On the Road Again (Houston)

May 28th, 2010

“Interesting” (read stressful) day! Tom III and I made the now-somewhat-familiar trek to Houston to see his two eye specialists. The pressure in his left (injured) eye is quite low, so the Pred Forte drops are now every two hours (when awake). We both caught a swiftly passing reference to a multisyllabic
“syndrome”, so both iPhones were doing research while waiting for the Retinologist to return to the room; I couldn’t even begin to spell it now, but the short version is that the left eye is showing signs of shrinking. Not good, but not a huge surprise either. Maybe the shrinkage will stop. . .maybe he will lose that eye. . .either way, we will know we have done everything possible.

The big shock (well, to me, anyway) came when Tom reported he had noticed reduced visual acuity in his right eye over the past seven days. . . . .I hadn’t heard a thing about that!! I had to do quite a bit of verbal pushing and shoving during the drive back to San Antonio (“It’s Friday, for G-d’s sake! Call right now and make an appointment with your specialist in San Antonio right now!) He will have the right eye checked here in SA next Friday.

It was one of the worst San Antonio/Houston drives we’ve experienced (which is why I am still balancing his pride against his/our safety.) Even more stop-&-go traffic than usual (I’ve memorized the predictable ‘freeze-up zones’), several no warning/hard stops, a car parked on the right shoulder suddenly jumping into my lane without the slightest attempt to match my speed and an apparently fatigued driver of an 18 wheeler! (By the time he realized the right lane was backed-up onto the highway with people attempting to exit, his “collision avoidance” maneuver involved locking his brakes and swerving so that he occupied both lanes – his, and the left lane I was traveling 72 mph in!)

While all of this was going on, I knew Thomas (IV) had to leave his current employer’s parking lot in time to report (clear across San Antonio) for an interview & test for a *much*better*job! Meanwhile, Tom (III) confirmed a second interview with the same contractor via cell phone during our trip home.

Stress? What stress?

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Any accomplishment is progress :)

May 2nd, 2010

I’ve had an extended & frustrating period of requiring excessively long ‘rest periods’ for every chore accomplished; washing and hanging up the laundry would take all available energy, watering all of the outdoor plants left me exhausted, necessary attempts at taming household clutter meant someone else was cooking dinner. Not surprising, I suppose, as rheumatoid arthritis and fibromyalgia both pack a big fatigue punch, and the air pressure(a big trigger for me) has been dancing a ballet for weeks!

Finally, though,I’ve had a weekend during which I really accomplished something . . . more precisely, more then one “something”! Trimmed my e-mail down from 100+ to 4 by actually reading, responding and/or copying and filing recipes, patterns for miniatures, etc. Accomplished the two-week food shopping with Tom’s help. Gave all the plants a cleanup and hearty drink (still need to feed them!), and even managed to spend a productive period up in my “Tower” workroom! I didn’t create any masterpieces, but it was extremely satisfying to convert three long-stored kits into finished miniatures and solve a visibility problem within my newly remodeled Cabbages & Kings antique shop! I hope this trend lasts a while – I’ve sooo many projects I want to complete!

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5:30AM won't be pretty!

April 8th, 2010

It is no one’s fault but my own. . . . .when the alarm rings at 5:30 AM, it is really going to hurt!

I spent ten hours at the TCEA convention today; most of them on my feet searching for misplaced awards envelopes, tracking down missing speakers (“His session starts in 25 minutes!!”), magically producing tape, scissors and whatever else was needed, decorating for the evening banquet – - – -the typical activities of a seasoned & unpaid volunteer. I am footsore and weary, but expected that and enjoyed seeing old team-mates. Meant to depart directly after the banquet, but members of the Board urged me to stay for the awards ceremony – “We need the seats to be filled” Well, yeah – been here, done this, valid point – but I should have smelled a conspiracy! Ready to clap enthusiastically for the next award winner, I hear my name announced. Huh?! I now have a “suitable for framing” certificate of The Volunteer Who Never Says NO award! LOL – my fellow Community Educators are a sneaky lot!

Arrived home at 8:30 PM and delivered Tom III to the Sleep Center at 9:30PM for a follow-up test on his CPAP device. I am now seriously tired, but reviewed my e-mail and replied to about 25 messages that shouldn’t wait and prioritized an additional 200 messages for attention tomorrow. OK – Really should sleep now, but should read the news-of-the-day to find out what was happening outside my isolated melieu today. You can see where this is going: it is 12:59 PM, I am still awake, and the alarm will ring at 5:30AM so that I can pick Tom up at the Sleep Center at 6:30AM! 5:30AM is going to hurt!
G’nite, all!

