Mostly (but not quite) March

The year is tumbling onward. I can hide my eyes, cover my ears,  not speak of it, but still it is moving at an alarming rate.

 Sometimes I feel like an old fossil! (I found this in helping clear one of Sam's new trails through the woods. A perfect sea shell impression in the rock.)

 Over the weekend, Tom help me get set up to order some more chickens. The roosts are in half of the shed, and the pens have wire across  the tops. I am going to order a small batch (10) of mixed varieties of hens that lay brown/ colored eggs from Tractor Supply. I figure I can get a rooster by showing up to look over their Easter Chicks- I imagine they sell mostly roosters to the stores for sending home with people who really just expect them to die. (Not sure where I will find a couple of guinea buddies for the lone surviving guinea.)
In the offset area (to the right of the foremost pen) I plan to put in some herbs and flowers. The herbs there will be for the benefit of the chickens, I can toss handfulls to them daily.

We have had quite a bit of rain this week. Our creek was up again. Not quite as high as last year! This picture was taken from Sam's new trail, along the rim of the gully. You really can't tell the perspective from this picture, but I am looking down a steep embankment at the creek. I am 25+ feet from the water, not just a couple of feet. That tree on its side out in the water is FLOATING.
Yesterday, this was down to a beautiful, shallow creek, maybe a foot deep. If it doesn't rain today, the creek won't have ANY water flowing by this afternoon.

                 I have been trying to lose some weight. I can see the difference in this shirt- The beach picture was taken in October of 2015, so not quite 2 1/2 years ago. However, I gained more, so was larger after the beach picture than in this second photo by another 10-15 lbs... I was to the point that none of my clothes fit... as I discovered in needing to get dressed up for a funeral just over a year ago. I couldn't zip a single thing I owned.
Health issues can go with weight gain. My blood pressure was quite high, and I ached all the time. (Sort of like right NOW! as I battle an arthritis flare, going on 2 weeks.) Anyway, I discovered that when I avoided items containing flour, I didn't hurt as much. I began avoiding gluten, though I haven't been completely gluten free. I TRIED getting started on Trim Healthy Mama (THM), but I haven't embraced the complete plan 100%. But even in using the THM  idea of lower glycemic eating, I can say I have lost almost 35 lbs. Those dresses that I couldn't zip in November of 2016 are all too big for me now. My blood pressure has been good. My cholesterol has dropped significantly.
I have ZERO plans to "get skinny". I never want to be in the low 100's, as many weight charts recommend for my height. Not happening! (I am aiming for about 132 lbs... that's less than 10 lbs. away!) Mr. C eats THM when I make the foods, but he still wants his REAL ice cream. He has lost more than I have... but guys just seem to lose more easily.
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IN OTHER NEWS....
Daniel is closer to becoming a firefighter. He returned to Texas this past weekend for the Physical Agility Test. It was a pass/fail test, and he passed. He was given further application paperwork, which is due by mid-March. Then there is a background check, which he will be perfectly able to pass; and an interview in person. We aren't sure just how many positions are available this year, but San Angelo IS building a brand new fire station that will need to be staffed, so his chances look good.
Meanwhile, Mr. C and I are looking at the nest getting more and more empty.
   Samuel will be finished with his schooling to become a Journeyman Electrician in just over a year. He is currently pretty excited that he may get to go to Germany for a couple of weeks, if he can get the time off of work. One of our Spoon co-workers asked if he (and / or Daniel) was interested in accompanying her and her husband there, as the husband needs a specialized back surgery not performed in the US. (I say *our* Spoon co-worker, because, even though both boys are working full time elsewhere, you never really STOP working for the Spoon. Either one of the twins might be filling in for someone on any given Friday night.) Sam's reason for going (other than a great opportunity to see another country!) is that the husband will be in the hospital, and our co-worker is apprehensive about getting around alone, and Sam and Daniel both speak at least rudimentary German.
This has been a long post... thanks for reading!

It all depends on context....

I missed a mandatory meeting for work Tuesday evening. I was busy hugging the husband of a co-worker. My son Sam saw me, and called my co-worker, causing her to miss the meeting as well.

That sounds pretty sketchy, doesn't it? It summarized what happened, and sounds risque.

