Tuesday, August 31, 2010

I'm back...

My dear Blog public; how are you all? I missed you all, yes each and every one of you!
Including my two new followers that I forgot to welcome appropriately the last week or so!
Being a part of this Blog world I feel so obligated to keep in touch with you all daily, and when that is not possible I feel just terrible!
Upward and onward…shall we?
The day was fought with literarily and not too much so with spinning eyeballs and sleepiness.
I am not a napper so much so unless my health is at issue, and today again it appeared to be, and I remained exhausted most of the day.
Over-night I think my spasms in my body were wracked with negative musculature and pain as well, not to mention how my eyes reacted to the dilation of what the eye doc’s office had done, and perhaps the Baclofen had an affect on me being quite tired too?
I had two doses of the medication over night several hours apart as recommended.
Supposedly I was told to take the Baclofen three times daily of twenty milligrams but I had not been taking it as perhaps I should have?
And so today I began, after those wee hours of my sleep period during the night I again took it at ten A.M. and then once more at two and so that may be very well why I was so tired; that and the fact that the night time sleep had not been that refreshing I suspect, and currently I would have been due once more at six P.M. but I didn’t feel the necessity to, and so I did not take it; maybe at bedtime?

Yesterday, after visiting the eye doctor’s office and getting a more hopeful report of my eyes may very well improve and not all is lost. I do have the cataract also in my right eye besides the optic neuritis and so within six months or more I may also be having that one taken care of. Meanwhile, the ophthalmologist gave me a new eyeglass prescription for my glasses and within the end of month and beginning tomorrow once the bills are paid we will see if we have enough to take care of that too!
You know me bills first then extras.

Hubby receives his two checks within days of each other monthly, his pension, and social security like everyone else at our ages and we have direct deposit which is the safest?
Automatically, as a state employee he receives a COLA yearly on that pension but as most all know the Federal Social Security payments have not been receiving theirs, no cost of living increases for the last two or three, I’m not quite sure which?
Anyway, even with those two monthly income checks we are by no means wealthy but able to pay all our household bills without too much strain, except when we get an extra expense that we were not expecting. Although we do know how to manage and so far so good!
But me being me you all are aware of me going slightly berserk when we get any new not planned for expenses!

Any-who, those hurricanes seem to be monopolizing our news here although none are coming to us thankfully, but to our neighbors to the north of us up towards the mid-Atlantic coast-line, oh no! North Carolina as Hurricane Earl appears to be heading towards their coast.
Terrible with another holiday weekend coming to all our tourist destination beaches up and down the United States with more needing for economic appreciation of visitors, which seem to be again scared off by something out of our control!

On that challenge to our American vacationers to watch those news/weather reports and fear not, to commit to enjoy what we all love…a holiday at the beach!

Take care be well and don’t forget to enjoy daily what us coastal inhabitants take for granted.
Happy night to all and to all count those blessings and we will too!

PS: And thanks President Obama for ending the war on what would have been my half brother’s seventy-ninth birthday!Who was a victim of his serving his country in the Korean War in the Air Force as a medic and died just a few years ago in a VA hospital in NJ.

Computer difficulties last night and now still this morning!

Dear friends I was not able to access this Blog last night due to AOL and Internet Explorer who still seem to be having Internet issues that are beyond my control.
Please be aware that not only was that a problem for me and Hubby but the rest of the people who use those two things!

Moving on--- I am going to try and write a wee bit and post it for you.
Any-who, although the technical glitches were abundant and prevalent I too had my own physical difficulties last night due to me going to the eye doc.
My eyes had been dilated and with my already eye problems that made it nearly impossible for me to see this to write and so if it had been working Hubby would have been writing a short note to you mentioning that!

It appears that the ophthalmologist has a better take on my eye situation than me or my neurologist. He fortunately seems to think that I may get much of my sight back in that right eye! Yippee! And he even gave me a new prescription to get filled for new eyeglass lenses! That he feels should help me see that much better! YEA!
And so I will leave you all with those positive thoughts and wish you all a very happy day since I am now writing this at 8:30 A.M. this morning Tuesday August 31st.
And hopefully I will be on here again tonight to get back on track and write something more interesting and beneficial to all, ha!
So happy day to all, and to all count those blessing always day or night and we will too!

Sunday, August 29, 2010

An interesting character...

Almost like clockwork you can see a young fellow with his iPod walking our block several times daily.
He appears to be talking to himself, and so Hubby has nicknamed the boy, “Walkie-Talkie”.

