage.

#57:  Mail sorted, kitchen kept clean

#58:  A little work in the kitchen

#59:  Mail sorted and taken care of, kitchen work

My youngest was home this weekend and did quite a few things for me for free, and then I paid him to do some big jobs.  He is a lot of help when he is home and I enjoy being around him.  

Having Fun!

I am having the best time hand quilting the cat quilt I have been making for Loni. 

I am learning some new stitches tonight.  I think I finally mastered one of them.  

One of the reasons it is so much fun is that the quilt is so colorful that I get to use  many different colored threads. 

The other plus is that I am so happy quilting the cats that there is a lot of good mojo going into the quilt.

Accomplishments #54 and #55

I have been pretty caught up this week, so my accomplishments for the last couple of days have been the same. 

• Mail, sorted, put away, shredded or recycled
• Kitchen kept neat and orderly
• Laundry sorted
• Shelves dusted

Dr.s Visit

Today was the day I was transferred from the Concentra office to the surgeon's office to arrange surgery on my shoulder. 

Loni drove me so I didn't have to stress my shoulder too much, and to meet the Dr.  It was a ways down to his new Dallas office.  When we got there and walked in the door of the building I was ready to turn around and leave.  The Dr. had warned me that he had lost his sublet on the other office and had to move quickly, so I thought maybe this was all he could find, but still...YUCK!

The building was built around an atrium that has not been well tended.  The fountain is not maintained, and the water needed to be treated.  When we opened the door to enter the hall the office was located in, the smell of mold almost knocked you to the ground.  I really wanted to grab Loni's hand and run.

Entering the office was not much better.  No filing cabinets, boxes on the floor, total chaos behind the desk.  Gut was still saying "RUN!"  

The receptionist had all my paperwork ready and was very nice.  She explained that the paperwork was different than most and that instead of having English on one side and Spanish on the other it was together.  I have to admit it was difficult for me to read that way, and there was a lot of paperwork.  

As I was going working through all the papers, Loni was listening.  She overheard one patient say that this office was so much nicer than the old office.  What!!!  She also learned that they had just moved into this office.  Okay, once she told me that I thought maybe I am being too hard on them, but still... YUCK!

I finished my paperwork and turned it in only to be called back to the desk because I had left out a page.  There were four questions on the page.  One about smoking .. No.  One about any habits, like biting my nails, No.  But she said any nervous habits so I had to put that I shake my leg all the time.  The other one was a question I don't remember, but it did not apply to me.  Then there was the other question.  

Sexual Habits:____________________________________________

___Normal
___ Abnormal

I looked at the receptionist and said how about "none."  She then said she didn't know why they had to ask that question since they were an orthopedic office but it had to be answered.  I looked at her and said how about "none at this time."  She said "Check normal."  She then told me she didn't like it when people checked "abnormal."  We had a good laugh.  I checked normal, and that part of the visit was done.

The next part of the visit involved a muscle strength test, and then a lot more paperwork.  I do mean a lot more paperwork.  This was done with a nice lady named Anita on a little round patio table.  In fact, when I did my range of motion test I had to make sure I didn't hit her in the head since there were four people working around the patio desk and an exam table in this back room.  Nothing was unpacked, they were working out of tote bags and boxes in there too.  Once I was done in that room, Anita gave me my tentative date for surgery.

Once I finished with Anita it was time to see the Dr.  I am still not happy about the office, but I have to say that everyone was really, really nice.  They all got along, and they all seem to adore the Dr. 

Dr. came in. Went over my paperwork again.  Told me what I needed to complete to get my surgery, and set up my pre-op visit.  

So I guess I am having surgery on March 14, if all the paperwork can be done on time.  That is the beginning of Spring Break, so the boys will be home to help me.  Should be very interesting.  Still worried about it, but I would probably be worried no matter who did the surgery.  

All I know is it sure will be nice to have normal use of my shoulder again.  

I also hope I can visit the Dr. in the Plano clinic after surgery and not deal with driving to that odd place again.

Accomplishment #53

It is Tues. so a light day of for accomplishments.  Loni and I took out the trash and the recycling.  I sorted a clump of mail. 

Accomplishment #52

Today's accomplishments include cleaning my bathroom from top to bottom, including washing floor, emptying the dishwasher and refilling it, and one load of laundry. 

However I must remember that Charlie comes on Monday evenings and to put on an old shirt instead of just running around in my bra.  I am pretty sure I saw him before he saw me.  If not, poor man.  Hope he doesn't raise my rates.

Exhaustion or Depression?