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Dotsero*

April 7th, 2010

*Strange title, right? Well, maybe not quite so strange. . . .Dotsero is, in reality, a small community near the head of Glenwood Canyon in Eagle County, Colorado. Although there is some …. um, conflict….over the origin of the town’s name, recorded history shows that Ferdinand Hayden did, indeed, use this location as “Dot Zero” on his survey maps of Central and Southwest Colorado in the 1870′s. I will leave that argument to more scholarly minds, but adopt it as a fitting “re-start” for my blog. I’ve left the digest blank for mumbletoolongmumble months, and intend to correct that starting now – today is Dot Zero, and (as time allows) I hope to back-fill with a few dates and data which became somewhat lost in the general bustle of life.

Today definitely did not start out in my “Fun” column; I do not enjoy hearing an alarm clock sound off at 5 AM , knowing it is hollering at me. . . . . .even my cats do not bother to interrupt their slumber to keep company with me at that early hour! Actually, that feline disdain worked to my advantage. . . they weren’t underfoot as I stumbled through the transition from stiff, sore and groggy semi-human to acceptably groomed and lucid registrar of the 2010 Texas Community Education Association convention.
Yes, I retired several years ago, but that doesn’t protect me from being volunteered or drafted for such duties. Quite the opposite; since no one has to worry about salary or comp time, I’m a (hehe) valuable asset:) Early alarm clock aside, I truly enjoy being back in my old milieu and greeting newbies, vendors and the dedicated people I was privileged to work with for 17 years! Tomorrow will be more fun, more work and the South Central Texas version of a Hawaiian luau – a scary concept!

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Green sock and interior decorating

February 2nd, 2010

My admittance to the GSOLFOT (Green Sock on Left Foot on Tuesday) group has stirred up my creative side again:) Other than organizing some of the perpetual chaos in my workshop area, I haven’t really spent much time in my “Tower” recently; but my new title and a (virtual) office of my very own (#17) has me back at the workbench!

There is only one miniatures shop in San Antonio, and I will not shop there, ever! Since I was fired-up to start creating my new office now/immediately/this very minute, I turned to an alternate possibility for the wallpaper I needed; my local scrapbooking shop! A long-retired room box from my storage closet was pressed into service – by dinner time, the old & discolored wallpaper was stripped, fresh new paper installed and a new carpet measured and installed. A dining table with two wobbly legs and a very dull finish was re-glued and wearing a warm new wood stain, ready to become my workbench. A seriously red-hued mahogany wall cabinet was wearing a fresh coat of pale spring green paint, and I had a large basket full of possible furniture, nick-knacks, throw rugs, fur-kids and craft supplies (all in one-twelfth scale) was waiting for glues and paints to dry. Oh, yes – dragons aplenty were waiting for a shelf, table or a corner to claim also!

Tomorrow, after everything is dry, I will begin creating a properly messy and disorderly office/studio. Let the fun begin!

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I have a title!

January 23rd, 2010

Still feeling a bit shaky, but I did manage a few constructive actions today; laundry, more entries in my “flower recipe’ book (miniature flowers), a two week menu & shopping list to occupy us for awhile come tomorrow and a shiny new “official” title, awarded by The Great Oz of GSOLFOT!

As a newly-minted member of the “ancient & honorable” order of GSOLFOT, I’ve been mulling over what title and duties I wanted (should I be so fortunate as to be granted either a title or an office in the virtual -castle). Today, my title request was granted, with an acceptable alteration. I’d held a feeble hope that I could be a Princess (every ‘little’ girl’s dream – LOL!), but there’s no room for more royalty. Fair enough – I am now, officially, Contessa of Useful Bits, Bobs & Specks and Protector of Roof Runners! No, I am not kidding. Yes, I am off my rocker. Having a glorious time, thank you!

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GSOLFOT

January 21st, 2010

On a day when a nasty, lingering cold and other ills had me feeling vastly weak and somewhat transparent, a short note popped up in one of my on-line focus groups; there was an opening available in the limited membership of a group of zany, nutty, fun-loving and extremely talented miniaturists known as GSOLFOT (Green Sock On Left Foot On Tuesdays).