None of the others on our street seems to know his point of origin from whence he came daily and so there is no known information about him, but he has become a neighborhood staple...
He seems to be in his own little world and I wonder on occasion why he walks?
It can’t be for his health or for a weight problem, because he smokes and is quite slender.

And it’s not like there is one set time, so my 'like clockwork' thought was not quite that accurate.
But he does circle our block several times throughout the day.
Walking jauntily, not running; I suspect perhaps he is listening to and singing with his music but it looks so odd his mouth moving with not being able to tell from our front window what he might be saying to himself.

And who in his right or even wrong mind would be out there rain, including lightening or shine with all the recent unbelievable heat waves of deadly triple digits?
He is an enigma who has been haunting this neighborhood for many months now.
Oh no, haunting perhaps sounds devious as if he were up to no good, and no he has never showed any signs of that.
His only non specific irregularly is that he is a mystery to all of us.
He never stops to rest that we can see as he goes past our nine foot picture window that’s why he’s so hard not to miss!
Even me with my limited eyesight; I glance at him in my left eye’s periphery as he is in it so many times a day!
And never ever has he stopped to chat that we have heard of.

The young man who more than likely does seem to be cared for and most likely is in his twenties has brown hair and usually has a baseball hat upon his head, with wrap around sun glasses appropriately on his nose and he wears different colored T-shirts throughout the day, so he stays clean; I can only imagine his reasoning for changing so often.
We have been tempted to turn around to follow him when we have passed him while driving in our car, but that seemed too invasive.
I suspect he will remain an oddity in our neighborhood for as long as he so desires.
You see the curiosity is not that he goes for a walk through our neighborhood, because many do, and some even twice a day, but “Walkie-Talkie” does it at least a half a dozen times a day, sometimes more, and on occasion he paces or at the very least changes direction right there in front of our home!
Now all you psychologists or psychiatrists out there are saying he has some disorder, the one that comes to mind is obsessive compulsive or he could even suffer from some psychosis or even just as well bulimia or anorexia? Who knows…

So far, though to date he appears to be harmless to us in the area, but at times I do worry about his safety being out in all kinds of weather and traffic; although he does seem to be unaware he must be or I am sure something unthinkable would have happened to him by now.
Amazingly no one has tried to speak directly to him.
Well, maybe the next time we go out Hubby or I could try to stop and speak to him, since we have so many questions unanswered and if he would be nicely forthcoming to our severe cases of nosiness!
Our neighbors now in their minds will be thinking of him as Walkie-Talkie too since Hubby has mentioned that’s who he thinks the young fellow is to all of them, in his mind that is… and he has told a few and they agreed that is a perfect name for him.

On that mysterious note of someday knowing, I do hope; I will wish you all a very happy night and to all count those blessings and we will too!

Saturday, August 28, 2010

Something nice happened today!

This morning we went out around ten A.M.
The Cultural Center that I have mentioned before had an annual event there; I do believe this was just the second year, and we had gone to it last year.
Crazy 4 Paws, is an occasion where many venders in the pet toy, food, training display their services or animal related wares, and your entire short hairy, fury or feathered loved ones are invited to indulge with you to enjoy what was there.
Whatever you might need for your loving four-footed family member or feathered friend was on show for you to examine or even try.
Our dear Skipper was on his better behavior than last year where Hubby ended up having to remove him because he had decided to take it upon himself to give his vocal critique of the other visitors, to our dismay with loud unrelenting embarrassing barking at most all of them.
This year he seemed to have matured in his behavior and really behaved remarkably well, and greeted all other canines and with quiet sniffing, and tail wagging.
What a difference a year makes, huh?
Part of the excitement of the tour of the room is getting each vendor to sign a form they hand you as you enter the venue.
When fully completed at the end of your visit you can fill in your personal info on the bottom and therefore be entered in to win a contest!
And so I did what everyone else did as we exited the center to go to our car to go home for our lunch since it was just after eleven thirty A.M. and at this point it was all free and we are down to the end of the month financially so eating out was not on our agenda besides Skipper was with us and we weren’t going to push our luck even though now in our county there are quite a few dog friendly eateries.