I was in bed by 11:00 P.M. last night and did not wake up until 10:40 A.M. 

I went to the early movie at 11:30 and was back home by 2:00 P.M.  

I had a light lunch and went to sleep on the couch by 3:00 P.M. and did not wake up until 8:00 P.M.  Now I am ready for bed again.  

I had to sit and think about whether or not I was sliding into depression again.  After Raymond died I slept all day for weeks.  As soon as the kids would go to school I would go back to sleep.  At first I decided it was because I had so little sleep in the last months of his life, then I decided it was depression.   Of course I didn't get to really deal with that depression for long because I had my mom to care for and then had to deal with her death.

I don't think I am depressed right now.  In fact I think I am in a pretty good place in my life.  I am probably just exhausted from all the nights I don't sleep.  

Whatever the cause, I think I will embrace the sleep for now.  It feels pretty good.  I may not be accomplishing very many things, but I think I will feel better in the end.

Goodnight.

Accomplishment #51

Only thing I accomplished today was a load of laundry, washed and put away. 

Accomplishment #50

I had to get up extra early for a Saturday to meet with the plumber, so I decided to get all my work out of the way so I can spend the day quilting. 

I will probably accomplish more throughout the day, but this is it for this posting.

So far today I have washed a load of clothes, sorted laundry, made my bed, emptied the dishwasher, dusted part of the Man Cave, filled the fountain, emptied the garbage in the kitchen, and put away some clothes.  

Not bad since I have only been up an hour.  Quilting here I come!  I am trying out a technique I saw on a tutorial video with some fabric I really don't like so if I mess up I am not really out any of my stash. 

Accomplishment #49

Today was very productive.  I did some deep cleaning in a couple of small areas.  Swept and dusted in a couple of rooms.  Polished the kitchen table and put out different placemats.  Washed and dried a load of clothes.  Paid bills, made phone calls, and worked on my budget.  Loni helped me change my sheets since that is hard on my shoulder.  I also did a little redecorating. 

It was a good day.

One Burden Lifted

I have completed stage one of my plan for my future. I am now comfortable enough with how things are going to know that I don't have to put up with anything unless I choose to do so, it is all up to me now. 

Still working on making sure everything is all secure, but love knowing I am FREE to say "Stuff This!"  

If this seems like a very cryptic post it is because I don't want certain people to know what I have done, because they don't need to know I am able to walk away from certain situations.  

It is enough that I know, and I am so very happy about it.

Jury Duty/People Watching

I had jury duty on Monday, February 14. I did not get put on a panel because 3 of the 6 courts settled and my name was not called for the 3 that were seated. 

I spent my time there wisely.  I read and watched the people.  Two of my favorite hobbies. 

My favorite person to watch was this beautiful woman, not terribly young, maybe late 30's, in gorgeous clothes that showed off her two rather large perky attributes without being low cut.  She  had straight chestnut hair down to the middle of her back and she knew how to flip it. 

When this woman walked in she went straight to a line of chairs that only had two chairs left in it, one close to the end between two men, and the other was at the end of the row on the opposite side between two men.  All the other chairs  in the row were full of men. Now my row was in front of the row she chose and had five chairs left in it with  women on one end and men on the other.  This woman sat in the first available seat in the row of men, between two rather paunchy men and it looked quite cramped.  

I decided to sit with my shoulder propped up on the chair giving me a perfect view of the woman and the men surrounding her area.  It was quite entertaining.  She immediately struck up a conversation with the two men by making a comment about jury duty that made them chuckle and suck in their guts.  She then kept on talking and making this little giggle sound while flipping her hair.  I thought if the one guy held in his gut any longer he might pass out.  

The woman was delightful and I have no issue with her, especially since I got to watch about five, middle aged men do their best to make themselves look attractive to this woman that was really just into making her jury duty time more interesting.  Hair was smoothed, shoulders were thrown back, guts sucked, height being stretched, and brows scrunched as these men were obviously trying to figure out how to keep her attention on them instead of the area on the other side of her.  

I was chucking to myself because I noticed that she wasn't really looking at any of the men, she was sort of looking over their heads around the room.  I am not sure she was even aware of what they were doing.  She just seemed like the type that charmed a room no matter where she was, and it was just part of her personality.  

Her group along with my group were excused after almost two hours.  As I was walking to my car, I couldn't help but think the wives of those men would have a wonderful Valentine's Day as the men continued to live out their fantasy of the morning. 

I love watching people.

Accomplishments #45-#48

Haven't been on the computer as much this week, but I have been working on my accomplishments.

