Tuesday, June 26, 2018

I won!

Well, it isn't like the competition was tough.  I won out of 50+ entries.  I follow DenkaiDesigns on Facebook, a fellow cross-stitcher in Hull, U.K. and she had a giveaway back in April, all you had to do was a leave a comment and a brief note about birthdays to enter.  So at the end of June's video, she used a random number generator to select a winner, and it was me!  The giveaway is a piece of cross-stitch fabric, hand-dyed, and I am thrilled to win anything.  I nearly fell off my chair when I heard my name.  Now I can't say, "I never win anything" because I did!  Do you think I should buy a lottery ticket?

I had my first session with the out-patient therapy place (hereafter known as Torture Headquarters or TH) and had to take pain meds as soon as I got home.  Joking aside, they are very organized and thorough and I am clearly out of shape, even doing my exercises every day.  Tomorrow is session two.  Pain med ahead of the session rather than after.  They have all sorts of equipment and keep me moving along in a logical way for my weak areas.  God, I hope I will be able to get rid of the walker eventually.  There are so many things I want to do; for example, I wanted the charging cord for my little Nikon and it was behind the bed and I have trouble getting in there when I have two good legs, much less one.  The therapists were amazed by the noise my "good" knee makes when I stand up, but it doesn't hurt (much) and that is why I chose the other knee for surgery.  I will never get the left knee done, not after the disaster the right knee has given me.   Eventually, the charging cord surfaced and the camera has a tiny light showing it is electrified. I hope.  I have never had it completely shut down, I hope it will be OK.  It has been idle for more than a year.

I can't figure out how to make the last post (down below this one) a sticky note that is always on the top.  Then as I work on it, it will be updated and not repeated.  It can't be too hard.


bye for now...

Saturday, June 09, 2018

Late

I have let updating this blog slide for a while, not because I didn't have things to share, but from sheer laziness.  So all six of my faithful followers will know this is not new for me.

I am going to try doing therapy for my crappy knee as an outpatient.  I have been doing my exercises that the home health staff gave me, but I am not seeing the improvement I had hoped for.  I still can't do stairs, and I am slow as molasses when I walk with my walker.  My feet are very swollen, elevation, ice, walking, none of them have helped any longer than the time it takes for me to sit down.  Gravity, it seems, is stronger than any of these.  The new diuretic has helped somewhat, but it is making my kidney function deteriorate.  Last week I fell here in the bedroom, luckily I am well padded and so is the floor.  My knee buckled, but I think I tripped first, it all happens so fast.  It has been 4 months since this knee was put in, and the knee itself seems OK, it is all the associated problems with my foot that keep me down.  Crap.

I think we are finally getting some actual spring weather, warm days and cool nights.  All the greenery is bursting forth, from all the rain we have had.  The horse has to stay in the barn when the footing outside is slippery, lest she fall and hurt herself acting like the filly she isn't anymore.  The main drawback of stalling her is that the barn has to be cleaned pretty often, and C has enough other chores to keep him stressed.  And the mare misses out on some green grass, and has to make do with hay.

I  have been going through all my jewelry these last few weeks.  Most of it is a costume, and only a little is actual gold, diamonds, gemstones, etc.  N always bought me something sparkly for my birthday, but I didn't have much occasion to wear it.  The necklaces are 20 inch, and I cannot feel the clasps to fasten them.  So I have been swapping them out on 30 inch chains that I can slip over my head.  I have been quite teary as I go through the boxes, remembering how pleased he was with seeing me wear any of it.  This past June 6th would have been our 48th anniversary.  We were still discussing what to do for our golden anniversary,  now not to be celebrated.

I have been reading Dean Koontz' novels with main character Jane Hawk, an FBI agent.  I am on the first one, and it is pretty grim, I am not sure I will finish it.  It was a free selection on my Kindle, so I don't feel bad if I skip it.  So far there is not a golden retriever in the plot, only German shepherds, I am amazed he would use anything but his goldens.

I am still plugging away on my cross stitch projects, one is an anniversary sampler, which I *may* get done by this time next year.  It is turning out very nice, but there is a lot of it to go yet.  I am working as well on "Kitty Trio" which I mentioned several posts back, but switching off with the sampler so I don't get too bored.  I am also working on a chickadee scene, I will give it to my sister-in-law once it is done and framed.  She told me, the last time we talked, that chickadees are her favorites.

It is late and I am tired, so I will stop rambling.  Thanks for reading.