That's me. I've been like an absolute slug for the past four or five days. Sleeping WAY more than normal & still never feeling really rested. I've been wearing my C-PAP machine at night and everything, but still feeling just lousy. Ugh!
I really think part of it has been depression. Not sure WHY exactly. Nothing really going on to make me feel any more depressed than normal. I mean, well, hopefully you *know* what I mean... just that there's nothing going on that would make me feel any different than usual. I am always feeling some level of depression, it's just that most of the time, no one notices it. It's not so severe that I can't function, ya know?
But the past few days... SHEESH! Maybe part of it was because The Man was out of town for a couple of days for work. ?? I dunno. I mean, that usually doesn't make me any worse. It's not like he's never done that before, ya know? And there's really no drama going on in my life right now. I have just felt like crap-ola for the past few days.
BUT... thank God, today, FINALLY, I started feeling more like myself. The Man was off work yesterday because of Good Friday, and so he ran around and did some errands, then he worked on building some kinda contraption to haul the canoe in the back of our pickup instead of tying it on top where the straps would rub ... can't have that on the spiffy pickup now can we?? Nope! :)
So, I slept most all day yesterday, then this morning, he got up early-ish to go on a day trip with our Babiest Boy, Casey. They packed up and left me laying in the bed. That was fine with me. I sure haven't felt up to trying any of these hiking trips with them. I'll have to tell you about the one where all three guys went on a 15+ mile hike. Oh boy, was that a doosey!
Anyhow, around noon, I dragged myself out of bed and actually felt almost human. I wasn't ready to crawl back into bed after an hour or so, which was a great improvement. When The Man called me around 3pm to say they were almost back, and wanted to know if a friend of mine had called to let me know that she was coming to our church's Saturday service, I told him I was actually feeling some better. He wanted to know if my friend was coming to know if he needed to hurry to make it home in time for us to go or not. She hadn't called, so he and Case took their time. He called again around 5pm to tell me that our oldest son & his wife, who had gone for a short hike in another county, had locked themselves out of their vehicle and did I want to go down with him and Case to unlock their car. I said I did.
In the meantime, just shortly after the guys had made it home, my friend called asking if I was at the church!! I called to see if she was by herself, and if so, I would have had the guys drop me off at church before they went to help the kids, but her husband and another couple had come with, so I made my excuses and rode out to a place called Turkey Foot to "rescue" Corey & Melissa.
They drove me around the camping area there so I could see what it was like. This is a place they want to make a first hike for me when the weather warms up. With my Yucky Foot, I'm a little leary of trekking too far, so we're gonna start with something short for me.
Anyhow, the kids wanted to treat me and Tommy to supper for the trouble, which was so sweet of them, and around that time, a couple of the kids from our former church called to say they were in our town & wanted to eat with us, so we just headed toward home instead of eating in Jackson County.
We met up at DQ and I had SUCH a fun time laughing at those silly boys. They are two of the three we sent on the last Emmaus Chrysalis Flights, and they're so much like our own kids, even calling us Mom & Dad most of the time. I laughed so hard & so much I ended up needing my inhaler, which frustrates me because it happens every time I get really tickled, but it was so worth it.
And now it's late, I'm getting ready to head to bed and The Man?? Well, he's decided to sleep outside in his hammock (a camping/hiking tent-hammock... I'll post a pic soon as I find one on here) to see how well he's equipped for these temperatures. LOL... ah, well... so it'll just be me and Tucker in the house tonight. Which is fine as long as Tuck doesn't decide to bark every time The Man comes in the house, which won't be much, I hope.... and if he doesn't snore too loud. At least I can put a C-PAP on The Man. Not so for Tucker, though....
God bless and BLESSED RESURRECTION DAY to you & yours!!
Showing posts with label Tommy. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Tommy. Show all posts
Saturday, March 30, 2013
Wednesday, March 6, 2013
five things...
Okay, so I have been watching the DVD we got from our church's community groups director today. There are basically six sermons with discussion questions and WOW... there is so much to glean!!
I have never really listened to Andy Stanley before, but I like him. He is much like our own pastor, but not quite as dramatic. LOL! The DVD is called Five Things That Grow Your Faith. You can probably get most all of the materials online, even the messages included on the DVD.
Check it out if you are a small group leader or are considering becoming one!
I have never really listened to Andy Stanley before, but I like him. He is much like our own pastor, but not quite as dramatic. LOL! The DVD is called Five Things That Grow Your Faith. You can probably get most all of the materials online, even the messages included on the DVD.
Check it out if you are a small group leader or are considering becoming one!
Tuesday, March 5, 2013
community...
I think I shared here how my hubby and I became the "leaders" of our church's community group. A community group is what most people refer to as "small group" or "accountability group". If not, well, we joined the group right after we finished a 6-week course that was basically a church-info thing. The church we attend is huge & definitely qualifies as a "mega church" in this area. But it's so radically different from any other traditional church in our area, they used to have this short "class" of sorts to let people understand the what's & why-fore's about the church. However, it was entitled "Next Steps" and some folks thought it was for new Christians. We're hoping they will start it back up all new & improved because it was a big help to us and let us ask questions we had about the doctrine and practices of the church before we joined.
So after the Next Steps group, we joined a group that, at the time, the pastor was a part of. That's before our church expanded to a second campus in the next town and his wife started her internship at the hospital in a town 80 miles away and they began a life of residing in two different places, travelling many miles every week! The group grew so large that it split at one point, then they broke for summer vacation. After that, when it was announced that groups would start meeting again, we and two other couples showed up at the usual room but no leader was to be found. Someone said they were still on vacation. We didn't know for sure, hadn't had any word from them, but we had one new couple there, so we just carried on as usual, discussing the sermon notes. The next week, the same thing happened... the man who had previously led our group wasn't there and a different new couple had come to join us.
After that second week, I emailed the guy who oversaw Community Groups to let him know what we'd been doing, to ask where the leader was & to find out if the group had moved or something. The reply I got was an apology for letting that happen, and a congratulations for "stepping up" and notice that we would now be listed as the group's "leaders".
Egads!! I wasn't expecting that! It made Tommy a bit uneasy because he didn't see himself as any sort of church leader, but after praying about it and talking it over with a couple of his friends, we took it as something the Lord wanted us to do, and plunged ahead.
At that time, the church staff started working on plans to "do" community groups in a more methodical, organized way. And so here we are, almost a year later with Tommy's supervisor at work (& a dear friend now) being appointed the new community groups' coordinator and getting ready for an event called "Group Link" next Sunday evening.
As I understand it, it'll be like a sort of job fair for Community Groups. People will be scattered around the large "foyer" area, representing their group and folks can wander around asking questions and getting info about any particular group they think will fit their schedules and interests.
We've been given a book and a DVD about leading and "running" community groups to be the most efficient and most helpful to folks. Of course, this would have to have happened the same time we started taking a 10-week Christian financial course, too. *sigh*
We have GOT to get busy reading the information. I'm praying it will be helpful. It seems that in the past the biggest problem, or one of the biggest, was having info about the various groups since most meet outside the church and on various days and various times. Hopefully, setting up one person to be in charge of groups info this way will help eliminate that. And they plan to have these Group Link events at least four times per year.
The suggestion is to have around 6-8 people per group, then to close that group. That way you promote community and build trust. And we have found that to be so since our group has been meeting at the church on Sunday evenings, we tend to "catch" people who have been looking for a group or who don't know that our church doesn't have a traditional service on Sunday nights. It's been good to be able to let these people join in, but in about 99% of the cases, our group is not what they want or need. Either the age range is off, the interest or life stage is incompatible or something. And they leave. Of course, with our core group of folks, we're not as forthcoming or spend the time explaining things to the new person and don't get to delve as deeply into things as we normally would.
I'm just praying that, as it looks like we may be losing the two couples who have been the core of our group (due to changing job situations, etc) we may be starting from scratch and that makes me a little uneasy. You don't realize how much you've come to depend on a close relationship with others in your group til you're about to lose them. But I guess God's got something else in store for us and I'm confident that He will place the right people in our group.
The last thing I'll mention is the fear I have, well, more of a concern, but still something I need to overcome, of having people in our group that we have trouble connecting with. Sometimes you get folks that you just can't "click" with and you stay unsure of for one reason or another. Sometimes they seem oblivious to this situation or sometimes they seem to feel the total opposite that you do and want to cling tightly to you... all the while, you're trying your darnedest to meet their needs while still feeling "out of sync" with them.
*sigh* I'm praying God settles this for us too. And I'm sure He will... I just hope it's not by bringing us a whole posse of people we feel non-comfortable with. LOL! Wouldn't that just be the way to teach us, though?
Ha. Thanks for reading... I'll keep you posted on how this goes!
Blessings!
So after the Next Steps group, we joined a group that, at the time, the pastor was a part of. That's before our church expanded to a second campus in the next town and his wife started her internship at the hospital in a town 80 miles away and they began a life of residing in two different places, travelling many miles every week! The group grew so large that it split at one point, then they broke for summer vacation. After that, when it was announced that groups would start meeting again, we and two other couples showed up at the usual room but no leader was to be found. Someone said they were still on vacation. We didn't know for sure, hadn't had any word from them, but we had one new couple there, so we just carried on as usual, discussing the sermon notes. The next week, the same thing happened... the man who had previously led our group wasn't there and a different new couple had come to join us.
After that second week, I emailed the guy who oversaw Community Groups to let him know what we'd been doing, to ask where the leader was & to find out if the group had moved or something. The reply I got was an apology for letting that happen, and a congratulations for "stepping up" and notice that we would now be listed as the group's "leaders".
Egads!! I wasn't expecting that! It made Tommy a bit uneasy because he didn't see himself as any sort of church leader, but after praying about it and talking it over with a couple of his friends, we took it as something the Lord wanted us to do, and plunged ahead.
At that time, the church staff started working on plans to "do" community groups in a more methodical, organized way. And so here we are, almost a year later with Tommy's supervisor at work (& a dear friend now) being appointed the new community groups' coordinator and getting ready for an event called "Group Link" next Sunday evening.
As I understand it, it'll be like a sort of job fair for Community Groups. People will be scattered around the large "foyer" area, representing their group and folks can wander around asking questions and getting info about any particular group they think will fit their schedules and interests.
We've been given a book and a DVD about leading and "running" community groups to be the most efficient and most helpful to folks. Of course, this would have to have happened the same time we started taking a 10-week Christian financial course, too. *sigh*
We have GOT to get busy reading the information. I'm praying it will be helpful. It seems that in the past the biggest problem, or one of the biggest, was having info about the various groups since most meet outside the church and on various days and various times. Hopefully, setting up one person to be in charge of groups info this way will help eliminate that. And they plan to have these Group Link events at least four times per year.
The suggestion is to have around 6-8 people per group, then to close that group. That way you promote community and build trust. And we have found that to be so since our group has been meeting at the church on Sunday evenings, we tend to "catch" people who have been looking for a group or who don't know that our church doesn't have a traditional service on Sunday nights. It's been good to be able to let these people join in, but in about 99% of the cases, our group is not what they want or need. Either the age range is off, the interest or life stage is incompatible or something. And they leave. Of course, with our core group of folks, we're not as forthcoming or spend the time explaining things to the new person and don't get to delve as deeply into things as we normally would.
I'm just praying that, as it looks like we may be losing the two couples who have been the core of our group (due to changing job situations, etc) we may be starting from scratch and that makes me a little uneasy. You don't realize how much you've come to depend on a close relationship with others in your group til you're about to lose them. But I guess God's got something else in store for us and I'm confident that He will place the right people in our group.