The details of what actually happened really sort this out. I wasn't at the meeting at work, because I failed to read the bulletin board Friday when I worked, after having been out sick for so many days. I had no idea we were even HAVING a meeting. But I did get a postcard AND a reminder phone call that the Mennonite School was having its regular blood drive on Tuesday evening. As I am a *Universal Donor* (O-), I try to donate every time I can. Daniel and Sam had been planning to cook an eggroll supper for Sam's bosses family. Dan pre-cooked the eggroll filling, and  put it into the fridge to cool.
We headed to the blood drive early. It was scheduled to start at 4:30, and we figured we'd be home by 5:30 if we were among the first there.
The blood bank had started a brand new check-in system, and you can pre-register your donation by computer or cell phone. We learned of this upon our arrival. Dan pre-registered on the spot, as it was another 15-20 minutes before they would be set up to start drawing blood. I don't carry a cell phone, so I waited until they had their walk-in tablets ready to use. This was their second day of the new system, and the first day this crew was out without an IT guy... the IT folks being in Springfield, Missouri, two and a half hours away without the ice storm snaking its way between us. Dan was first in line... and their printer didn't work for the pre-registered people. They hit *print* so many times, Dan's name was red-flagged in the system. Other glitches occurred. I was fast tracked to the front of the line- about the fourth donor to actually GIVE blood, as they had the tablet check in working more quickly than the pre- registration check in.
My blood was bagged, I was sent to the recovery area to wait for Daniel and/ or Sam. Sam arrived, and was actually done donating before they got Daniel started... such was the systems failure that night.
Where's the part about hugging my co-worker's husband? I am just getting to that.
I am sitting in the recovery area with a bag of peanuts and a glass of lemonade. I am across a school cafeteria table from a young woman, and we were having a good chat. My Spoon co-worker Diane's husband Merle is a regular blood donor. He was still giving blood when I sat down in the recovery area, but he wasn't too far behind me. Merle comes out and sits on the same side of the table I am on, and says, "I haven't ever felt like this after giving blood. I don't feel so great." The other lady across from us suggested he drink something, and have a snack. Merle didn't respond. She was reaching to get him something to drink, and asks if he wants lemonade, or would he rather have water? Merle doesn't answer. I look at Merle... and see his eyes roll back in his head and he is falling backwards off the stool attached to the table. I jumped up and grabbed him, but he is out cold. I am looking into the donation room, my face must have registered pure panic.  The lady across jumps up, but is just standing there, horrified. The people in the donation room are looking out, and they see me supporting Merle, who is still keeled over- I am getting LOOKS... "Why is that lady hugging Merle?" for several moments before people in there react. Men come running, and nurses and aides from the blood bank come in. They help ease Merle to the floor. In all the time I have held on to him, he hasn't drawn a breath. The nurse is patting his face, chafing his hands, and calling his name. "Merle? Merle! Merle!... I need you to wake up, Merle!"
He gives a shuddering gasp, and I could tell he was breathing, but I was so freaked out. He was shaking- I didn't know if that was normal or a seizure. Sam's donation is finished, and he comes out into the recovery area. I asked if anyone had Diane's phone number... Sam called our Spoon boss Jane, and got Diane's phone number, and called Diane to come to the school. Merle opened his eyes, but was VERY disoriented. They had him sit up, but stay on the floor as they continued to take his vital signs and question him.
Meanwhile, Dan's donation had been started and was taking a very long time. It ended up "clotting out" and having to be stopped. By then, we had been at the school well over 2 hours, and still had to go back home for the boys to pick up the food they were taking before traveling BACK past the school to Sam's boss' house. We left before Diane arrived.
The ice storm hit the edge of our county a short while later, so Tom and I asked the boys to be prudent and not out too late. I knew nothing about the work meeting until I got to work the next morning. Of all the people not really needed at a mandatory meeting, it is the dishwasher. So my absence was forgiven.

A Rainy Day

It is currently pouring rain. We are ahead of a cold front, so it is fairly warm out- 67*. Several miles to the north, they are experiencing freezing rain, so I am glad it is warm here. The weather guessers say we could accumulate more than 3" before the week is over, and we are on flood watch.
Everyone here is feeling much better, but regaining our strength has been slow. It hasn't helped that I've been in a miserable arthritis flare for almost a week. I should have given more thought to my diet. I KNOW that flour (probably the gluten) tends to flare the arthritis. Since we have been doing the THM (Trim Healthy Mama) diet, I have really not been strictly avoiding the flour. I HAVE been using sprouted grain flour, and low carb bread options. While sick, almost all I ate was dry toast made from sprouted grain bread. I at a tortilla, a piece of regular old pizza with white flour crust, and an eggroll. I had a BLT on a flatbread.... and- FLARE! The listed items were not all at once, they were spread over a week, so it is cumulative. It hasn't helped that I haven't taken my supplements at all since getting sick. Time to get back on the GF wagon.
Today is the Mennonite School blood drive. I have been donating a couple of years now. As O-, I am a "universal donor", and the blood bank always calls to remind me to donate. Maybe tonight's donation will spur my body to finally get off the weight plateau it has stuck on for the last few months. I am pleased that, while my weight has stayed just the same, I HAVE lost size. I got a thrift store skirt to wear to work. I tried it on before I bought it- and I HAVE worn it to work! It is a FITTED size 10- no elastic in it at all. It isn't my favorite skirt- you know how lazy I can be! It it cotton and has to be ironed. But I suppose that is OK, as my other skirts are falling off, despite taking in the elastic.
Dan is off work due to the rain. We are "fixing to" go to town. I need to return library books, and he is getting ingredients to make eggrolls. He and Sam are going to Sam's boss' house to cook eggrolls for them. It's a shame- our home made eggrolls will spoil them to the bland ones a person gets in restaurants.
Dan leaves for the next round of SAFD testing on Friday. The test is Saturday, Physical Agility. It is pass/ fail, and doesn't change ones ranking (Dan is #22) unless someone of a higher ranking fails the test. Since he has to leave early Friday morning, I won't get to ride along. (Friday is my regular work day!)
Have a blessed day, Thank you for keeping up with us!

