Saturday, July 26, 2008

Just making a tour through the BB and it was interesting reading your post Rosey. It seems we are all fighting this"getting older" thing. I really like where I am today except I am fighting nit being able to do as much as I used too.I am having an incredibly hard time admitting that I run out of steam. Who knows maybe I finally have to go talk to some one and then all the depression feelings will go away too. Although a friend was telling me the other day a lot of it could be the lack of sunshine we have had for this summer. needless to say it is raining again this morning. the sun came late yesterday morning and stayed for the afternoon and it was mentioned that today was supposed to be sunny. So I left the lawn furniture outside over night and you this morning it is soaking wet. Well it least it got washed.
The other thing you mentioned was how fate can sometimes work. It really goes to show , how when a door closes a window opens. It really seems to work that way at times and it is a good feeling.
Jane Hope you are doing okay. Take ti as easy as you can so you can heal.
Have a great day all, and enjoy sunshine those of you that have it.
Grace signing out.

Friday, July 25, 2008

Bodily Parts

Jane, do you ever think that maybe we are just getting plain 'older'...I refuse to say old even though my hair is a mass of white curls. Here's hoping your knee surgeon can help steer you through the ankle problems with a new specialist. You must feel very frustrated. I'm glad that your freezer problem is explained but what a bummer loosing all that food especially when you're not exactly around the corner from a grocery store. Living in the country, living up a mountain is great but there are some drawbacks.

A very odd thing happened today. I had a cancellation for a booking Thurs. to Sunday; a one booking tonight for the B&B, so tomorrow was totally open. After lunch as I was sitting at my computer, a call came in from a woman who lives about 10 miles north of here. She has a travel business from home and had received a wrong-number call from a gentleman who was having trouble connecting with this B&B service (or disservice, as I call it) here in our area. The woman who owns it blanket-advertises but doesn't follow through enough to stop the srew-ups that we other B&B owner/operators come into contact with in people being left high and dry without accommodations. One such incident happened today. When the woman told the caller that she was in the travel business and would see what she could do, resourceful as she is, she called several B&B's who directed her to me as they knew that I had an opening. I've never met her; she didn't know any of us, talked to three B&B owners, had a ball trying to figure this thing out and arranged for the bookings to come in here to me, for which I'm grateful as things are slow this year in our area and all over with tourism. The woman has severe fibromyalgia and cannot drive any longer so does her business out of her home....said it was the most fun she'd had for a long time, making these arrangements...all from a wrong number caller. She'd like to have all three B&B owners up for lunch one day. Fate or whatever, played a hand in my bookings for this week-end. On Monday I have a young woman who practices Chinese medicine on people and animals. She is coming for a horse event not far from here. I sure do have interesting folks in here, albeit, it is slow going. Last year we were all busy here but not so this year.

Sara, your time in NC sounded like fun. Isn't it a beautiful state? One of the prettiest, I think.

Rosey

HELLO

Dear friends (what would we do without such dear friends which includes your animals)

I haven't posted because I couldn't. I've been using my Yahoo sign in and it wouldn't pass muster. Duh!

It's dark and dreary today and my arthritic hands are bugging me to say the least. Now that I can't take Celebrex (it turned out to be the cause of the hives that nearly drove me mad) any more I've become much more aware of all kinds of aches and pains. The ankle fracture is not doing well at all. I've given up on the guy (kid) who did such a beautiful job screwing it back together. When the improvement stopped and things started going down the toilet he didn't seem to want to hear it. The surgeon who did my knee replacement in January was very alarmed when he had his tech take an x-ray and personally called a foot/ankle specialist with whom I now have an appointment but no til August 15. In the meantime there are times when I can barely get from one side of the room to another. I called the new guy a few days ago to beg for an earlier appointment as I'm afraid I'm doing more damage. Unfortunately another ankle man is leaving the practice and he's trying to pull up the slack. It gets so discouraging when I try to increase my activity to have to stop, rest, ice etc. I'm exhausted all the time due to absence of exercise. I am driving now so went to gym yesterday and have promised myself to do that at least three times a week. I'll do anything that doesn't hurt the ankle and hope to build some stamina.