We finished our lunches at home and sat down to enjoy some of our favorite how-to shows on PBS when around twelve forty-five P.M. I received a phone call.
It was a person from the center saying that I had won a free gift!
By now I was pooped and I thanked them and asked if it needed to be picked up right away, since I didn’t know at the time if Hubby would be willing to go back without me to go retrieve whatever it could be. He overheard the conversation from here at the computer so I asked him, and he said yes, and so he went and picked it up. And he brought a pretty lavender bag back filled to the brim with what I had no idea, and apparently he didn’t either since as I examined our lovely gift, I said OH NO!
For within the very pretty bag were cat toys and food and all things for a kitty… Our Casey passed away just last October from cancer, our beautiful long haired orange Tabby with amber eyes, I felt like crying. I tried immediately to call the person back from the number in my phone, but I got a recording saying that they were closed until Monday!
I begged Hubby to take it all back and suggested perhaps they didn’t know what a Bichon Frise was; I suppose that was highly unlikely considering where we were; at that pet event.
Hubby again went out, back to the Cultural Center, what a guy.
But I was still a bit annoyed that he didn’t look in the bag before he brought it home…
Any-who, while he was still in transit I looked up the number of the center in the book, and it was different from the number I tried on my cell phone from when they called.
And so I called and I got the center and explained what had happened.
I also called Hubby to let him know that and to ask if they might have a dog gift in trade?
Hubby said that they apologized and felt just awful about the mix up, and they gave him a certificate for a free pet grooming for our wonderful Skipper!
Wow! What a truly nice gift, since we both know how expensive it is to bring our darling in for grooming at forty bucks every six to eight weeks. We were going a wee bit longer since we had all those additional expenses these last few months and now it would be taken care of, oh joy, what timing!

And so as nice as that was Hubby wondered if this could mean that our luck would finally be changing for the better…who knows I said, anyway it is a very nice little surprise and who in their right mind couldn’t appreciate that, really I ask you?

On that positive note of hope and whatever… happy night to all and to all count those blessings and we well too!

Friday, August 27, 2010

Friends are to be there for you when you need that pat on the back

Mostly a friend laughs and cries with you, and they may offer you a hand up when you fall literally or metaphorically or they just have the ability to say the right thing or a kind word now and then when your day has gone into the pits...
But in reality our friends are who we can depend on when we share our deepest feelings good or bad.
Others say that a true friend is someone you may not have seen in years but can pick up a conversation with them as if it were only yesterday as if no time had passed at all.

Sadly for most of us we must wait until something in our lives significantly happens for us to know just whom we really can rely on.
Many horrors and happiness’s that are sadly or joyfully our commonalties such as births, deaths, a loss of a job, weddings or divorces or any of a number of other miseries or blissful trials that are all part of the humanness of all living beings.

The only way I know I can survive in this world of tests, which is what I do believe that all of these things are is to know that this too will pass. It’s in our own personal histories, we are survivors!
If something new comes up, well, just diagnose it in your brain for similarities of other times that it might have happened but in perhaps a slightly different way; got that?
I found making two columns what’s the worst that can happen and what’s the best?
It puts it into perspective; really you must try it if you haven’t.
Next you try to come up with resolutions for all the worst things by also writing them down, and you will be pleasantly surprised at how smart you are and how less frightening it all can be!
Or if you are lucky enough to speak with a coherent, that is one with still all their faculties, octogenarian they will say they are fearless, and you know why?
Because they have made themselves bullet proof with knowing how to react to everything and anything with intelligence, calm and grace; gotta love the elderly. I believe its called coping mechanisms, which I do remember from my psychology classes.
Problems are only as big as you make them; it’s the solutions that may be small if you give yourself time to really figure it all out why they may at first pretend to be elusive.

But I have learned it’s like physics, which I did not take but I do know one thing for sure that for every action there is an equal positive or negative reaction; and that’s a pretty safe bet. LOL
And in life you have that power to react with pulling your hair out, and going crazy or by stopping and taking a breath and thinking about all the possibilities on how to solve it.

I just feel so sorry for those who have never ever been challenged with the ups and downs in life. Why you ask?
Because they have no experience to rely on to help them out of these tribulations of course!
Although, there is rarely a truly untouched golden child anymore it appears that the world of commonalties in all peoples has become that less unique.