The last thing I'll mention is the fear I have, well, more of a concern, but still something I need to overcome, of having people in our group that we have trouble connecting with. Sometimes you get folks that you just can't "click" with and you stay unsure of for one reason or another. Sometimes they seem oblivious to this situation or sometimes they seem to feel the total opposite that you do and want to cling tightly to you... all the while, you're trying your darnedest to meet their needs while still feeling "out of sync" with them.
*sigh* I'm praying God settles this for us too. And I'm sure He will... I just hope it's not by bringing us a whole posse of people we feel non-comfortable with. LOL! Wouldn't that just be the way to teach us, though?
Ha. Thanks for reading... I'll keep you posted on how this goes!
Blessings!
Wednesday, February 20, 2013
anticipation...
Every time I read that word, I hear the song in my head & remember the ketchup commercial from the 70's! But this post isn't about ketchup. It's about anticipation *ahem* or rather expectations and what can happen when we anticipate that our expectations will be met.. then they aren't.
I don't have to tell you, that leads to disappointment more often than not. I started thinking about this after reading another post about this very thing in relation to holidays, specifically Valentine's Day.
Boy, do I have some things to say about Valentine's Day.
I dated my husband for almost 2 years before we got married. I was still in high school since he graduated the year before me. During my senior year, Tommy was working all the time, first as a pizza delivery guy, then with a concrete contractor. I have to say, I never dated or tried to date the "rich" boys. All my (few!) boyfriends were just regular joes, from middle-class families.
So, Tommy was delivering pizzas when Valentine's day rolled around my senior year. I hadn't gotten anything delivered while at school, which was the "in thing" to do... y'know, so EVERYONE could see what your boyfriend got you. Yeah. I was a little disappointed, but we had a date for that night, so I still had high hopes.
Well, Tommy was late. About 45 minutes late, so I was already a little upset with him. As he walked through the door of my parents' house I was ready to grill him about where he'd been when he tossed a card toward me, then a small pink teddy bear and said, "I got a ticket because I stopped to get that stupid card."
I'll allow you a few minutes to pick your jaw up off the floor.
:::::::
Yeah, that's what he said. Seems he saw he was running late, so instead of parking in a space, he pulled up in front of the drugstore, ran in & did his shopping for me, his beloved. Um... yeah, he waited til the last minute.
That was STRIKE ONE.
Then he was late. Really late.
That was STRIKE TWO.
Then he called the card stupid. In front of my dad! Who, by the way, just stood mid-stride with his obligatory bowl of popcorn, grinning about the whole scene.
That's STRIKE THREE. And he's outta here!
Oh. My. Goodness!!
We didn't really fight, but then again, that wasn't the first traffic-related ticket he'd gotten since we'd been together either. But that's a whole 'nother story...
And so, yes, I married him about 6 months later ANYWAY. And when Valentine's Day rolled around again, he came home with a card. First thing outta my mouth was, "Is this another stupid card?"
Heh. Yeah... so the "stupid card" comes up every year. But not always in a mean or hateful way. These days, it comes up as a laugh. Once Tommy was chatting with a young husband who was for some reason telling Tommy the ways he "impressed" his then-girlfriend/now-wife with flowers, slipping in a fake one with the live bouquet & writing on the card, "I'll love you longer than the blossoms on these flowers." and such as that.
So, Tommy told him our Valentine's Day saga and he still razzes Tommy about it to this day. If he sees me, he ALWAYS asks if I got a stupid card.
Anyhow, so this Valentine's day, as with most days in our lives, we were running extremely tight with our finances. I was not expecting to get anything. I was busy doing up all the laundry because in a few days, I'd be leaving to go serve at an Emmaus weekend.
I never noticed Tommy slip anything into the house, but the next morning when I got up, he presented me with a pot of tulips. He knows I love flowers, but hate how they fade so quickly. These I can plant outside & enjoy for years to come. Then, after he'd gone to work I found a pink post-it note on the mirror in our bathroom with "Happy V Day!" which made me laugh because more than likely, he put "V" because he was almost late for work. That or he was afraid of spelling it wrong. ;) Then I found another pink note with the same message on the coffee maker. Another one on a mug in the cabinet. Another one on the fridge. I expected to find one on the bottle of creamer but didn't. LOL! Then I found another on the back door where I let Tucker in and out (all day long!)
I was so touched by this simple gesture. I can say that this was the sweetest Valentine's Day ever. And people, we've been married for twenty-seven years!! ;) But just the thought that he was thinking about what I'd do when I got up, each place I'd go, which cabinet I'd open or which door I'd send the dog out. I was on his mind. That was worth the world to me.
And it reminded me how God always has us on His mind, too. When things seem to go haywire and we think it's all wrong, then we find that He has planned to use whatever it is, and He's placed people or things in our paths to turn the bad into good... well, that's such a precious thought to me.
To realize someone, whether it's God or our loved one, that someone was thinking about us, was anticipating and planning for our every move... *smile* that is so sweet to me.
I am thinking the days of stupid cards are finally over.
Blessings...
I don't have to tell you, that leads to disappointment more often than not. I started thinking about this after reading another post about this very thing in relation to holidays, specifically Valentine's Day.
Boy, do I have some things to say about Valentine's Day.
I dated my husband for almost 2 years before we got married. I was still in high school since he graduated the year before me. During my senior year, Tommy was working all the time, first as a pizza delivery guy, then with a concrete contractor. I have to say, I never dated or tried to date the "rich" boys. All my (few!) boyfriends were just regular joes, from middle-class families.
So, Tommy was delivering pizzas when Valentine's day rolled around my senior year. I hadn't gotten anything delivered while at school, which was the "in thing" to do... y'know, so EVERYONE could see what your boyfriend got you. Yeah. I was a little disappointed, but we had a date for that night, so I still had high hopes.
Well, Tommy was late. About 45 minutes late, so I was already a little upset with him. As he walked through the door of my parents' house I was ready to grill him about where he'd been when he tossed a card toward me, then a small pink teddy bear and said, "I got a ticket because I stopped to get that stupid card."
I'll allow you a few minutes to pick your jaw up off the floor.
:::::::
Yeah, that's what he said. Seems he saw he was running late, so instead of parking in a space, he pulled up in front of the drugstore, ran in & did his shopping for me, his beloved. Um... yeah, he waited til the last minute.
That was STRIKE ONE.
Then he was late. Really late.
That was STRIKE TWO.
Then he called the card stupid. In front of my dad! Who, by the way, just stood mid-stride with his obligatory bowl of popcorn, grinning about the whole scene.
That's STRIKE THREE. And he's outta here!
Oh. My. Goodness!!
We didn't really fight, but then again, that wasn't the first traffic-related ticket he'd gotten since we'd been together either. But that's a whole 'nother story...
And so, yes, I married him about 6 months later ANYWAY. And when Valentine's Day rolled around again, he came home with a card. First thing outta my mouth was, "Is this another stupid card?"
Heh. Yeah... so the "stupid card" comes up every year. But not always in a mean or hateful way. These days, it comes up as a laugh. Once Tommy was chatting with a young husband who was for some reason telling Tommy the ways he "impressed" his then-girlfriend/now-wife with flowers, slipping in a fake one with the live bouquet & writing on the card, "I'll love you longer than the blossoms on these flowers." and such as that.
So, Tommy told him our Valentine's Day saga and he still razzes Tommy about it to this day. If he sees me, he ALWAYS asks if I got a stupid card.
Anyhow, so this Valentine's day, as with most days in our lives, we were running extremely tight with our finances. I was not expecting to get anything. I was busy doing up all the laundry because in a few days, I'd be leaving to go serve at an Emmaus weekend.
I never noticed Tommy slip anything into the house, but the next morning when I got up, he presented me with a pot of tulips. He knows I love flowers, but hate how they fade so quickly. These I can plant outside & enjoy for years to come. Then, after he'd gone to work I found a pink post-it note on the mirror in our bathroom with "Happy V Day!" which made me laugh because more than likely, he put "V" because he was almost late for work. That or he was afraid of spelling it wrong. ;) Then I found another pink note with the same message on the coffee maker. Another one on a mug in the cabinet. Another one on the fridge. I expected to find one on the bottle of creamer but didn't. LOL! Then I found another on the back door where I let Tucker in and out (all day long!)
I was so touched by this simple gesture. I can say that this was the sweetest Valentine's Day ever. And people, we've been married for twenty-seven years!! ;) But just the thought that he was thinking about what I'd do when I got up, each place I'd go, which cabinet I'd open or which door I'd send the dog out. I was on his mind. That was worth the world to me.
And it reminded me how God always has us on His mind, too. When things seem to go haywire and we think it's all wrong, then we find that He has planned to use whatever it is, and He's placed people or things in our paths to turn the bad into good... well, that's such a precious thought to me.
To realize someone, whether it's God or our loved one, that someone was thinking about us, was anticipating and planning for our every move... *smile* that is so sweet to me.
I am thinking the days of stupid cards are finally over.
Blessings...
Friday, February 8, 2013
aw, crap!
I guess I might have overdone it yesterday. At least I hope that's what it is. I have been exhausted today. Completely wiped out! *sigh* I guess I got my hopes up a little bit too soon. And that's not a new thing to me. My poor mother, love her heart, has always griped at me for "doing too much". She could never understand why I insisted that when I felt good, I HAD to do as much as possible. Which in years past, involved doing all sorts of stuff for my boys during our homeschooling years.
I never understood how she, the woman who, to this day, will run herself ragged doing for others, couldn't see why I felt it was my duty to do all I could for my boys. She is of the opinion that my health issues should take presedence. I know she is concerned because I am, after all, still "her baby", her firstborn. But she has trouble I guess seeing me as a mom too. Funny how that is, even when her only grandchildren, my two sons, and my daughter-in-law (!) are grown and on their own now... I'm still her little girl. My mommy is so funny that way. And I love her for it, but it sometimes makes me crazy. *heh*
So now my boys are grown and I'm not the homeschool mommy anymore and I don't often have to put myself out very much. I like to be involved in our church and of course in our Emmaus community. That's really my whole life besides my family. With my daughter-in-law working now, and all of the kids working so much with the teens at their church, we don't get together with them as much these days.
Anyhow, seems I maybe overdid it yesterday & now I'm drooping a bit. But the hubs & I have a leadership workshop at church in the morning and we're suppose to help set up, so I need to have my big ol' butt in the bed because 7 am comes early... a whole heckuva lot earlier than noon, right?
God bless!!
I never understood how she, the woman who, to this day, will run herself ragged doing for others, couldn't see why I felt it was my duty to do all I could for my boys. She is of the opinion that my health issues should take presedence. I know she is concerned because I am, after all, still "her baby", her firstborn. But she has trouble I guess seeing me as a mom too. Funny how that is, even when her only grandchildren, my two sons, and my daughter-in-law (!) are grown and on their own now... I'm still her little girl. My mommy is so funny that way. And I love her for it, but it sometimes makes me crazy. *heh*
So now my boys are grown and I'm not the homeschool mommy anymore and I don't often have to put myself out very much. I like to be involved in our church and of course in our Emmaus community. That's really my whole life besides my family. With my daughter-in-law working now, and all of the kids working so much with the teens at their church, we don't get together with them as much these days.
Anyhow, seems I maybe overdid it yesterday & now I'm drooping a bit. But the hubs & I have a leadership workshop at church in the morning and we're suppose to help set up, so I need to have my big ol' butt in the bed because 7 am comes early... a whole heckuva lot earlier than noon, right?
God bless!!
Wednesday, February 6, 2013
it's cool being a tool...