#45: I still had quite a few things I needed to do in the kitchen from Sunday, so I caught up on all of those. Including going through the pantry and looking for things that I would never eat but ended up in there any way.  I picked up things from around the house that just seemed to land where they wanted over the weekend.

#46: I came home between work and TOPS and collected up all the garbage cans in the house and took out the garbage to the cans and then rolled the garbage and recycling cans to the street (not a short distance).  It had been two weeks since I had been able to take out the garbage due to weather, and the recycling was almost over flowing.  I came back in and put bags back into the inside cans, then went back to work until TOPS.

#47:  I picked up in my room, worked in the laundry room a little, and cleaned up the kitchen and ran the dishwasher after Loni went home from our "Survivor" and "Criminal Minds" evening. 

#48:  Paperwork, paperwork. Bills have been coming in this week so I started sorting through everything and trying to organize what goes where in the my files.  

Keeping up with everything is paying off.  The youngest noticed how nice everything looked, and I was able to bring my Super Seniors to the house yesterday without worrying what they would think if there was any clutter since their houses look like showcases. 

I also managed to get quite a bit of quilting done this week and read a book.  That is always wonderful.

Accomplishments #42, #43, and #44

The weather warmed up and the sun came out making it much easier to accomplish things around the house.

Day #42:  I did laundry, worked on organizing items that had been dumped into what used to be the computer room, finished filing and putting away items left over from bathroom remodel, worked on paperwork.

Day 43:  I did 4 loads of laundry (which included the youngest's loads from school since he was doing something for me), vacuumed the living room/part of play room, loaded the dishwasher, scrubbed pots and pans, folded and put away laundry, and dusted living room.  I also repaired a quilt I use on the couch. 

Day 44:  Cleaned out the inside of my car.  

I am really pleased with how most of the house is looking now.  My pottery collection needs some attention, but that will have to wait until I can stand to be in the kitchen long enough to take care of cleaning all the shelves. It is still too cold in there.  Plus, my shoulder will have to be up to dealing with all those pieces. 

My Second Surprise from Hawaii - Art from Mina

Mina surprised me with a signed and personalized piece of art from her trip to Hawaii with Loni.

Up From the Deep b y Patrice Federspiel

I love the colors and how peaceful the turtle looks as it is floating in the water.  Almost like it is doing water ballet.  

Thank you Mina.  You know you can't go wrong when it comes to Mama C if it is art with turtles involved.  

Beautiful New Art Piece - Autumn in the Catskills

Loni was in Nashville, TN on business travel this week and when she returned she brought with her a surprise for me.  A beautiful new piece of art  - Autumn in the Catskills (1871)  by Sanford Robinson Gifford.    The original is displayed as part of the James M. Cowan Collection at The Parthenon in Nashville, Tennessee. (I still don't get why there is a replica of the Parthenon in Nashville, but that is another post all together.)

I love this piece.  It really speaks to me. Thank you so much Loni. 

My Youngest is Home!

I have missed him these last couple of weeks.

He is glad to get where there is not so much ice and snow.  There was still quite a bit of ice on campus when I picked him up today.  Lots of people still sliding around where there was shade.  

Our first stop was the Denton DMV to renew his expired driver's license.  They would not let us do that because he did not have a Verification of Enrollment form from TAMS.  They would not accept his UNT student identification because he is under 17.  We will try again when he comes home in two weeks.

Our next stop was the Minding my P's and Q's Quilt Shop in Cross Roads. Small, but friendly.  Nothing I needed today, but they did have some nice sale fabric. The youngest was nice enough to wander around with me and show me fabric he thought I would like.

Since he had not eaten yet, at almost 1:30 P.M. a stop at Sonic stopped the rumbly in his tummy.  3 grilled cheese and a blended chocolate root beer float later we stopped at Lonestar Comics where I bought him 10 Magic booster packs for Valentine's day.  Evidently I did good because he was quite happy with some of the cards.  

A stop at PetSmart for my new fish was all that was left before we headed home.  

He is now helping me by cleaning out the computer room closet.  He also went out and filled all the bird feeders he could until we ran out of bird seed.  We will be going in to town later for more of that important staple around here.  

He is such a wonderful child.  Funny, interesting, kind and considerate.  I am so glad he is home for a couple of days.  

Can't Stop Eating

I was doing very well on my diet.  Keeping things under control.  Losing a few pounds.  Pretty happy with how everything was going. 

When I was sick I lost a lot of weight. Weight I knew wouldn't stay off, but still thought I could keep everything under control.