Talking to others about what ails us is not anymore considered airing your dirty laundry, because let’s face it who doesn’t have any? There are some who think that still which amazes me, because I wonder if they are metaphorically living under a rock.
I do know that some try to handle bad things by using denial or ignoring the problem, but let’s face it folks it usually catches up to them and becomes much larger so I say face it head on and get down to it and take care of it however you can, but we must all learn that’s the best way.
Here’s my analogy if you see a child running into traffic you don’t watch, you go get that child and save its’ life! Same thing with any other severe problem in life, you must tackle it head on and try your best and even if you fail which I didn’t bring up but that is always a possibility you know in your heart that you did all you could do! And that alone is a reward in life, at least you tried with all your might and you will never look back to any regrets because of that.


On that too preachy me just trying to subliminally help a dear friend I will wish you all a good night and to all count those blessings and we will too!

PS I saw the skin doc about my shoulders and it was not cancer but possibly pre so he froze it and all is well; well as soon as the blisters go away!

Thursday, August 26, 2010

Anyone feel like riding on my roller coaster?

What?
‘My roller coaster’ is ‘my’ metaphor for 'my life'.
But to be honest who here cannot say that they do not have ups and downs in their own life, huh?
But since the end of June, a week before my birthday to be exact we seemed to be being tested once again on our character in handling difficulties. Boy we should be some characters by now and many would say they sure are!
Not as grand or upsetting as in the life and death arena here; just financial expenses that we had not planned on, but who does plan on additional expenses really?
Do you recall the broken air-conditioner and exploding hot water heater with flooding included?
And yes, of course my optic neuritis and the acquisition of finding the manageable price for those IV infusions that we could pay for without selling our first born grandchild, which to date has not even been seen on either of our sons’ horizons, well that’s another story…
This morning it was our nearly six year old Sony WEGA Trinitron 37” , for us our big screen TV, well it was around a thousand dollars when purchased with the insurance money from Hurricane Charley in replacing one of the many furnishing items that were swamped at the time of our home being flooded inside. And so it was a nice replacement at the time, and today it died. But this time Hubby would have been correct to say it was ‘just a little dead’ (the movie the Princess Bride, quote from Billy Crystal’s character), since it was quite fixable so Sony at their 800 number said.
You see, Hubby who is quite capable in repairing nearly everything and anything, and so he gave it a go, several times before he felt the need for intervention.
And that is why he did eventually call Sony’s ‘800’ number not defeated but wondering what was up?
What was happening every-time you used the remote or even went up and manually turned it on it immediately turned itself off!
First he tried the batteries in the remote and because the darn thing, TV, weighs exactly, would you believe, 165 pounds, he couldn’t exactly take it out and open it up, that was really the main glitch. I bet though if he could he would have found the problem just like that! (My fingers just snapped!)
It’s in our beautiful breakfront bookcase situated just perfectly within its home for the last nearly six years in our living-room.
And we really thought they would need at least two men to fix the thing just to move it!
But Sony gave us the name of a local legit repair service not too far from us and they have been around for nearly forty years.
The man called just before he arrived by around one-ish this afternoon, and did the job in no time at all even vacuuming the dusty TV and surrounding area, how embarrassing!
The part was only about forty-five bucks the service call was seventy, and the labor, oh boy the labor, I only wish I got paid like this when I was IN LABOR, it was nearly one hundred and fifty bucks for less than a half hour’s work!
When I come back in my next life I think I will come back as a TV repairman!
And sadly this is the first of our expenses that I did have to put on our charge card, which I just hated!
Hubby assured me it will be paid in full when it comes in…hmmm, you know me the X credit manager, and I better be able to pay it!
The man told Hubby that the part has a ninety day warrantee at least.
But the gentleman who happened to be the owner said the TV was better than most of the newer ones and was worth fixing, and he feels it should last another ten years!
I sure hope so, who knows when we will have this bad Karma again and ten years sounds like a good respite from all this, it does seem to happen in waves though, huh?
The newly fixed TV is being watched by Hubby right now as I write this, and from here sounds to be just fine, but this ‘worry wart’ has the ridiculous concern that either once we pay the bill from our charge or dare I say when those ninety days are up, let’s say on the ninety-first one it will again go to that TV place in the recycling bin in the dump or excuse me really be recycled due to its untimely demise! I sure hope not to either.

On that TMI of concern, but you all know me by now…
Happy night to all and all try to count those blessings, happy thoughts, happy thoughts happy thoughts, my new mantra, OK and we will too!

Wednesday, August 25, 2010

I straightened something out, and I was boldly and properly corrected and have another new look because...