Althea, Grace, and Jasher

So maybe that wasn't the flu... THIS is the flu!

The 36 hour bug I mentioned in my last post was NOT the flu after all. Perhaps a run in with a simple *common cold* virus, at least for Sam and I. Tom had the flu blown influenza virus, which did NOT run a simple 36 hour course. Yesterday was day 8 since it first came on him, and he was finally feeling up to leaving the house. In the hours after I posted my blog post on Thursday, I went downhill on a jet ski. My *normal* temperature runs in the low 97* range. By mid-afternoon, I was almost 101*. The aches- oh my! and coughing and miseries. In comparing notes, even our eyeballs ached. My sweet daughter Becky, in Texas, has also had the flu, and still had to cope with mothering  five kids. Small kids don't stop needing fed and clothes and diapered, and stop dirtying dishes just because Mom is sick. Then, the kids began succumbing to this. Yikes. If there is anything worse than feeling this bad, it is having your babies feel this bad and nothing that can be done to really help it.

Today is day 6 for me. I feel heaps and tons better, but still 'disconnected' and dizzy. I was beginning to see light at the end of the tunnel yesterday, when Tom did, in fact get hold of the Lysol Spray. I was not heeded in warnings that I needed to be out of the house, or at least behind closed doors for several hours. He sprayed down our bedroom and bath, doors dutifully closed... then came out and left the doors open. The airborne particles hit my lungs, and.... my breathing goes spasmodic. I rushed out into the cold on the front porch... where an apologetic Mr C brought me blankets. He shut the door back, but you know, like Pandora's Box, the deed was done. I sat outside in the sunshine awhile, then came back in, where a wave of self pity hit and I huddled in a heap on the couch and cried.

Yeah. Not pretty! Still, we are very seldom this sick. It happens once in awhile. Even if it happened every year, a few days of feeling this awful in trade for NOT having to deal with a destroyed pancreas resulting in Type 1 diabetes... worth the illness. We know two young women who now have Type 1 diabetes as a result of a Flu shot. This is a listed possible side effect, and has been known since the 70's. The doctors of these young women both told them the flu shot was the likely culprit, but that it is so *rare*, they still recommend the shot. The Flu shot that is hit or miss in its make-up annually, which missed its make-up this year, the newscasters tell us... "But there is still time to get yours!"

Anyhow.... keep your hands washed! Use those sanitizing wipes on the carts when you go shopping. Use hand sanitizer as soon as you get back to your vehicle. Keep your coughs and sneezes covered, and STAY HOME while you are sick!

The "flu" has not flown our coop....

At work last Wednesday- I think that was the last bite of January-  I started sneezing. I was sneezing so hard and so much, people were starting to roll their eyes in "Really? again?" instead of "Salud!", "Bless you!", or  "gesundheit!". Then the snot faucet opened and it was going full blast. Not acceptable in a restaurant situation... so I was sent home. Thursday, I was full blown ill. Freezing and shivering so hard my teeth were chattering as I huddled under a mound of blankets in front of the heater... and the house thermometer was reading 78*
On Friday, I went "suck it up, Buttercup" and in to work. The place was already short handed, and it was MY shift- no one I felt I could call. I took Advil Cold and Sinus meds., dressed warm, and went in. I was too cold to take off my sweater- ever tried to wash dishes in a sweater? Though the "artificial feel better" of the Advil had me on my feet- the manager saw right through it. I was sent home about 20 minutes after clocking in. By Saturday, I thought I just MIGHT be feeling better. Sam came down with it. On Sunday, I was sure I was better. Monday saw me as firm as ever, while Tom was starting to feel peaked. Tuesday,  and Wednesday, Tom fell hard. Daniel fell ill Tuesday night. I was able to work yesterday (Wednesday), felt fine all day. Tom went in today, all pumped full of artificial feel better, to spread the misery. He took his blanket and extra coat, plus refills of the OTC meds. If his ran the same course as mine, he ought to feel a whole lot better before the day is out. Sam was better in about 36 hours. I think Dan is about the same recovery rate as Sam, though his boss doesn't want him back until he is fever free for 24 hours- sometime tonight.
While I tried to be considerate of everyone, ALWAYS covering my face when coughing or sneezing... Mr C. missed the memo. He has hacked and sneezed and coughed all over everything... including right in my face. This morning, my bronchials are raspy and feel wet. I do NOT have a fever, but do have a bad cough. I've been disinfecting every surface in the house with clorox and lysol wipes. Tom told me I should get Lysol spray to sanitize the air. I have argued that it doesn't work like that... and spraying an aerosol of ANY kind pretty much sends me to spasms where I need an inhaler.