A tool of God, that is. That's what my hubby and I had the honor of being this past Sunday. It was snowing and had been during the night, so there was enough snow on the ground to make most churches cancel services. Yes, I know, it doesn't take much and believe me, it wasn't much, but it was enough to get on top of your shoes if you walked through the grass.
Since our truck is not a four-wheel drive, we decided not to take the hilly road we usually do to church. We went around a longer way and were headed down the parkway. I was fooling with my phone and didn't see her, but Tommy suddenly said, "I bet that woman is freezing to death." I looked up but didn't see anyone. Then he slowed down & said, "I wonder where she's going. I should have stopped and picked her up." He asked me if I thought so. I told him it was up to him since I hadn't seen her.
So he turned the truck around and soon I could see her. All humped over with a Army jacket on, jeans and tennis shoes...walking in the field, so I knew her feet had to have been soaked & frozen.
Tommy pulled over, rolled down his window and hollered, "Would you like a ride?" She said yes, she would and she was just going to the little grocery store at the gas station about a 1/4 mile down the parkway. We drove there & Tommy told her if she wasn't going to be too long, we'd just wait and drive her back home if she wanted. She gratefully said okay and jumped out of the truck.
I was struggling with feeling "put upon" and feeling guilty for it. I was supposed to work in child care during the second service and it was looking like we were going to be late for first service, especially if we took this lady home, too.
It wasn't long before she came back out and we were on our way to take her home. It turned out that she lived just off the road we live on, about a mile and a half from us. We were almost out of gas, too and had planned to make a stop for fuel after church but driving the extra distance, we were going to have to stop before going to church and soon, according to the fuel gauge.
Once we got to her house, which turned out to be a rough-looking single-wide trailer that she said had been divided in half, so she was renting half of it. She'd told us that she had just moved in Friday. She said she'd went with "this guy" to pick up some furniture the homeless shelter had given her and on the way back home, they stopped at a liquor store. She told us later that he had gotten violent. She did have a cut lip. She had called the police, so the man was now in jail. As Tommy pulled up, he started asking if she would want to go to church with us, but he never even got the question out before this lady said, "Yes, I would love to go to church with you!"
She insisted on changing clothes, so we turned off the truck while she went inside the trailer. Yes, the fuel was getting that low. While she was changing, I texted the lady at church to tell her I wouldn't be able to work in child care. We didn't think it was a good idea for Tommy to be alone in second service with this lady we'd just met. The woman at church agreed with that and said they'd handle things without me that day.
The sermon and worship music was awesome and perfectly suited for her that morning. She said she loved it and would love to go with us again. We told her it'd be a pleasure to pick her up since she was right on our way anyway.
She called me Monday wanting to know if I had a flat screwdriver and hammer she could borrow. Apparently she'd got a ride to town with someone to get groceries and to take her by the jail. She said the guy who'd beaten her Friday had her key in his pocket when he was arrested and now she was locked out of her trailer because he wouldn't sign the key over to her. At that time, Tommy was gone in the only vehicle we have, so I had no way to drive down there. She said her landlord wasn't home so she couldn't get in.
I didn't know what else to do since I couldn't help her. She apparently must have waited til her landlord was back and got them to let her in.
I called her Tuesday to see if she wanted to go to Celebrate Recovery at our church. She told me she was back at the homeless shelter in the next town over. When her landlord had let her in, she saw the damage done by the guy, apparently she ran into the bathroom to get away from him and he'd torn the door off its hinges. So the landlord had kicked her out.
She seemed to be okay. She told me she was reading the devotional book given to her by our church as a first-time visitor gift. I told her to stay focused on Jesus and to keep me posted with what was going on with her.
I don't know what God meant or us to do for her, Christina, but I hope we didn't fail Him. I'm not sure why she went to the shelter in the neighboring town, instead of the one here. It was amazing though, to watch God work.
First, we never go that way to church. We usually take a much shorter route that would have completely bypassed where Christina was when we passed. Also, she told us she had felt such an urgency to "hurry" and go to the store when she had all day to get there, but she had felt an urge to hurry and thankfully, she gave in to that. Why did we have this encounter with her? I'm not sure, but perhaps we were merely the sowers and someone else will come along and water and someone else then will reap a harvest in her life.
But wow... how cool to be a tool in the hands of such an awesome God!!
Since our truck is not a four-wheel drive, we decided not to take the hilly road we usually do to church. We went around a longer way and were headed down the parkway. I was fooling with my phone and didn't see her, but Tommy suddenly said, "I bet that woman is freezing to death." I looked up but didn't see anyone. Then he slowed down & said, "I wonder where she's going. I should have stopped and picked her up." He asked me if I thought so. I told him it was up to him since I hadn't seen her.
So he turned the truck around and soon I could see her. All humped over with a Army jacket on, jeans and tennis shoes...walking in the field, so I knew her feet had to have been soaked & frozen.
Tommy pulled over, rolled down his window and hollered, "Would you like a ride?" She said yes, she would and she was just going to the little grocery store at the gas station about a 1/4 mile down the parkway. We drove there & Tommy told her if she wasn't going to be too long, we'd just wait and drive her back home if she wanted. She gratefully said okay and jumped out of the truck.
I was struggling with feeling "put upon" and feeling guilty for it. I was supposed to work in child care during the second service and it was looking like we were going to be late for first service, especially if we took this lady home, too.
It wasn't long before she came back out and we were on our way to take her home. It turned out that she lived just off the road we live on, about a mile and a half from us. We were almost out of gas, too and had planned to make a stop for fuel after church but driving the extra distance, we were going to have to stop before going to church and soon, according to the fuel gauge.
Once we got to her house, which turned out to be a rough-looking single-wide trailer that she said had been divided in half, so she was renting half of it. She'd told us that she had just moved in Friday. She said she'd went with "this guy" to pick up some furniture the homeless shelter had given her and on the way back home, they stopped at a liquor store. She told us later that he had gotten violent. She did have a cut lip. She had called the police, so the man was now in jail. As Tommy pulled up, he started asking if she would want to go to church with us, but he never even got the question out before this lady said, "Yes, I would love to go to church with you!"
She insisted on changing clothes, so we turned off the truck while she went inside the trailer. Yes, the fuel was getting that low. While she was changing, I texted the lady at church to tell her I wouldn't be able to work in child care. We didn't think it was a good idea for Tommy to be alone in second service with this lady we'd just met. The woman at church agreed with that and said they'd handle things without me that day.
The sermon and worship music was awesome and perfectly suited for her that morning. She said she loved it and would love to go with us again. We told her it'd be a pleasure to pick her up since she was right on our way anyway.
She called me Monday wanting to know if I had a flat screwdriver and hammer she could borrow. Apparently she'd got a ride to town with someone to get groceries and to take her by the jail. She said the guy who'd beaten her Friday had her key in his pocket when he was arrested and now she was locked out of her trailer because he wouldn't sign the key over to her. At that time, Tommy was gone in the only vehicle we have, so I had no way to drive down there. She said her landlord wasn't home so she couldn't get in.
I didn't know what else to do since I couldn't help her. She apparently must have waited til her landlord was back and got them to let her in.
I called her Tuesday to see if she wanted to go to Celebrate Recovery at our church. She told me she was back at the homeless shelter in the next town over. When her landlord had let her in, she saw the damage done by the guy, apparently she ran into the bathroom to get away from him and he'd torn the door off its hinges. So the landlord had kicked her out.
She seemed to be okay. She told me she was reading the devotional book given to her by our church as a first-time visitor gift. I told her to stay focused on Jesus and to keep me posted with what was going on with her.
I don't know what God meant or us to do for her, Christina, but I hope we didn't fail Him. I'm not sure why she went to the shelter in the neighboring town, instead of the one here. It was amazing though, to watch God work.
First, we never go that way to church. We usually take a much shorter route that would have completely bypassed where Christina was when we passed. Also, she told us she had felt such an urgency to "hurry" and go to the store when she had all day to get there, but she had felt an urge to hurry and thankfully, she gave in to that. Why did we have this encounter with her? I'm not sure, but perhaps we were merely the sowers and someone else will come along and water and someone else then will reap a harvest in her life.
But wow... how cool to be a tool in the hands of such an awesome God!!
Thursday, January 24, 2013
bump, rattle...
That's the sound my thoughts are making as they roll around my head. I've got so many of them up there, you'd think there would be no room. So either that means there's more space in my brain that I thought (of course, meaning my brain is bigger!) or maybe my thoughts are smaller than they seem to me?
*chuckle* It's scary the way my mind works sometimes...
I've been so sick the past few days. The day before Tommy was to leave for camp for the boys' Chrysalis, I felt it coming on. The sore throat, thumping headache.
"But maybe I can fight it off.."
Yeah, whatever. So Tommy going to serve at camp means he's gone for three days. Now there are special services almost each day, so I will normally go down there if we can afford the gas, that is.
We had three boys who were going to be attending the weekend. Boys that we've watched grow up in some cases, through the church. Boys who have taken to calling me Mama & Tommy Dad. So he was thrilled to be able to serve this weekend.
Not only that, but both our sons were also serving down there. One on the music team and one in a support team. So we had two generations serving... but then they needed another person for prayer team and asked Tommy's dad to serve. Wow... three generations serving on this one Chrysalis and there were seven other father-son/s "sets" serving.
What an awesome legacy! And what an amazing weekend it was. The precious testimonies of those boys was such a blessing! I'm excited to see what God's going to accomplish through them.
So I spent the weekend trying to fight off the inevitable bronchitis. I barely slept for coughing and trying to breathe. I made a batch of soup for a family who's father had surgery and went with another lady to take that out to them. That was Friday, the night Tommy left. Then Saturday, I left around 7am to get to the send-off ceremony at camp, taking a bowl of "Dirt Cake" that one of our boys requested. By Saturday night, I was quite a bit sicker & called in to our children's services coordinator at church to say I couldn't serve the next day. Then I got a text from camp saying the cake was all gone & the boys were clamouring for more. I hoped maybe my daughter-in-law could pick up the ingredients and bring to me after church the next day, but she had to take her siblings back home in a neighboring county, which would have made it too late to make the cake.
*sigh* So I dragged myself to the local grocery store, which is always higher so I seldom shop there. I realized once I was at the checkout that my debit card was at home, so I had to run back outside to get my checkbook. As I gathered my bags to leave, I could have sworn I stuck the checkbook in my coat pocket, but as I was struggling to get the door unlocked at home, the phone rang. It was someone from the store saying I'd left the checkbook. *siiiigh*
I dropped the bags inside the house & went straight back to the store, hurried back home to put the 'cake' together, then got in a hot tub to sweat awhile, took some more Alka Seltzer & got dressed to head to special service at camp & of course, deliver the requested food stuffs. ;)
By Monday morning I was feeling horrible.
Since I already had a check-up appointment scheduled for Tuesday, I didn't even try to get in to see the doctor on Monday. I didn't want to spend the day sitting in the waiting room and I didn't want to risk pushing myself/time to get to camp for closing ceremony & picking up of my hubby.
So by the time I made it to the doc's office, it was confirmed that I did indeed have bronchitis and not only that... a double ear infection! Go, me!! Woo!
No wonder I felt horrific all weekend! I seriously don't know how I made it through. But then again... I DO know::
Isaiah 41:10---"Fear not, for I am with you; be not dismayed, for I am your God; I will strengthen you, I will help you, I will uphold you with my righteous right hand."
*chuckle* It's scary the way my mind works sometimes...
I've been so sick the past few days. The day before Tommy was to leave for camp for the boys' Chrysalis, I felt it coming on. The sore throat, thumping headache.
"But maybe I can fight it off.."
Yeah, whatever. So Tommy going to serve at camp means he's gone for three days. Now there are special services almost each day, so I will normally go down there if we can afford the gas, that is.