Hardly able to wander from room to room, I pulled my remaining wits together and attempted to write four separate application letters, each laced with the appropriate amount of irreverence, jocularity and basic facts about myself to secure the coveted membership. It worked – I am now a “Sockee”!
makes no sense? Well, we Sockees often do not attempt to:) Have a fun ramble around the website, and you’ll understand even less! LOL!!!

http://www.gsolfot.com

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Wicked Urge!

January 18th, 2010

Sometimes, I get the wicked urge to make an appointment with my former podiatrist. To just tell the scheduling clerk something banal like “I’m having trouble with callouses”, and then watch the podiatrist’s face when I unveil my new feet. O.K. – they’re not “new”. They are officially almost 15 months old, but the urge to use them as a “teaching tool” grows ever stronger!

It’s not the podiatrist’s fault. When years of Rheumatoid Arthritis had dislocated my toes and set them all at weird angles that shoes could no longer encase without severe pain, I sought her out. She was the daughter of a trusted physician, newly set up in practice with her surgery-schooled husband. I received sympathy, custom orthotics to ease my stride (which they didn’t) and, eventually, braces attached to both shoes with knee-cuffs to minimise my spectacular falls (which they did). Pain and mobility were still issues, however, so I kept pushing the young pair for a better fix. At my last visit to their office, I was told that the only solution was “drastic surgery” that “shouldn’t be considered until I was older”. That made little sense to me at the time (it was 2004 or 2005); if it was drastic surgery, shouldn’t we do it when I was younger and better able to recover? They wouldn’t answer that, so I didn’t visit them anymore!

My new feet (the result of bilateral amputation of all ten toes) occurred due to a happy coincidence in July of 2008; I broke the little toe on my right foot (no big deal) and attended an already scheduled appointment with our family physician (who thought it was a huge deal). Due to medical delays (documented in earlier blogs), I didn’t have the “drastic surgery” alluded to in 2004-05 until October 2008. The change in mobility, in balance, in quality-of-life has been so marked that I keep getting a wicked urge to go startle a couple of doctors into a different mind-set! Have they already learned, do you suppose? Somehow, I doubt it!

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Baby, it's COLD outside!

January 7th, 2010

Call me a “weather wimp”, but it is bitterly cold outside and the mercury is dropping as I type. We are also under a high-wind advisory until this evening. The combination of 30.5 degrees ambient temperature and heavy wind gusts made todays’ necessary foray to our local Walgreen’s a truly uncomfortable experience. (Chill factor – 20 degrees.) Hummmmph – when I was younger (about mumble40mumble years younger), Tolerating 17 degree weather in Newport, Rhode Island was no big deal! Youth+proper clothing+good health makes a big difference:(

PS – The forecast for tomorrow night is 18 degrees. This is freakin’ nuts!

I realize parts of the Midwest are experiencing -52 degree weather (and massive snow drifts) – I shouldn’t complain, but this is So. Central Texas (land of several-weeks-over-100 degrees) and our bodies and winter wardrobes just aren’t geared for this frigid blast!

O.K.- through with the weather-whine. . .off my soap box :) Besides, I have to go swaddle some more plants!

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Welcome to 2010

January 1st, 2010

Happy New Year, everyone!

“2010″ – even when I adjusted to entering the 21st century, 2010 seemed somewhat futuristic! It simply sounds like homes a la The Jetsons should have somehow proliferated by now, hydroponic gardens should be the norm in middle-class dwellings and our fuels (and fuel consumption) should be vastly different! Well, of course, none of the above has happened:)

Truth be told, a streamlined house-of-the-future would not be sympathetic to my (or DH’s) collecting-and-creating urges. There are some single-family hydroponic gardening systems available now, but they require a lot of space and our somewhat-new (added 2008) greenhouse is doing quite well at assuring a ready supply of fresh Greek oregano, chives and parsley through the winter, with space left over for my decorative potted plants. Fuel changes? Well, there seems to be more attention being paid to alternative fuels, at least. For now, daughter’s Ford Escape Hybrid and son-in-law’s bicycle commute days remain the family contribution to reducing toxic emissions. Given the current condition of the economy, I’m not willing to take on a new car payment, nor am I willing to give up The Lady – my ’97 Camaro.

My wishes for all for this new year: good (or improved) health for all, a secure financial base and joy in the daily events, both large and small.

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