In other news..... I fixed a bad leak under the sink at work. It has been squirting a stream of water all over the dishperson's feet every time the garbage disposal is turned on. Complaints haven't fixed the issue, as trivial as others must find it. So I got under the sink and saw that a stream of water was NOT coming from the garbage disposal seal (which does still leak )... but from an apparent hole in the copper feeder water pipe to the disposal. I reported the hole to the kitchen manager, then took a closer look. It wasn't a hole at all. It was a junction of two pipes fitted together with a screw on coupler... and the coupler was completely unscrewed. I screwed it back together... and TA DA! Water was no longer shooting a stream at my sneakers when the disposal was turned on! Just annoys me I have put up with this for six weeks or so without taking a closer look myself. Meanwhile, we still are using a full sheet pan to deflect the disposal's bad gasket drips. Fixing that is beyond my pay grade.

Today, I need to work on my Mommy-do list. The refrigerator freezer is in desperate need of attention. I was going to work on it Tuesday, but I can't tackle a major job with Tom home. I also need to mop the vinyl floors... also something I prefer to do when other people aren't home. (Dan is still here, but I may try to do the freezer anyway). I need to figure out what to do about Nickole's upcoming ninth birthday. So anyways, I hope YOUR day is blessed, that you and your loved ones are in good health. Wash those hands and cover up the coughs and sneezes!

It's been awhile

It has been quite awhile since I tried changing the appearance of the blog at all. I am playing around with it now. I am home from work (again) today... One is not to be working in a restaurant kitchen when running a fever.

For those of you familiar enough with me, you will understand the degree of how bad I feel by this: I feel so bad I don't even want my shoes on.
I am a get up in the morning and put my shoes on kind of person. The shoes stay on my feet all day, until time for the day to be over. I might take them off a little while before bedtime, but not until I am DONE with the day. At this very minute, I am on *artificial feel better*... In this case, Advil Cold and Sinus Caplets. I can tell when their four hour range is almost up! This morning they haven't been enough that the fever is gone; my co-workers could tell by the red face and hyper-bright glassy eyes that I ought not to have come in.

I have tossed aside almost all my plans this week. I got the stuff out of the freezer to make breakfast burritos Tuesday. I just didn't feel up to dealing with the mess. The stuff is still in the fridge. When I was sent home Wednesday, I thought,  "Suck it up, Buttercup! Make those burritos and breakfast bowls!" I opened the fridge... there was only a dozen eggs. "OK, so maybe a small batch of burritos." I opened the breadbox for the tortillas... there were three tortillas. Scratch that plan! Yesterday I didn't feel up to leaving the house. I went outside as far as letting the chicken and guinea out of the coop and into the enclosed pen. The wind hurt... my joints ached. Nope,,, not going to the store.
So when I was sent home today, I stopped at the Dollar General to get tortillas and more eggs. They had tortillas, but not eggs. Well... this is Friday. Nobody needs *breakfast burritos to go* before Monday .
I did the least possible amount of kitchen maintenance last night... loading the dishwasher and putting up the food. Supper was a roasted turkey breast. Not that I felt like cooking it, but because I had thawed it a couple of days ago and HAD to cook it. Then, after supper I couldn't let the bones go to waste when bone broth is so *stupid easy*. I chunked them into the slow cooker and covered them with water... where they are still simmering.

Daniel flew down to Texas this morning to take the Civil Service Exam tomorrow. He still needs to pass the 30 WPM typing test, but the official site to take the test has been down all week. He is so stressed out over this. Prayers appreciated!
My nephew Tony (my brother Robbie's son) and his wife had their new baby boy, Landon Anthony Beard on Jan 22nd. He was born at 23 weeks gestation, 1lb.8oz. He was 11.5 inches. He is getting stronger by the day, but is oh-so-tiny. 11.5 inches is roughly the size of a "Barbie" doll. Please say a prayer for these folks.

Now that my *dope* is wearing off, I find myself in need of a pile of blankets and a nap. May your day be happy and blessed. Thank you for visiting!

Tom, Stephen (Tommy) Daniel, Benjamin, Samuel
December 26, 2017