Then the cold weather hit.  I cannot stop eating.  I am eating pretty healthy stuff, but still too much of it.

I have been eating a lot  of oranges, lite popcorn, soup, cereal, and peanut butter.  I am packing on the pounds and I am out of control.  

I am hoping with sunshine and some warmth this weekend I will get back under control. 

Accomplishments #40 and #41

Accomplishment #40: Cooked several items, and then scrubbed the pans. Cleaned out some things from the refrigerator.  Organized a cabinet.  Looked for one of my phones. (Did not find it.)

Accomplishment #41:  Went through a couple of days worth of mail. Started the dishwasher.  

I have been really trying to finish up some quilting before I have shoulder surgery.  I am keeping the house up and organized, but not delving into any big projects.  

Perfect Ice Storm Activity

Almost done with this quilt for Mina.

Accomplishments #35, #36 , #37, #38, and #39

I will admit that during this cold snap accomplishments have been difficult to well... accomplish.  However, I still managed to do a little something every day. 

Yesterday and today the sun has been out and I have been more in the mood to move around and get things done.

So here goes:

#35:   Cleaned kitchen, did dishes, ran dishwasher, cleaned counters and appliances., picked up around living room where I had been getting thread everywhere while hand quilting.

#36:   Emptied dishwasher, gathered all the trash in the house, took the trash and the recycling out to the bins.  Picked up some in the man cave.  

#37:   Laundry, laundry, laundry, folding, folding, folding, then putting it all away.

#38:  Cleaned off the trunk and set up the new fish tank.

#39:  Late night, so I just picked up a few things that needed to be put in their proper place and went through magazines to see what needed to be recycled.  

Something happened and an earlier post of accomplishments did not post to the blog, so I just added to it.  I have to admit it is a struggle for me not to come home some days and just totally veg out on the couch, but knowing I have to be accountable to myself in writing makes me do at least one small thing.  Tonight I would have rather laid under the quilt and stayed warm.

Sunshine Makes Me Happy! So Happy I Have Been Singing

Hawaiian Art

Loni and Mina go to Hawaii in January to celebrate Loni's grandmother's birthday.  This year she was 99 years old. 

When they return they are always kind enough to bring gifts to their extended family.  I asked that my gift this year be calorie free.  

Loni came to see me yesterday and brought me my gift.  It was a piece of artwork by George Kaiwi, a mostly self-taught artist who has done t-shirt art, stained glass, and is now working in oil.  My print is of his original oil painting "Honu and Friend."  Loni said she picked this print for me because it had the fish she saw while snorkeling, and of course there is a turtle involved.  

This is my third piece of art from Hawaii.  I have a nice matted turtle picture and a beautiful porcelain box from Mina purchased on previous trips.  I can't wait to frame it.  I have already changed my mind ten times about where I want to hang it. 

I love it!  Thank you Loni.  

Honu and Friend by George Kaiwi

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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Accomplishment #33 and #34

It is just too cold to do very much around the house. 

For the past two days my accomplishments have been doing dishes, emptying the dishwasher, and cleaning skillets.  That concludes days 33 and 34.  

Of course, I also managed to do quite a bit of quilting, and today I drove into work for an hour.  There is still a lot of ice on the roads. 

So Glad We Prepared

The youngest and I prepared all the feeders for winter weather Sunday.  I am so glad we did.  I am enjoying all the creatures feasting.  The wind has been so fierce that one of the feeders lost a lot of seed while blowing in the wind, much to the delight of these little birds.

Accomplishment #32

Snow day from work.  Lots of ice on the ground outside. 

My big accomplishment today was paperwork.  I paid bills, caught up on paying for magazine subscriptions, filled out my juror questionnaire online, and paid for my vehicle registration renewal. 

I also washed and dried the baby quilt I finished today.

I am sure I could have done a lot more around the house, but since I worked at home I figured I did okay.  

Looks like another work snow day tomorrow too.  I really would rather just go to work and get done with my stuff.

Completed Baby Quilt for CRJ

Finally!  Today I finished the baby quilt I started months ago for my friend's first grandchild, a little boy with the initials CRJ.

I thought I would never get finished with this quilt due to the shoulder issues I have been having.  

She is going to see him in March and will personally deliver the quilt, so I finished it just in time. 

Cold Winter Day at My House

Accomplishment #31

I think I did okay last night for accomplishments considering how much I just wanted to go to sleep when I got home from work.

For day #31 I manged to complete the following:

• Folded 2 loads of laundry and put everything away where it belonged.
• Washed and dried a load of hanging clothes. 
• Straightened living room.