We had three boys who were going to be attending the weekend. Boys that we've watched grow up in some cases, through the church. Boys who have taken to calling me Mama & Tommy Dad. So he was thrilled to be able to serve this weekend.
Not only that, but both our sons were also serving down there. One on the music team and one in a support team. So we had two generations serving... but then they needed another person for prayer team and asked Tommy's dad to serve. Wow... three generations serving on this one Chrysalis and there were seven other father-son/s "sets" serving.
What an awesome legacy! And what an amazing weekend it was. The precious testimonies of those boys was such a blessing! I'm excited to see what God's going to accomplish through them.
So I spent the weekend trying to fight off the inevitable bronchitis. I barely slept for coughing and trying to breathe. I made a batch of soup for a family who's father had surgery and went with another lady to take that out to them. That was Friday, the night Tommy left. Then Saturday, I left around 7am to get to the send-off ceremony at camp, taking a bowl of "Dirt Cake" that one of our boys requested. By Saturday night, I was quite a bit sicker & called in to our children's services coordinator at church to say I couldn't serve the next day. Then I got a text from camp saying the cake was all gone & the boys were clamouring for more. I hoped maybe my daughter-in-law could pick up the ingredients and bring to me after church the next day, but she had to take her siblings back home in a neighboring county, which would have made it too late to make the cake.
*sigh* So I dragged myself to the local grocery store, which is always higher so I seldom shop there. I realized once I was at the checkout that my debit card was at home, so I had to run back outside to get my checkbook. As I gathered my bags to leave, I could have sworn I stuck the checkbook in my coat pocket, but as I was struggling to get the door unlocked at home, the phone rang. It was someone from the store saying I'd left the checkbook. *siiiigh*
I dropped the bags inside the house & went straight back to the store, hurried back home to put the 'cake' together, then got in a hot tub to sweat awhile, took some more Alka Seltzer & got dressed to head to special service at camp & of course, deliver the requested food stuffs. ;)
By Monday morning I was feeling horrible.
Since I already had a check-up appointment scheduled for Tuesday, I didn't even try to get in to see the doctor on Monday. I didn't want to spend the day sitting in the waiting room and I didn't want to risk pushing myself/time to get to camp for closing ceremony & picking up of my hubby.
So by the time I made it to the doc's office, it was confirmed that I did indeed have bronchitis and not only that... a double ear infection! Go, me!! Woo!
No wonder I felt horrific all weekend! I seriously don't know how I made it through. But then again... I DO know::
Isaiah 41:10---"Fear not, for I am with you; be not dismayed, for I am your God; I will strengthen you, I will help you, I will uphold you with my righteous right hand."
Tuesday, January 8, 2013
the rest of the remodel...
Here's a shot of the center wall that runs from the kitchen into the family room... we have to keep it the same color in both rooms because we inadvertently pushed the door to our bedroom underneath the doorway from the kitchen to family room... there's nowhere to divide this wall.
See?
And here he is, my sweet painting man. I wouldn't have such an awesomely colored home without him to run this huge roller for me.
Finally!!
Can't wait to see how it looks once all the rest is green!!
One wall down...two more & the family room is done::
Woo! I love it!
This isn't exactly the shade of green I had hoped, but I do like it a lot...
Check it: we needed somewhere to put the boxes/electronics for the tv, so...
I really love the wall vinyls, too...
Here's the other end of the room after paint & replacing the furniture:
See?
And here he is, my sweet painting man. I wouldn't have such an awesomely colored home without him to run this huge roller for me.
Finally!!
Can't wait to see how it looks once all the rest is green!!
One wall down...two more & the family room is done::
Woo! I love it!
This isn't exactly the shade of green I had hoped, but I do like it a lot...
Check it: we needed somewhere to put the boxes/electronics for the tv, so...
I really love the wall vinyls, too...
Here's the other end of the room after paint & replacing the furniture:
long time, no post...
Ah, yes. I'm back. My life got a little hectic during the holidays. I'm sure yours wasn't though, right? Mmhmm.. I didn't think so.
Our family had a beautiful Christmas, even though this was one of the tightest financial times of our lives. None of the family really had the extra money to do our usual week at the cabin, and we are just out of the habit of trying to buy everyone gifts... besides the fact that we just flat had no money to do that with.
*sigh* Yeah, it's a little depressing, but God kept us busy & we didn't focus on what we didn't have.
So, let me tell you what we did have...
We had two non-family get-togethers at our house. One was for my ladies group of Emmaus chicks. It's the local group of women who have all been on the Walk to Emmaus. Normally we meet each Thursday at a restaurant, or occasionally at a church or someone's home if we're making agape gifts for a walk. But with us getting the finishing touches on the house, both Tommy & I wanted to host some parties at our home. So I had about 25 people here in the middle of December. We played an ornament exchange game, had tons of food & good fellowship. It was so awesome & I was so blessed to have everyone here.
The very next night, we hosted our church's community group here. Unfortunately, three of the couples couldn't come, but of the three couples we had here, I think we all had a great time. We've grown really close to some of these people, and I guess, as our group has grown & there are basically just three of us couples who have been here all along, those other two couples were so good to us when I was injured & not able to get around back in the summer... I just wanted to do something for them. So for this gathering, I didn't ask anyone to bring food. Tommy & I did all the cooking. It turned out great.
I used quite a few recipes I'd found on Pinterest, and they were a hit. I did a lot of cooking for my Emmaus group too, but did ask for the ladies to bring something to share because I was afraid of not having enough. Man! We had a TON of food!!
During all of this, Tommy & I had been working with the First Touch group at church. This is the group that includes the ushers, parking lot guys and the greeters who are stationed not only at the doors, but all through the outer area before you get to the auditorium. I love doing this except for one thing... it means we miss out on the first of the worship service. But still, I love it. I get to see people that I normally don't, which means a lot in a church as big as ours. The last Sunday we worked, I got to see two people I'd gone to high school with that I hadn't seen in ages!!
So God kept us very busy with those things and with doing the Advent devotionals we did corporately with our church. That helped a lot and I'm so thankful that we stuck with it this year. We kinda failed big time last year!
We did spend about $50 on very small gifts for our kids & parents & I'd bought a couple of things earlier in the year for my sister & her husband, so we weren't completely empty handed, which is what I HATE, especially with my parents because my mom always buys such nice things for everyone.
She & dad gave us all some money as well, which was really REALLY nice and put both Tommy and me on eBay looking for things we wanted.
For him it was all kinds of light-weight backpacking equipment for the trip he and our boys are planning for later this year. For me? Well, I have wanted to get some Thirty-One bags for eons. I even thought about hosting a party, but I HATE doing those buy-something deals. I don't go to them because I can't afford to buy stuff, so I figure most people are likely in the same situation. I also wanted to find a really good leather purse. Well, I went over my Christmas-cash budget, but thankfully I have Bill Me Later & could go ahead and get not one, but but SEVERAL of EACH of these wish-list items!!
God's so good, isn't He?? :)
I got one Dooney & Bourke all leather drawstring bag in excellent condition for several hundred dollars less than it would have cost new. I got one of those huge 31 Weekender totes, brand-new in the package AND in that new purple paisley pattern I love! Not only that, but I saved over $30 off retail. I dunno why someone wasn't pleased with this as a gift, but I am thrilled with my purchase! I also got a barely-used All In One Organizing totes to hold all the things we need to keep in the truck. It's in a nice discontinued pattern with the snowy pine trees? I wiped a couple of smudged out of the inside & it looks like new. Saved a TON on it, too. Then I found another 31 Large Utility tote in the brown dot pattern. And I unexpectedly won another Dooney & Bourke bag that should be here any day. It's almost like new too and I only gave $30-something for it. It's all leather & looks great.
Now my problem will be being seen with the aforementioned 31 bags by the ladies I know who are 31 reps. *sigh* I'm thinking about posting a status on facebook explaining what I've done. I mean, c'mon, how can anyone fault me for buying these things used &/or for WAY less than retail? Hopefully, no one, but we'll see. *sigh* I can't let that worry me right now.
Well, I think that's it for me for right now. I'm going to try to upload some pix of the stuff we've got finished around the house. I absolutely LOVE my new green walls in the family room. It's got such a warm cozy feel now and the redo of the mantle is just awesome! Hang tight... I'll get some pix up ASAP!!
hugs~
Our family had a beautiful Christmas, even though this was one of the tightest financial times of our lives. None of the family really had the extra money to do our usual week at the cabin, and we are just out of the habit of trying to buy everyone gifts... besides the fact that we just flat had no money to do that with.
*sigh* Yeah, it's a little depressing, but God kept us busy & we didn't focus on what we didn't have.
So, let me tell you what we did have...
We had two non-family get-togethers at our house. One was for my ladies group of Emmaus chicks. It's the local group of women who have all been on the Walk to Emmaus. Normally we meet each Thursday at a restaurant, or occasionally at a church or someone's home if we're making agape gifts for a walk. But with us getting the finishing touches on the house, both Tommy & I wanted to host some parties at our home. So I had about 25 people here in the middle of December. We played an ornament exchange game, had tons of food & good fellowship. It was so awesome & I was so blessed to have everyone here.
The very next night, we hosted our church's community group here. Unfortunately, three of the couples couldn't come, but of the three couples we had here, I think we all had a great time. We've grown really close to some of these people, and I guess, as our group has grown & there are basically just three of us couples who have been here all along, those other two couples were so good to us when I was injured & not able to get around back in the summer... I just wanted to do something for them. So for this gathering, I didn't ask anyone to bring food. Tommy & I did all the cooking. It turned out great.
I used quite a few recipes I'd found on Pinterest, and they were a hit. I did a lot of cooking for my Emmaus group too, but did ask for the ladies to bring something to share because I was afraid of not having enough. Man! We had a TON of food!!
During all of this, Tommy & I had been working with the First Touch group at church. This is the group that includes the ushers, parking lot guys and the greeters who are stationed not only at the doors, but all through the outer area before you get to the auditorium. I love doing this except for one thing... it means we miss out on the first of the worship service. But still, I love it. I get to see people that I normally don't, which means a lot in a church as big as ours. The last Sunday we worked, I got to see two people I'd gone to high school with that I hadn't seen in ages!!
So God kept us very busy with those things and with doing the Advent devotionals we did corporately with our church. That helped a lot and I'm so thankful that we stuck with it this year. We kinda failed big time last year!
We did spend about $50 on very small gifts for our kids & parents & I'd bought a couple of things earlier in the year for my sister & her husband, so we weren't completely empty handed, which is what I HATE, especially with my parents because my mom always buys such nice things for everyone.
She & dad gave us all some money as well, which was really REALLY nice and put both Tommy and me on eBay looking for things we wanted.
For him it was all kinds of light-weight backpacking equipment for the trip he and our boys are planning for later this year. For me? Well, I have wanted to get some Thirty-One bags for eons. I even thought about hosting a party, but I HATE doing those buy-something deals. I don't go to them because I can't afford to buy stuff, so I figure most people are likely in the same situation. I also wanted to find a really good leather purse. Well, I went over my Christmas-cash budget, but thankfully I have Bill Me Later & could go ahead and get not one, but but SEVERAL of EACH of these wish-list items!!
God's so good, isn't He?? :)
I got one Dooney & Bourke all leather drawstring bag in excellent condition for several hundred dollars less than it would have cost new. I got one of those huge 31 Weekender totes, brand-new in the package AND in that new purple paisley pattern I love! Not only that, but I saved over $30 off retail. I dunno why someone wasn't pleased with this as a gift, but I am thrilled with my purchase! I also got a barely-used All In One Organizing totes to hold all the things we need to keep in the truck. It's in a nice discontinued pattern with the snowy pine trees? I wiped a couple of smudged out of the inside & it looks like new. Saved a TON on it, too. Then I found another 31 Large Utility tote in the brown dot pattern. And I unexpectedly won another Dooney & Bourke bag that should be here any day. It's almost like new too and I only gave $30-something for it. It's all leather & looks great.