I did not want to be a copycat, yep of all things!
Subconsciously, without much thought I apparently copied the design of a Blog that I have been following now and then. I suspect it was done honestly, without realizing when I was given the choices which were new to me on the site. And for some reason I did gravitate to it immediately, subliminally it was stuck in my brain it seems.
And so tonight I have rectified that small improper self indulgence with choosing another design which is called Ethereal template by Jason Morrow.
And since the wonderful interesting Blog that was the cause of my most recent dilemma is very worth my mentioning, and also since as of tonight I made it official for me to follow it too I feel the need for everyone else to know about this extremely well informed woman’s Blog on many topics such as Multiple Sclerosis, Music and of course herself.
And if you copy and paste the link that I have added in here you too might find her personal knowledge quite helpful: http://andisue.blogspot.com/

I suppose that took care of two items in my title for tonight, but the assumption that I made in my last night’s Blog was incorrect, of course grandparents have very little say in choosing a grandchild’s name that of course is up to the parent’s themselves!
Again I knew this to be the case but I took poetic license in my writings last night and for that I do apologize. My dear FB friend set me straight and also confessed about the naming of her own son, the father to be…well I must confess to you too, I did the same thing with our first son’s middle name was an old boyfriend’s from high school but his first name is his father’s middle so no problem there, but our younger son was named for one of my first boyfriend’s in kindergarten would you believe? And his middle name was from many, a cousin, a nephew and just liking that name, alright? But with my lack of ability to keep any secrets I told Hubby at the time, and so no concerns of secrets exposed! Even our sons were unabashedly told, poor kids; I rarely kept a thing from them.

Today, I heard back from a very special friend, the professor who moved back from the mid-west to Florida last fall. I have been on occasion sending her links to this Blog just for the heck of it if I felt it had something of interest for her. And of course we have had other emails discussing our ills as well, and that has been the wall that has kept us from actually getting together. We can’t seem to be well at the same time!
Well, to my pleasant surprise she is recuperating very well from her heart attack!
And she also mentioned that my Blog has been looking pretty good considering my spell check has been persnickety and not always there when I needed it or wanted it.
You see, she is a retired college level English professor who I was fortunate to meet when she offered a creative writing workshop at our Cultural Center, so when she said that it meant a lot!
I did confess to the fact that I do on occasion use my email spell check when still not sure that all is kosher here in my word program, and that is all I can really do, isn’t it?

Any-who—moving on we are now in to the nasty time for hurricane season the period between now and mid September seems to be the time we must keep our ears and eyes posted to the news/weather reports.
Why right now we have two systems out in the Atlantic, Hurricane Danielle is back but not coming anywhere near us, so we are told.
Earl which is now just a storm to be definitely watched whose course is not justified by any of the meteorological people as of yet, and so we must be prudent to keep an eye on him.
And so I will keep you all posted as I always have in the past!

Don’t worry peeps I got you covered!
On that note of ‘be happy don’t worry’, concept happy night to all and to all count those blessings and we will too!

Tuesday, August 24, 2010

What's in a name?

A famous question from a famous quote:
Juliet:
"What's in a name? That which we call a rose
by any other name would smell as sweet."
Romeo and Juliet (II, ii, 1-2) Thanks to: enotes.com

Ah, what a wonderful thought, but not always the case in your particular reality in life.
Over the last few days two wonderful FB friends of mine have found out that a new boy child, a baby, was soon to become a member of each of their families and so logically what do you do besides tell the world and smile from ear to ear and start planning to save up for their education and turn that guestroom into a nursery?
You start trying to come up with a name for that little darling that everyone will love and one that will be as diplomatic as possible as can be and won’t hurt anyone’s feelings!
Family names seem to be where these two lovely women’s name configurations seemed to be emerging from, more than likely from a close relative who has some motivation and something to gain, perhaps?

WARNING, WARNING, WARNING NEW MOM and FIRST TIME GRANDMA!!!!
Children grow up and when they do they either love or hate what you may have chosen.

And this I speak from personal experience, since you all do know that Tobi, which I do like, is not my real name but my pseudonym.

Believe me when I confess how after being teased relentlessly as a child about my name and called anything that would rhyme with it and so by the time I was a teen and went to a resort with my parents I changed my name to Carol, which I associated with… Gosh I forget now but it had to be better than the name I was given in my childlike opinion, sure I was a child, so I was entitled to that! Besides I was named for my dead grandmother who everyone had loved, and so sainted in my mother’s eyes I was not allowed her popular nickname, which today or as a teen I sure would have used if it wasn’t considered Blasphemy!