I found my trusty little 5 cu. ft. freezer toasty warm yesterday. The contents thereof were all mushy and had a fleshy smell. Had to throw out about $150 worth of food and if I hadn't run out of steam while in Lowe's would have bought a new one. This morning I decided to clean it out but ankle hurt too much to do much of anything so took a nap instead. Then I wondered if there were something wrong with the hook up. I then realized that the dehumidifier wasn't running despite not being full or turned off. That outlet is on the same wall of the garage as the freezer. After almost tripping to death climbing through the debris out there I checked the breaker box and none of the circuits were blown. However, in a rare moment of optimism I got out an extension cord and plugged the freezer into an outlet in the laundry room and VOILA, I don't need a new freezer but I do need an electrician. Actually, the electrician will cost more than a small freezer. I have a laundry list of chores for him anyway. Does this all portend a sudden healing of the ankle when I get to the ankle expert's office?

Went to an optometrist yesterday for a second opinion because I'm very unhappy with the correction in my current glasses which are only 7 months old. He was very thorough and said he would only make a very minor change that certainly wouldn't be worth the cost of new lenses. However, he found that the cataracts that have been lurking for more than a decade are no longer lurking and make it impossible to have any correction better than what I have now. Actually, that's good news. I will see the ophthalmologist in a few weeks and if he thinks it's time I'll jump at the opportunity to be rid of the astigmatism in the right eye. The cornea in my left eye is scarred up from a herpes infection back in '94 which has distorted that eye and there's mot much to be done about that. By the way ladies, get your herpes zoster shot. When I got mine it was brand new and medicare didn't pay for it but having spent five weeks in agony and almost losing the eye it was a bargain in my view at $200. As we get older the chances of such an infection is increasingly likely. Just don't go to the ER at Strong Memorial Hospital in Rochester, where that arrogant ba&^%^& misdiagnosed my problem because he refused to do as two residents suggested and have an ophthalmologist or neurologist consult.

Anyway, there will be no hand quilting until I get rid of the cataracts. I cannot thread a needle to save my life. The machine needles I'm using are top stitch needles with a much bigger eye.

Well, back to picking out a bunch of machine quilting I did in the little wall hanging I've made for my dear hand surgeon because I don't like the thread I used. I want to hang it in my guild's show and it's due next week. Good way to rest the foot.

I promise to be cheerier in my next post.

Jane the whiner in NC

Thursday, July 24, 2008

trying to post

Hello from CA...
Due to technical difficulties it has been a loooooong time since I have been able to post here. Hopefully I will be successful this time. Does anyone know the addy for the Website that Jill set up? I love it here but I do need another site to visit when I can't get on. You know a gal can only go so long before she needs a "quilt/chat fix". LOL I have wondered about so many of the ladies and how they are doing. Love the pictures of the quilts...I am trying to hand quilt a top for my son and have decided it would be less stressful to throw it out the door...LOL Hugs from Pat in HOT CA

Sunday, July 20, 2008

Back from western N.C.
We are back from the cool, low humidity of western N.C. Went tubing-sort of. We didn't know that the river level was low due to the droughts in the past years, so mostly we crab-walked and sort-of-tubed, and then walked through the rocks. I will consider it cross training!
The walking up and down mountains, even paved ones, is so different from flat land. I walked an hour 2 X in the mornings, and have some sore legs to tell for it.
The grand boys were whiny little brats most of the time. He hit me! I want to sit there! He punched me first! Finally on Friday DH and I went for a drive by ourselves. I did go to the John C. Campbell folk school one morning and walked around. A lovely place. There are not any quilt classes I want to take in the next 6 months, but it would be a great place for a retreat. Away from everything. I do mean everything, to get a sandwich had to drive about 6 miles into the little town of Murphy. Did buy two quilt books there at their book store, and ready to get to quilting. Hopefully can do an hour or so tomorrow.
I found the Nikwax and the other waterproofing spray in a little outdoor shop in the town of Highlands, N.C. My jacket is in the dryer as I type. (Now that is a beautiful area)
We hit the little shops on Main St. in Hendersonville then decided to keep driving south, and got home about 11:00 on Sat. night.
It's good to go away, always good to get back home.
Sara in the humid, flat land