Now my problem will be being seen with the aforementioned 31 bags by the ladies I know who are 31 reps. *sigh* I'm thinking about posting a status on facebook explaining what I've done. I mean, c'mon, how can anyone fault me for buying these things used &/or for WAY less than retail? Hopefully, no one, but we'll see. *sigh* I can't let that worry me right now.
Well, I think that's it for me for right now. I'm going to try to upload some pix of the stuff we've got finished around the house. I absolutely LOVE my new green walls in the family room. It's got such a warm cozy feel now and the redo of the mantle is just awesome! Hang tight... I'll get some pix up ASAP!!
hugs~
Tuesday, August 28, 2012
2012: Summer of The Yucky Foot - Part 2
For Part 1, go here.
So, Tommy almost made me pass out, driving like a maniac to the hospital. On the way there, I decided I needed to get the prayer warriors started, so I called the first name in my phone from our Grace Emmaus Community, which happened to be a fella from Pineville, which is 45 miles away & takes almost an hour to drive to. Seriously? I told him I'd almost cut my foot off, which he apparently heard as "I just cut my foot off." but he started the prayer chain off. *phew!*
Once we made it to the ER, Tommy loaded me into a wheelchair & left the truck running with the passenger door standing open, parked right in front of the ER door. He proceeded to make sure they KNEW I was there and I was BUH-LEED-ING!!
When I said my foot had been run over by a riding mower, they all started moving at a much faster clip! I was taken back, past triage & straight into a room. They pulled the towels off my foot & all grimaced. Yeah, it's gross, people!! A LAWN MOWER RAN OVER IT!!
Corey & Mel got there soon after they'd put me in the ER room. People were coming in & out, looking & grimacing. Sheesh. They asked how long was I unconscious. I wasn't. They were shocked. And so far, no crying either. Yes, I AM amazed at myself!! LOL!
It was about 4 hours before they got all the preliminary stuff done that hospitals always take so long to do and finally sent a guy in to clean the cut up so it could be thoroughly examined. The x-ray was good, no broken bones, it was fairly clean & was all okay that Corey had used bottled water to irrigate it & wash out the grass. Once they finally got it cleaned, they could see bone. Nothing shattered or anything, but my heel bone was exposed.
*shudder*
Yes, by this time they had given me a shot of Morphine & put in an IV, thank God!
They put me in a room & let me know the surgeon would be in to look at it first thing. They kept saying it would need a tissue graft. Tommy had asked almost first thing if they needed the part that was cut off, but they said no. Since there were essentially no nerves or muscle there, it wouldn't be beneficial to try sewing it back on.
Next day we saw the surgeon, an orthopedic doc, who said he needed to do a surgery to clear away the too-damaged tissue. I don't remember anything about that, but it hurt like the dickens once I came to. Urgh!
The doc said he thought it would only need a skin graft in about 6 weeks and that I probably wouldn't be able to walk for around 6 months. Egads!! They wanted to keep me for a few days to make sure no infection would set up, and so there I stayed.
I had tons of sweet visitors. It was a very humbling experience seeing people actually show up to let me know they were praying for me. God's SO good!
That night was horrible, though. My blood pressure started dropping and so that was the end of the Morphine. They tried Vicodin next, but the blood pressure was just too low, even for that, so I spent that night in agony. Horrendous pain with NOTHING to ease it.
Did I mention it was horrible?
By the early morning, they tried the Vicodin again & my pressure seemed to level out. I was on a constant saline drip to hydrate me, but apparently it didn't work to stabilize my bp til that next day. Thank God, though, and I was eventually able to use the Morphine again.
And again I say, THANK GOD!!!
The third day, they brought in this funky walker for me to try. It was bright fushia with zebra stripes, y'all. I was not allowed to even touch my toes (of the injured foot) to the floor and lemme tell ya, using one of those blasted things is harder than it looks!!
They made me take a very short walk in the hall & I was soon worn out!! Having to lift my entire weight w/just my wrists was awful! I don't have the strongest wrists already! They were keeping a wet-to-dry pack on my heel all this time, changing it daily. Each time they took the gauze off, it would pull bits of tissue off and make it bleed. Doc said that's what they needed it to do, to stay open & fresh so that the tissue would start regenerating.
It sounded crazy to us. We really didn't dream that the concave wound would build back up much. I imagined a deep sunken scraggly area on my foot for the rest of my life.
Boy, was I (mostly) wrong....
Stay tuned. Part 3 is coming!
So, Tommy almost made me pass out, driving like a maniac to the hospital. On the way there, I decided I needed to get the prayer warriors started, so I called the first name in my phone from our Grace Emmaus Community, which happened to be a fella from Pineville, which is 45 miles away & takes almost an hour to drive to. Seriously? I told him I'd almost cut my foot off, which he apparently heard as "I just cut my foot off." but he started the prayer chain off. *phew!*
Once we made it to the ER, Tommy loaded me into a wheelchair & left the truck running with the passenger door standing open, parked right in front of the ER door. He proceeded to make sure they KNEW I was there and I was BUH-LEED-ING!!
When I said my foot had been run over by a riding mower, they all started moving at a much faster clip! I was taken back, past triage & straight into a room. They pulled the towels off my foot & all grimaced. Yeah, it's gross, people!! A LAWN MOWER RAN OVER IT!!
Corey & Mel got there soon after they'd put me in the ER room. People were coming in & out, looking & grimacing. Sheesh. They asked how long was I unconscious. I wasn't. They were shocked. And so far, no crying either. Yes, I AM amazed at myself!! LOL!
It was about 4 hours before they got all the preliminary stuff done that hospitals always take so long to do and finally sent a guy in to clean the cut up so it could be thoroughly examined. The x-ray was good, no broken bones, it was fairly clean & was all okay that Corey had used bottled water to irrigate it & wash out the grass. Once they finally got it cleaned, they could see bone. Nothing shattered or anything, but my heel bone was exposed.
*shudder*
Yes, by this time they had given me a shot of Morphine & put in an IV, thank God!
They put me in a room & let me know the surgeon would be in to look at it first thing. They kept saying it would need a tissue graft. Tommy had asked almost first thing if they needed the part that was cut off, but they said no. Since there were essentially no nerves or muscle there, it wouldn't be beneficial to try sewing it back on.
Next day we saw the surgeon, an orthopedic doc, who said he needed to do a surgery to clear away the too-damaged tissue. I don't remember anything about that, but it hurt like the dickens once I came to. Urgh!
The doc said he thought it would only need a skin graft in about 6 weeks and that I probably wouldn't be able to walk for around 6 months. Egads!! They wanted to keep me for a few days to make sure no infection would set up, and so there I stayed.
I had tons of sweet visitors. It was a very humbling experience seeing people actually show up to let me know they were praying for me. God's SO good!
That night was horrible, though. My blood pressure started dropping and so that was the end of the Morphine. They tried Vicodin next, but the blood pressure was just too low, even for that, so I spent that night in agony. Horrendous pain with NOTHING to ease it.
Did I mention it was horrible?
By the early morning, they tried the Vicodin again & my pressure seemed to level out. I was on a constant saline drip to hydrate me, but apparently it didn't work to stabilize my bp til that next day. Thank God, though, and I was eventually able to use the Morphine again.
And again I say, THANK GOD!!!
The third day, they brought in this funky walker for me to try. It was bright fushia with zebra stripes, y'all. I was not allowed to even touch my toes (of the injured foot) to the floor and lemme tell ya, using one of those blasted things is harder than it looks!!
They made me take a very short walk in the hall & I was soon worn out!! Having to lift my entire weight w/just my wrists was awful! I don't have the strongest wrists already! They were keeping a wet-to-dry pack on my heel all this time, changing it daily. Each time they took the gauze off, it would pull bits of tissue off and make it bleed. Doc said that's what they needed it to do, to stay open & fresh so that the tissue would start regenerating.
It sounded crazy to us. We really didn't dream that the concave wound would build back up much. I imagined a deep sunken scraggly area on my foot for the rest of my life.
Boy, was I (mostly) wrong....
Stay tuned. Part 3 is coming!
fishy...
Okay, so this post is not one I was expecting to write. It's not something I was pondering til it hit me in the face. It will be a rambling, thinking-it-over, pondering post. So don't say I didn't warn you. *heh*
We were recently asked to become "leaders" of the community group (small group, similar to a Sunday school class) at the church we've been at for about a year now. The reason is because the guy who had been leading it simply didn't show up when groups resumed after summer break. Two other couples and us showed up for the first, along with another TWO couples who joined us to discuss the questions that are provided. No definite "leader" was necessary, it was a great group-participant discussion.
The next week, a different new couple showed up and we had another great group discussion. Another lady & I questioned each other as to what was up with this couple not showing. No emails, no contact with the guy who oversees all the groups & keeps a list of them. Nothing.
So, I decided we needed to get to the bottom of it, mostly notably because the second night, there was a different group listed as meeting in the room we've used for the past year. I emailed the care pastor, who forwarded it to the fella who "manages" groups. I told them we were having some great meetings, but were concerned since everyone except us thought that we no longer have a group. I told him we had taken care of the no-leader problem by instituting a last-one-in-leads policy. (which we sort-of had, albeit jokingly) And that this had resulted in a race between two of our men while the third was in the facilities. (lol!) All of it was in good humor and such, I just let them know we wanted to continue having our group & asked what we should do.
The reply I got from Group Manager Man was Congratulations! We, my husband and I, were now listed as the group's leaders. WHAT!?!?! I was surprised & my husband was terrified! I insisted that our group was full of great communicators & basically everyone participates in discussion, so we didn't need to necessarily have a leader. But he insisted that the group must have someone "on record" as leaders, more for contact than anything else. And so, that's how it happened.
The first night after this happened, we had yet another new couple and that was all. Thankfully, we'd spoken to the other two core couples & knew why they weren't there. Otherwise, we'd both have been terribly upset that none of them came!! We had a really wonderful time & my husband handled the whole thing well & started to feel better about the situation.
Thank God.
Then... I just by chance found out that there had been an email sent around by the man who had been the group leader. We had not got a copy of it, however. A friend forwarded it to me, and I have to say I was pretty taken aback by it.
It said he had thought & prayed long & hard about it, and decided to not lead a group this year. This is almost a month since groups had started back up. We all know that another guy, who had been in the group last year with his wife, had been trying to contact this former leader, so I assume that's why this email was sent all of a sudden. He'd sent it to the whole list of people who'd participated in group last year... except us.
There was no mention of the group still being active or anything. He encouraged people to find other groups to attend, if they hadn't already.
Hmm... so now it gets awkward. Why, if he was so torn up about stepping down as leader did he wait til now to send such an email, at least to part of the group?? I know this is because the one man had just started trying to reach him with the news.
Also, why did another couple who were in the group last year tell someone that this former leader had told them group wouldn't start til after Labor Day??
What on earth is going on??
I honestly don't know, but it makes me feel weary. This man is a rather well-off individual whose family owns a large business. Is it all just about politics?? I know that there was a fire at one of their homes earlier (yep, I said "one of"), so I know that what he said about having a rough time of it lately is true... but why wait? Why tell part of the people that group would start later than the designated time? Why not say that the group is still active? I don't mean that he should have said we are the new "leaders", but why not at least say that the "old group" is still running? Still meeting in the same place, at the same time?