My parents didn’t realize I had changed my name until one of my resort friends paged me over the intercom there with my made-up name, using my actual last name and that too was not what I would have thought to be common or conventional at the time, but a gal can only go so far as a ‘teen incognito’, on a vacation with mom and dad.
Oh yeah, that’s right now I remember where I got the name from…I had a brand new cousin-in-law married to one of my older cousins and her name was ‘Carol’ and they were such a cute couple, so why not she wasn’t there? But that’s what confused my parents since him being on my paternal side (father’s side, my uncle’s son, my dad’s brother’s son), my parents weren’t quite sure they weren’t there too, got that; from that page and all embarrassment ensued with a big explanation of course after! Yep we had the same last names although they had shortened theirs.

And up until a few years ago I felt that my name was that of an old maiden aunt, although I married at twenty years old, and was never what anyone would consider an old maid in anyway shape or form!
But it always bothered me until I found out that an actress had the same name and hers was actually contrived from her many other actual ones and had chosen it as her ‘stage name’, WOW! That made it feel like it was no longer associated with dead grannies or old maids anywhere!
And so I think that I have finally made peace with my Mom’s and Dad’s choice unfortunately they are not here to know that, but up in wherever the good go.
And yes, when it came to naming our sons all those years ago I went with the popular choices of the day, and I am happy they both loved my choices and that Hubby did too!

Another interesting addition to this little anecdote of mine and quite amazing coincidence too that relentless teasing child when I was a youngin, that nasty boy that tortured me so as a child about my unusual name is now one of my many FB friends today, and believe it or not, an attorney! I wonder if he has to ever help people legally change their names or helps in litigations against bullies who tease them. LOL
It’s OK, all is forgiven, because he is probably one of the many who made me, me!

On that realism note of identity growth I will wish you all a very happy night to all and to all count those blessings and we will too!

Monday, August 23, 2010

Singing in the rain,♫ DO DA DO DOOOO ♫ DA DA DOO DA DOOT DOOO♫

Not really, but it was an unrelenting wet one most of today, in our late morning and afternoon period.
Although, the monsoon like rain had stopped for a short period when one of my Facebook friends happened to ask earlier this morning, and so I did tell her the truth at that particular moment, it was not raining and had only been doing it mostly yesterday.

Why apparently it was doing the wet stuff all over the place since many references to it could even be found on my FB page. Including the clip from that worldwide classic movie, ‘Singing in The Rain’ with a scene, Gene Kelley’s famous street dancing scene from that cinematic ditty! And no, I did not see it when it came out, but I could have I was two years old in 1952. What I can remember is seeing it on TV when those great movies were on ‘Million Dollar Movie,’ WOR TV in NYC, and played over and over again and we kids knew all of the lines and lyrics from them by hearing and seeing them; we learned by rote!

I almost didn’t come on tonight to write since I am still not up to par.
And my limitations of what I can actually do so often make me dwell in that house of ‘poor me’. YOU SEE, my eyes are paining me; yes that’s what I said they hurt from overuse that is as if you needed glasses or a new prescription, since what you have doesn’t work at all.
But that is why I initially started this Blog it was to vent such feelings, and I really did start this whole project with the thought of anonymity, but alas I have one BIG MOUTH and told the world, but that’s just between us, OK? (Wink)

Hubby at times doesn’t get it and I bet many of you out there don’t know why I would be so detailed in discussing my maladies.
To be honest, it’s cheaper than therapy!
And when one writes things down and reads what they wrote in that written examination of which a claim of tangibility helps to actually cause one’s self into utilizing problem solving mechanisms within. One could only hope, can’t one, but that too is just a theory.
Gotcha, double talk, huh? LOL

My babbling mode has kicked in.
And if I was in the same room as you and trying hard to hold up my end of a conversation, you would probably stop me to say….What the ----?
Some of us lonely peeps, who don’t get out much; well heck NOT AT ALL LIKE I USED TO!
With work and the kids no longer around and or just being more independent to get in to the car and go… yep, that’s part of it I haven’t driven in over two years.
At first I thought I would be all right since Hubby was retired and we would just go together.
But anybody can tell you that although you love someone there are times that you NEED to be alone! Or lets’ face it, escape!
He is much more mobile than I.
Even around the house he can go here or there without having to really think can I exit or enter with walking aids, my walker for balance or my mobility scooter, out in the world or even weather issues, too hot or too cold has no real affect on his physicality, but they both do on mine.
And now with this sight thing I can’t even ask to go the library unless I really want to try the books on tape; which for some reason I have been avoiding like the plague, and we all know why that is that my listening skills leave much to be desired!
I much rather talk.
I am not that dissimilar to what I believe to be called, ‘White Noise’; filling the airwaves with volumes of litany.
Yes, that is how I roll, noisy gibberish.
I suppose it is my way to be my own company even when in others lack of presence. Nah, I really don't talk to myself or answer myself, well not all of the time! Only sometimes, but who doesn't?
Otherwise that would be just Crazy!