Why???? That seems to be the million-dollar question. I just pray that I can not dwell on this or concoct scenarios about what is going on, about who said what to whom & when... I want to focus on Jesus since He, after all, is the reason there's any group at all.
Lord, please help me focus on You!!!
We were recently asked to become "leaders" of the community group (small group, similar to a Sunday school class) at the church we've been at for about a year now. The reason is because the guy who had been leading it simply didn't show up when groups resumed after summer break. Two other couples and us showed up for the first, along with another TWO couples who joined us to discuss the questions that are provided. No definite "leader" was necessary, it was a great group-participant discussion.
The next week, a different new couple showed up and we had another great group discussion. Another lady & I questioned each other as to what was up with this couple not showing. No emails, no contact with the guy who oversees all the groups & keeps a list of them. Nothing.
So, I decided we needed to get to the bottom of it, mostly notably because the second night, there was a different group listed as meeting in the room we've used for the past year. I emailed the care pastor, who forwarded it to the fella who "manages" groups. I told them we were having some great meetings, but were concerned since everyone except us thought that we no longer have a group. I told him we had taken care of the no-leader problem by instituting a last-one-in-leads policy. (which we sort-of had, albeit jokingly) And that this had resulted in a race between two of our men while the third was in the facilities. (lol!) All of it was in good humor and such, I just let them know we wanted to continue having our group & asked what we should do.
The reply I got from Group Manager Man was Congratulations! We, my husband and I, were now listed as the group's leaders. WHAT!?!?! I was surprised & my husband was terrified! I insisted that our group was full of great communicators & basically everyone participates in discussion, so we didn't need to necessarily have a leader. But he insisted that the group must have someone "on record" as leaders, more for contact than anything else. And so, that's how it happened.
The first night after this happened, we had yet another new couple and that was all. Thankfully, we'd spoken to the other two core couples & knew why they weren't there. Otherwise, we'd both have been terribly upset that none of them came!! We had a really wonderful time & my husband handled the whole thing well & started to feel better about the situation.
Thank God.
Then... I just by chance found out that there had been an email sent around by the man who had been the group leader. We had not got a copy of it, however. A friend forwarded it to me, and I have to say I was pretty taken aback by it.
It said he had thought & prayed long & hard about it, and decided to not lead a group this year. This is almost a month since groups had started back up. We all know that another guy, who had been in the group last year with his wife, had been trying to contact this former leader, so I assume that's why this email was sent all of a sudden. He'd sent it to the whole list of people who'd participated in group last year... except us.
There was no mention of the group still being active or anything. He encouraged people to find other groups to attend, if they hadn't already.
Hmm... so now it gets awkward. Why, if he was so torn up about stepping down as leader did he wait til now to send such an email, at least to part of the group?? I know this is because the one man had just started trying to reach him with the news.
Also, why did another couple who were in the group last year tell someone that this former leader had told them group wouldn't start til after Labor Day??
What on earth is going on??
I honestly don't know, but it makes me feel weary. This man is a rather well-off individual whose family owns a large business. Is it all just about politics?? I know that there was a fire at one of their homes earlier (yep, I said "one of"), so I know that what he said about having a rough time of it lately is true... but why wait? Why tell part of the people that group would start later than the designated time? Why not say that the group is still active? I don't mean that he should have said we are the new "leaders", but why not at least say that the "old group" is still running? Still meeting in the same place, at the same time?
Why???? That seems to be the million-dollar question. I just pray that I can not dwell on this or concoct scenarios about what is going on, about who said what to whom & when... I want to focus on Jesus since He, after all, is the reason there's any group at all.
Lord, please help me focus on You!!!
Monday, August 13, 2012
2012: Summer of The Yucky Foot
So... I've been pretty lax with the blog stuff, eh? Okay, okay... I've just flat ignored the thing. Sor-ree! I don't have the aptitude I used to for keeping up with a blog. I don't have the brain cells to create a cohesive post on a regular basis, so...*sigh*
But I am hoping to get started back with it now. At least that's what I want at this point in time. ;)
Alright, so there's been a lot going on in my life for the past few months. On June 14, I decided I was sick of looking at our neglected lawn. It was neglected because my poor hubby works too much & he can mow the entire lawn while I can only do the less-angular parts with our John Deere 316 hydrostatic tranny riding mower. He has rebuilt the thing almost entirely & it keeps our almost-2-acres looking spiffy...when we use it, that is! ;) So, I wanted to help my over-worked husband, okay?
I made one pass around my "usual" area of yard, then headed back out near the garden area and behind our shop. There's a very steep hill right behind the shop that I normally leave for Tommy. I can't even watch him mow it, it's that scary. It doesn't LOOK all that intimidating...until you're up there looking down. I've tried going up it before but the mower tipped backward, so I knew better than to do that. *ha*
I went along the top edge of the highest part that borders the property next to ours, a cemetery, okay? It's a cemetery. Yeah, yeah, yeah... at least the neighbors don't bother us! LOL! At the corner, I decided, "Hmm, I think I can go down this.." and off I went. And off the mower took. I decided to try the brakes, something I basically never use...and they really didn't work. I tried slamming the tranny into reverse to slow it down. Not the best idea I ever had...it slid a bit sideways...and started to tip a little.
I decided I did NOT want that mower on top of me & started weighing the idea of bailing. I thought for sure I could jump far enough & roll fast enough to clear the deck, but...*sigh* Alas. I didn't make it.
As soon as I was upright, sitting on my butt in the field watching the mower go around the corner of the shop (still don't know exactly how it did that) I knew the deck had gone over my foot.
I glanced down, saw the blood & panic started in. I saw my tennis shoe laying about 10 yards away from me, up the hill. I didn't look very close at my injured left foot, because I did't want to really know how bad it was til back up was there. I knew I needed to staunch the bleeding if I could, so I bent both knees up, the right leg on the ground, & sat my left heel down on the side of my right shoe/foot.
Then I called my hubby at work. I tried to stay calm, all the while during the ringing repeating, "God, please help me. Please be with me." Doing my best to sound chillaxed, I told hubby I'd fallen off the mower. "Are you cut?" Yes, I told him. "Are you bleeding?" Yep, I said. Then all I heard was "Hey, I gotta go." as he tore outta the office & headed home.
Okaaay, so then I went back to praying & realized I really didn't wanna be by myself, so I called down to my kids' house & asked my daughter-in-law if either of my sons were home from work yet. She said Corey, her husband, was. Apparently, I said, "Okay, tell him I fell off the lawn mower." and hung up.
Hmph. ;) Soon, I saw him coming up through the back yard, heard the mower shut off & then yell at DIL to grab some towels from inside the house.
Love her heart, she came running around the corner of the shop w/about six big bath towels, all white (LOL.. that's mostly what I have, it just struck me at the time how white they were!) She told me later she didn't know how bad it was, so she got plenty of towels!
Corey had some bottled water, which he splashed on my foot so he could look at it. About that time, Tommy showed up and my dad also pulled up in his ATV. Tommy ran back to get our truck & pull it to where I was. Dad, in a panic, proceeded to try to lift me himself with me asking him what in the world he was doing... but he & Tommy got me in the truck & he sped off toward the hospital.
*phew!* Just retelling this has worn me out, but I want to detail it here, so I'm gonna take a break.
Stay tuned for the rest of the Yucky Foot saga!! lOL!
For Part 2, go here.
But I am hoping to get started back with it now. At least that's what I want at this point in time. ;)
Alright, so there's been a lot going on in my life for the past few months. On June 14, I decided I was sick of looking at our neglected lawn. It was neglected because my poor hubby works too much & he can mow the entire lawn while I can only do the less-angular parts with our John Deere 316 hydrostatic tranny riding mower. He has rebuilt the thing almost entirely & it keeps our almost-2-acres looking spiffy...when we use it, that is! ;) So, I wanted to help my over-worked husband, okay?
I made one pass around my "usual" area of yard, then headed back out near the garden area and behind our shop. There's a very steep hill right behind the shop that I normally leave for Tommy. I can't even watch him mow it, it's that scary. It doesn't LOOK all that intimidating...until you're up there looking down. I've tried going up it before but the mower tipped backward, so I knew better than to do that. *ha*
I went along the top edge of the highest part that borders the property next to ours, a cemetery, okay? It's a cemetery. Yeah, yeah, yeah... at least the neighbors don't bother us! LOL! At the corner, I decided, "Hmm, I think I can go down this.." and off I went. And off the mower took. I decided to try the brakes, something I basically never use...and they really didn't work. I tried slamming the tranny into reverse to slow it down. Not the best idea I ever had...it slid a bit sideways...and started to tip a little.
I decided I did NOT want that mower on top of me & started weighing the idea of bailing. I thought for sure I could jump far enough & roll fast enough to clear the deck, but...*sigh* Alas. I didn't make it.
As soon as I was upright, sitting on my butt in the field watching the mower go around the corner of the shop (still don't know exactly how it did that) I knew the deck had gone over my foot.
I glanced down, saw the blood & panic started in. I saw my tennis shoe laying about 10 yards away from me, up the hill. I didn't look very close at my injured left foot, because I did't want to really know how bad it was til back up was there. I knew I needed to staunch the bleeding if I could, so I bent both knees up, the right leg on the ground, & sat my left heel down on the side of my right shoe/foot.
Then I called my hubby at work. I tried to stay calm, all the while during the ringing repeating, "God, please help me. Please be with me." Doing my best to sound chillaxed, I told hubby I'd fallen off the mower. "Are you cut?" Yes, I told him. "Are you bleeding?" Yep, I said. Then all I heard was "Hey, I gotta go." as he tore outta the office & headed home.
Okaaay, so then I went back to praying & realized I really didn't wanna be by myself, so I called down to my kids' house & asked my daughter-in-law if either of my sons were home from work yet. She said Corey, her husband, was. Apparently, I said, "Okay, tell him I fell off the lawn mower." and hung up.
Hmph. ;) Soon, I saw him coming up through the back yard, heard the mower shut off & then yell at DIL to grab some towels from inside the house.
Love her heart, she came running around the corner of the shop w/about six big bath towels, all white (LOL.. that's mostly what I have, it just struck me at the time how white they were!) She told me later she didn't know how bad it was, so she got plenty of towels!
Corey had some bottled water, which he splashed on my foot so he could look at it. About that time, Tommy showed up and my dad also pulled up in his ATV. Tommy ran back to get our truck & pull it to where I was. Dad, in a panic, proceeded to try to lift me himself with me asking him what in the world he was doing... but he & Tommy got me in the truck & he sped off toward the hospital.
*phew!* Just retelling this has worn me out, but I want to detail it here, so I'm gonna take a break.
Stay tuned for the rest of the Yucky Foot saga!! lOL!
For Part 2, go here.
Tuesday, November 22, 2011
Wow! Just.... WOW!!
So... it's been awhile, huh Blog? Well, I'm sorry. You know how it is.. life gets crazy, my mood gets down & I don't feel like writing anything. But maybe that's all over.
Sunday evening, two days ago, I got back from my Walk to Emmaus. It was an amazing, wonderful experience that every Christian should have. The instruction is so clear, the love almost palpable, the kinship so precious, the worship so alive... I have made some of the dearest friends who I can't wait to get to know even better because, even in such a short time, I love them so much! And the super thing is?? They love me too. :)
Yesterday was my first "4th Day" and I failed to get my Bible reading and prayers in. :( I was so disappointed in myself. This morning, I was determined to do it, and boy, does God ever bless our efforts in this!! I decided that I would make it as solemn and 'special' as I could, so I have the candle that my sweet hubby bought for me the other day.. for no reason at all. It is one of those glade candles that smell SO good... you should get one because it can help set the 'mood' if you will, for digging into The Word and talking to God. I also got myself a nice new notebook, a good pen, some highlighters, my Bible of course, and yeah, the reading glasses. :)
I used my worship booklet from The Walk and read the prayer in the front out loud. I also used the prayer for the Holy Spirit in the back because it really does help you call on Jesus for support and fulfillment in your studies. The amazing thing is that after praying, I just blindly opened my Bible and found Proverbs 12 waiting on me.
Seriously! Was that not THE PERFECT chapter for me today!! From verse one, it was smacking me right between the eyes... "Whoever loves discipline loves knowledge, but he who hates reproof is stupid." then in very 3 No one is established by wickedness, but the root of the righteous will never be moved." ..verse 4 An excellent wife is the crown of her husband, but she who brings shame is like rottenness in his bones."
It just went on and on, with the themes I needed so desperately to "hear". Thank You, Lord Jesus!! :)
You know, last night Tommy called his cousin Liz. She'd called me during my Walk, and I hadn't called her back. When Tommy got on FB, she popped up a chat box, so he called her. He filled her in on all the details with Casey's four-wheeler accident, telling him how wonderfully he'd healed and how God was there every. step. of. the. way. And his eyes teared up and his voice cracked as he just bragged on Jesus in a way I'd never EVER seen him do before.
What a blessing!! And what an answer to a long-time (though on-again/off-again) prayer that he would become a more Godly husband and the true spiritual leader of our family. PRAISE GOD!!
So the Walk to Emmaus... what is it, you may be asking.. I can't tell you. *hee hee* Seriously. Not because I don't want to or am not supposed to, but it's something that you can't explain. Words don't describe how wonderful it is. You have to experience it for yourself and if you haven't been, you should and if you ever get the opportunity to go? Do NOT let anything keep you from it. It's truly a once-in-a-lifetime experience you should not miss. Check out the link, find out how to start your own journey to joy in the Lord!!
Blessings,
G~
Sunday evening, two days ago, I got back from my Walk to Emmaus. It was an amazing, wonderful experience that every Christian should have. The instruction is so clear, the love almost palpable, the kinship so precious, the worship so alive... I have made some of the dearest friends who I can't wait to get to know even better because, even in such a short time, I love them so much! And the super thing is?? They love me too. :)
Yesterday was my first "4th Day" and I failed to get my Bible reading and prayers in. :( I was so disappointed in myself. This morning, I was determined to do it, and boy, does God ever bless our efforts in this!! I decided that I would make it as solemn and 'special' as I could, so I have the candle that my sweet hubby bought for me the other day.. for no reason at all. It is one of those glade candles that smell SO good... you should get one because it can help set the 'mood' if you will, for digging into The Word and talking to God. I also got myself a nice new notebook, a good pen, some highlighters, my Bible of course, and yeah, the reading glasses. :)
I used my worship booklet from The Walk and read the prayer in the front out loud. I also used the prayer for the Holy Spirit in the back because it really does help you call on Jesus for support and fulfillment in your studies. The amazing thing is that after praying, I just blindly opened my Bible and found Proverbs 12 waiting on me.
Seriously! Was that not THE PERFECT chapter for me today!! From verse one, it was smacking me right between the eyes... "Whoever loves discipline loves knowledge, but he who hates reproof is stupid." then in very 3 No one is established by wickedness, but the root of the righteous will never be moved." ..verse 4 An excellent wife is the crown of her husband, but she who brings shame is like rottenness in his bones."
It just went on and on, with the themes I needed so desperately to "hear". Thank You, Lord Jesus!! :)
You know, last night Tommy called his cousin Liz. She'd called me during my Walk, and I hadn't called her back. When Tommy got on FB, she popped up a chat box, so he called her. He filled her in on all the details with Casey's four-wheeler accident, telling him how wonderfully he'd healed and how God was there every. step. of. the. way. And his eyes teared up and his voice cracked as he just bragged on Jesus in a way I'd never EVER seen him do before.
What a blessing!! And what an answer to a long-time (though on-again/off-again) prayer that he would become a more Godly husband and the true spiritual leader of our family. PRAISE GOD!!
So the Walk to Emmaus... what is it, you may be asking.. I can't tell you. *hee hee* Seriously. Not because I don't want to or am not supposed to, but it's something that you can't explain. Words don't describe how wonderful it is. You have to experience it for yourself and if you haven't been, you should and if you ever get the opportunity to go? Do NOT let anything keep you from it. It's truly a once-in-a-lifetime experience you should not miss. Check out the link, find out how to start your own journey to joy in the Lord!!
Blessings,
G~
Wednesday, October 12, 2011
miscellaneous & sundry...
... just to forewarn you that this post has no discernible direction as yet. ;) Just wanted to update you, you being me, because best I can tell, not a soul has looked at this blog. *shrugs* And that's okay. As much as I'd love some interaction, some comments, some VIEW numbers besides my own (LOL!) I'm content to just ease back into a sorta journaling with a blog again. It's amazing how rusty I am after years of NOT keeping up a blog! ANYhow... for the update...
I been sick. *cough cough* No, really. I have. I finally got sick of waiting for this awful yeast infection to go away. I'm not talking "internal" here, y'all, lest you get all uncomfortable & squirmy. ;) As bad as that kind is, this is outside, right where my legs attach to my *whispering* groin.... Awful, bumpy, stinging, itchy rash. ARGH! I thought it was probably from my sugars going up and down since I'd been painting & stuff. Any time I do something like that, especially after being a spud for so long, my sugars will drop, then I'll end up bouncing it too high. The lows I've had lately have been in the 30's, and they've been the panicky, sweaty, shaky kind that I don't realize are coming on til, *BAM*, there it is, full on hypoglycemia! So when I have a low like that, I always get ravenous afterward and the panicky part makes me overreact and "over correct", which then bounces me up too high. Too-high sugars can trigger a yeast infection, since yeast loves sugar & all. *sigh*
I had been using Nystatin cream, which should have cleared it up, but it didn't. Plus I had had that awful, hacking asthma-cough thing I get occasionally. It had hung on, coming in spells, for about 2 weeks. I finally broke down & went to the doctor.
Besides, it's time I get my flu shot AND I needed to have him write me a prescription for brand name Wellbutrin. Long story there, maybe in another post... So he asks if I've had a fever, sore throat, etc... nope. Just the cough & my albuterol inhaler wasn't helping at all. He asked if my ears were hurting. Nope. Just the cough, okay?! Then he looks in my ears and in that strange Indian way he has of making faces and comments says, "Odd." Well, I KNEW that wasn't good. He says, "I can't believe your ears aren't hurting."..*trails off* Um... uhkay. WHY? "Because you have a bad infection in both of them." Hmph! Who knew? I told him it was probably because I'd had a constant headache for several weeks and couldn't feel the ear pain because of that. Ha.
So, that was probably why I had the yeast infection because infection can jack up my sugars, which then feeds the yeast, et cetera, et cetera... No wonder I've been feeling like crap! But instead of giving me Diflucan, which is what I normally take when I have a mega-yeast infection that doesn't respond to OTC remedies, he gave me a powder form of the Nystatin saying that way the yeast doesn't also have moisture to thrive in. Urgh. I didn't know this is what he'd done til I got to the pharmacy since he sent the prescriptions via computer and I didn't get to look at them. Otherwise I'd have asked for the Diflucan right then. Any time I take antibiotics, I end up with a yeast infection, too, so starting out with one just wasn't good.
But I waited. That was last Friday, so I tried the powder all weekend, not really seeing any signs of improvement. Needless to say, Monday, I called and asked for the Diflucan. He ordered me seven of them. (Normal dose is one and for "normal" people, that usually wipes the infection out.) ... (of course, you realize by now, *I* am decidedly NOT normal..)
I got the stuff yesterday, have now taken three doses and have yet to see any improvement. I should have called him back Friday for the Diflucan, but by the time he was done with my appointment, the office was already closed. GAH!
And so, I've never had the first bit of pain in my ears, either. Which I find extremely weird, although when I had the SJS in 1994 it started with an ear infection, fiddling around for a couple weeks with about 4 antibiotics trying to cure it and then I had the reaction. *sigh*
So anyhow, I go back for a recheck day after tomorrow. Lord willing, that'll all be better and I can go ahead & get my flu shot over with.
I'm still not done with the small bedroom. Matter of fact, I haven't even touched it since I went to the doctor last week! I think I may go in there and get back to painting that trim. I wish Tommy would go ahead and take the carpet out so that I can get to the very bottom of the trim. He's talking about doing wood flooring in there, since he got so much practice doing it at his friend's house. I don't want to have to sand & repaint because there are carpet marks all over the trim! NOTE TO SELF: MAKE Tommy take the carpet up tonight! *heh*
Alrighty, I need to get busy, so take care & God bless!!
G~
I been sick. *cough cough* No, really. I have. I finally got sick of waiting for this awful yeast infection to go away. I'm not talking "internal" here, y'all, lest you get all uncomfortable & squirmy. ;) As bad as that kind is, this is outside, right where my legs attach to my *whispering* groin.... Awful, bumpy, stinging, itchy rash. ARGH! I thought it was probably from my sugars going up and down since I'd been painting & stuff. Any time I do something like that, especially after being a spud for so long, my sugars will drop, then I'll end up bouncing it too high. The lows I've had lately have been in the 30's, and they've been the panicky, sweaty, shaky kind that I don't realize are coming on til, *BAM*, there it is, full on hypoglycemia! So when I have a low like that, I always get ravenous afterward and the panicky part makes me overreact and "over correct", which then bounces me up too high. Too-high sugars can trigger a yeast infection, since yeast loves sugar & all. *sigh*
I had been using Nystatin cream, which should have cleared it up, but it didn't. Plus I had had that awful, hacking asthma-cough thing I get occasionally. It had hung on, coming in spells, for about 2 weeks. I finally broke down & went to the doctor.
Besides, it's time I get my flu shot AND I needed to have him write me a prescription for brand name Wellbutrin. Long story there, maybe in another post... So he asks if I've had a fever, sore throat, etc... nope. Just the cough & my albuterol inhaler wasn't helping at all. He asked if my ears were hurting. Nope. Just the cough, okay?! Then he looks in my ears and in that strange Indian way he has of making faces and comments says, "Odd." Well, I KNEW that wasn't good. He says, "I can't believe your ears aren't hurting."..*trails off* Um... uhkay. WHY? "Because you have a bad infection in both of them." Hmph! Who knew? I told him it was probably because I'd had a constant headache for several weeks and couldn't feel the ear pain because of that. Ha.
So, that was probably why I had the yeast infection because infection can jack up my sugars, which then feeds the yeast, et cetera, et cetera... No wonder I've been feeling like crap! But instead of giving me Diflucan, which is what I normally take when I have a mega-yeast infection that doesn't respond to OTC remedies, he gave me a powder form of the Nystatin saying that way the yeast doesn't also have moisture to thrive in. Urgh. I didn't know this is what he'd done til I got to the pharmacy since he sent the prescriptions via computer and I didn't get to look at them. Otherwise I'd have asked for the Diflucan right then. Any time I take antibiotics, I end up with a yeast infection, too, so starting out with one just wasn't good.
But I waited. That was last Friday, so I tried the powder all weekend, not really seeing any signs of improvement. Needless to say, Monday, I called and asked for the Diflucan. He ordered me seven of them. (Normal dose is one and for "normal" people, that usually wipes the infection out.) ... (of course, you realize by now, *I* am decidedly NOT normal..)
I got the stuff yesterday, have now taken three doses and have yet to see any improvement. I should have called him back Friday for the Diflucan, but by the time he was done with my appointment, the office was already closed. GAH!
And so, I've never had the first bit of pain in my ears, either. Which I find extremely weird, although when I had the SJS in 1994 it started with an ear infection, fiddling around for a couple weeks with about 4 antibiotics trying to cure it and then I had the reaction. *sigh*
So anyhow, I go back for a recheck day after tomorrow. Lord willing, that'll all be better and I can go ahead & get my flu shot over with.
I'm still not done with the small bedroom. Matter of fact, I haven't even touched it since I went to the doctor last week! I think I may go in there and get back to painting that trim. I wish Tommy would go ahead and take the carpet out so that I can get to the very bottom of the trim. He's talking about doing wood flooring in there, since he got so much practice doing it at his friend's house. I don't want to have to sand & repaint because there are carpet marks all over the trim! NOTE TO SELF: MAKE Tommy take the carpet up tonight! *heh*
Alrighty, I need to get busy, so take care & God bless!!
G~
Wednesday, October 5, 2011
bleh...
I hate it when I get like this. *sigh*
How is "this"? Well, it's a totally overwhelmed, anti-focus, hurts-to-think-about-all-the-stuff-I-need-to-get-done kinda thing. And of course, I would get a bad case of it when my house is in utter chaos.
I was working on sanding some of the holes Tommy had patched up in the little bedroom yesterday, and getting started on painting the trim in there when Mom called. She had been really sick all day with that whatever-it-is she gets that keeps her running to the bathroom all day til she basically has nothing of substance in her body. ANYway...my aunt had called to tell her she had a bunch of greens for us. Of course, Mom didn't want any in her condition and she didn't feel like driving out to pick them up either. So I stopped what I was doing, cleaned up a bit and drove out there.
Sis (that's what we've always called my mom's oldest sister) had a black garbage bag FULL of the most huge 'greens' I'd ever seen! I came home, divvied some out for my sister to take & set about the washing process and heating up a huge pot of water to parboil them in. Needless to say, I didn't get back to my painting, but boy, those green WERE really delicious.
I think I must have eaten more than I should have because today, my intestines are not so happy. Still, it was worth it. I could LIVE on greens if they weren't so much trouble AND if they didn't cause me so much intestinal distress. *urgh*
Woke up today with a major sinus headache to add to my lower-body chaos, so I haven't got anything done except brewing up a pot of coffee and catching up with my peeps online. *sigh* Besides, I won't be doing much in the bedroom today anyhow... I HAVE to do laundry. The guys are fishing socks out of the laundry basket piled up on the couch and this morning, I had to dig to find what was probably the last clean pair of underwear Tommy has. *sheesh!* So... it's laundry today... and the family room is SUCH a mess, I hate to take the stuff in there to fold & sort.... Maybe I'll make up the bed, which is always semi-piled at the footboard. What a mess! And with the holidays approaching, as they ALWAYS are anytime we try to do any "gussy-ing" up of the house, I'm getting frantic.... but then again, I'm kinda too tired to be TOO frantic, ya know?
I'm supposed to go with some friends from high school to Lexington to see an Etta Mae show Friday. I've never seen her in person, but two of the girls who live in Lexington now go see her often. They say she's even funnier in person. A couple of London gals are driving up there, so I'm going to ride with them if I go.
Part of the time I'm all like, "YAY! What a fun thing to do! Yesss!" then other times I'm like, "Nah. I don't feel like it and what's the use of going anyway.." Ick. I hate when I feel that way. I probably NEED to go. I SHOULD go, seeing as Tommy has gone on numerous fun-with-buddies things over the years. Eh... I dunno. We'll see what happens, I guess.
Okie doke, I gotta get busy on this laundry.
Blessings...
G~
How is "this"? Well, it's a totally overwhelmed, anti-focus, hurts-to-think-about-all-the-stuff-I-need-to-get-done kinda thing. And of course, I would get a bad case of it when my house is in utter chaos.
I was working on sanding some of the holes Tommy had patched up in the little bedroom yesterday, and getting started on painting the trim in there when Mom called. She had been really sick all day with that whatever-it-is she gets that keeps her running to the bathroom all day til she basically has nothing of substance in her body. ANYway...my aunt had called to tell her she had a bunch of greens for us. Of course, Mom didn't want any in her condition and she didn't feel like driving out to pick them up either. So I stopped what I was doing, cleaned up a bit and drove out there.
Sis (that's what we've always called my mom's oldest sister) had a black garbage bag FULL of the most huge 'greens' I'd ever seen! I came home, divvied some out for my sister to take & set about the washing process and heating up a huge pot of water to parboil them in. Needless to say, I didn't get back to my painting, but boy, those green WERE really delicious.
I think I must have eaten more than I should have because today, my intestines are not so happy. Still, it was worth it. I could LIVE on greens if they weren't so much trouble AND if they didn't cause me so much intestinal distress. *urgh*
Woke up today with a major sinus headache to add to my lower-body chaos, so I haven't got anything done except brewing up a pot of coffee and catching up with my peeps online. *sigh* Besides, I won't be doing much in the bedroom today anyhow... I HAVE to do laundry. The guys are fishing socks out of the laundry basket piled up on the couch and this morning, I had to dig to find what was probably the last clean pair of underwear Tommy has. *sheesh!* So... it's laundry today... and the family room is SUCH a mess, I hate to take the stuff in there to fold & sort.... Maybe I'll make up the bed, which is always semi-piled at the footboard. What a mess! And with the holidays approaching, as they ALWAYS are anytime we try to do any "gussy-ing" up of the house, I'm getting frantic.... but then again, I'm kinda too tired to be TOO frantic, ya know?
I'm supposed to go with some friends from high school to Lexington to see an Etta Mae show Friday. I've never seen her in person, but two of the girls who live in Lexington now go see her often. They say she's even funnier in person. A couple of London gals are driving up there, so I'm going to ride with them if I go.
Part of the time I'm all like, "YAY! What a fun thing to do! Yesss!" then other times I'm like, "Nah. I don't feel like it and what's the use of going anyway.." Ick. I hate when I feel that way. I probably NEED to go. I SHOULD go, seeing as Tommy has gone on numerous fun-with-buddies things over the years. Eh... I dunno. We'll see what happens, I guess.
Okie doke, I gotta get busy on this laundry.
Blessings...
G~
Thursday, September 1, 2011
living alone... sorta
So this is a first. My hubby's gone into the great "white" north with some buddies on a he-man fishing/canoe trip for a week! Seriously, he's over 1,000 miles away from home & will soon be out of our cell service area. ACK!
We've never taken vacations apart. Well, actually, we've never really taken vacations as in "This is the week we always go *here* for vacation! Can't wait!" No. We don't do that. Our vacations, the few we've actually had, are always kinda spur of the moment & very sporadic & totally dependent on how our finances look at the time.
We have started going to a cabin with the family the first week of December for Christmas instead of buying gifts or putting the gathering on one home to deal with. That's been nice & will be a great tradition, Lord willing, The "tradition" of the past two years has been for us to head out Sunday after church: me, Tommy, all the kids plus my parents (& since they're going, my sister as well). They usually stay til Wednesday & then kinda "switch out" with Tommy's parents with a meal all together in between. Well, not last year. My sister complained so much that she was bored most of the time that Mom & Dad left before Tommy's parents got there. Or maybe they were just sick of us. You never quite know with them.
So anyway, last year, we ended up with an extra night (perks of being a return client who rents a 3-bedroom cabin!) so we got one night "alone" with just the kids, which was nice. It can be pretty stressful sometimes, all that togetherness. *heh*
So yeah, Tommy's gone off on a he-man adventure. I'm glad he got to go, but a bit irritated by it too. He just does stuff that I never would, ya know? For instance, I wouldn't ever pursue spending this much money on something just for me. I never have. He has several times. I'm trying not to let this turn into a bash-fest, but I want to be honest about that rankling me a bit. He knows it, so don't think I'm sneaking off to gripe about him behind his back. I've griped about him to his face already. ;Þ
Anyhows, yep, it's just me here and it's so different. I am sometimes concerned that if *something* happens, what will I do? Obviously, I don't have any clue what *something* is, but am well aware that it could be anything! Whether or not it would warrant my worrying is a whole 'nother thing altogether, though. I mean, I'm surrounded by family who would, after all, help me if the dreaded *something* were to actually occur. I'd much rather have Tommy here with me, though, just ... I dunno, just because. But then on the flip side, what if something happened to him? How would I get to him if needed? I suppose one of the boys would drive with me all the way up there...
I'm actually not one to work herself into a frenzy concocting wild scenarios of possible disasters. I've been blessed to have been brought through some pretty nasty times and that has made me realize that no matter what, Jesus is firmly in control and my worrying is all for naught. A total waste of time (& kinda an insult to Him, ya know?) and so I call those horrible times a blessing because without them, I would not know the kind of peace that I do at times when other people would worry.
As you've probably figured out by now, this post really has no point. I just had the time to sit and think without interruption, which doesn't happen often when Tommy's here, so I thought I'd just write a bit. My apologies if you were expecting something profound. ;)
Thanks for stopping by!
G~
We've never taken vacations apart. Well, actually, we've never really taken vacations as in "This is the week we always go *here* for vacation! Can't wait!" No. We don't do that. Our vacations, the few we've actually had, are always kinda spur of the moment & very sporadic & totally dependent on how our finances look at the time.
We have started going to a cabin with the family the first week of December for Christmas instead of buying gifts or putting the gathering on one home to deal with. That's been nice & will be a great tradition, Lord willing, The "tradition" of the past two years has been for us to head out Sunday after church: me, Tommy, all the kids plus my parents (& since they're going, my sister as well). They usually stay til Wednesday & then kinda "switch out" with Tommy's parents with a meal all together in between. Well, not last year. My sister complained so much that she was bored most of the time that Mom & Dad left before Tommy's parents got there. Or maybe they were just sick of us. You never quite know with them.
So anyway, last year, we ended up with an extra night (perks of being a return client who rents a 3-bedroom cabin!) so we got one night "alone" with just the kids, which was nice. It can be pretty stressful sometimes, all that togetherness. *heh*
So yeah, Tommy's gone off on a he-man adventure. I'm glad he got to go, but a bit irritated by it too. He just does stuff that I never would, ya know? For instance, I wouldn't ever pursue spending this much money on something just for me. I never have. He has several times. I'm trying not to let this turn into a bash-fest, but I want to be honest about that rankling me a bit. He knows it, so don't think I'm sneaking off to gripe about him behind his back. I've griped about him to his face already. ;Þ
Anyhows, yep, it's just me here and it's so different. I am sometimes concerned that if *something* happens, what will I do? Obviously, I don't have any clue what *something* is, but am well aware that it could be anything! Whether or not it would warrant my worrying is a whole 'nother thing altogether, though. I mean, I'm surrounded by family who would, after all, help me if the dreaded *something* were to actually occur. I'd much rather have Tommy here with me, though, just ... I dunno, just because. But then on the flip side, what if something happened to him? How would I get to him if needed? I suppose one of the boys would drive with me all the way up there...
I'm actually not one to work herself into a frenzy concocting wild scenarios of possible disasters. I've been blessed to have been brought through some pretty nasty times and that has made me realize that no matter what, Jesus is firmly in control and my worrying is all for naught. A total waste of time (& kinda an insult to Him, ya know?) and so I call those horrible times a blessing because without them, I would not know the kind of peace that I do at times when other people would worry.
As you've probably figured out by now, this post really has no point. I just had the time to sit and think without interruption, which doesn't happen often when Tommy's here, so I thought I'd just write a bit. My apologies if you were expecting something profound. ;)
Thanks for stopping by!
G~
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