My Mom said I started talking around the age of two, and consequently never stopped!
As many know that the power to talk or tantalize the populous into any conversation is a tremendous sales tool.
And even at the age of seven it proved to be one of my best assets as a Brownie in selling the most Girl Scout cookies and winning the sales contest!
Why as a teen it taught me to sell merchandise while still in high school at a mall store and helped me become a floor manager at the tender age of seventeen at that store, before college!
Ah yes the gift of gab… I even got to kiss the ‘Blarney Stone’ later on when I went to Ireland, which was one of my stops on my UK and European tour while a college student and perhaps that enhanced that feature and is the cause of this dilemma that it has created in my nearly idle life now!
Oh DEAR!
That almost sounds like the explanation that I have been looking for!
Or is it just another lame excuse?
Oh well, either way I am doomed to NOT SHUT UP!
And boy now when I think of it….
Hubby is awfully lucky that he can escape! LOL

On that note of silliness thought I will let you all retreat and wish you all a very happy night and count those blessings and we will too!

That means Hubby too; if I can find him…I know he’s around here somewhere! LOL

Sunday, August 22, 2010

Outing today!

And now I don’t mean out of the closet, but believe me when I say that there is nothing wrong with that!
Hubby decided that he would take me on the town, and so we went over to our Cultural Center nearly two miles from our home.
The journey was manageable and not at all scenic, but an escape just the same.
You see our local the above mentioned facility has not only a theater, but classrooms, a library, shops, but a cafeteria attached to it.
And every Sunday from 11 A. M. to 2 P.M. they have a buffet of prime ribs at an affordable price of nine dollars plus tax.
Not only that but other such delightful choices such as Stroganoff and stuffed cabbage with soup, with a beverage and desert included!
It was my little adventure since my week of cabin fever resulted after being inside recuperating from my medication ordeal of the previous weekend and not leaving the house for nine whole days!

Lunch was too much; yes we both stuffed ourselves with all the culinary choices we eyed, which I even shared with Hubby to lessen my consumption, although he or I could have gone back for more, but we did not.
In the old days when we ate like that we would end up going for a walk somewhere, more than likely the beach, but due to the heat of 92 degrees and me not able to any longer we went for a drive instead!
How I love to look at lovely expensive homes and so we did that.
We drove around for about an hour and looked at homes that at first we thought were mansions, but turned out to be multi-family dwellings! How refreshing to see that those lovely areas are now catering to the lower income folks!
I so enjoy getting landscaping tips from looking at those luxurious yards.
Interestingly we have quite a lovely yard ourselves with many garden rooms that I did start before this last bout that caused me to not be able to do so much anymore, but Hubby has maintained them, and with my suggestions has been a willing participant in changing or updating certain things.
I do so still love the gardening PBS shows and he has been watching these days along with me since his retirement.

I suppose my joy of gardening began while visiting the Cloisters in New York while a student there, and botanic gardens from D.C. everywhere here and also in Europe.
Gardens are a joy to watch since they are ever changing when done right. Sort of like new life abounding from season to season.
But I am sure you too have enjoyed many a pretty garden in your lifetime too; if not someone else’s then your very own.
I also enjoy putting some whimsy in the garden which we have managed over the years with statuary, mirrors, colorful birdhouses, our fish pond waterfall, and fountain.
I only wish it would cool off so I can go out and enjoy it more!

Although, my frustrations in helping with the actual gardening is in not being able to do it the way I used to or at all does challenge me.
At times I feel so demanding with weeding and this and that, but Hubby doesn’t feel the need to do everything so promptly. And when I begin a sentence when I was able to… he knows that I am going to go on about something that shouldn’t be as important as I apparently think it is. OK, so I have too much time on my hands and even though I don’t go out in the heat I do look out our many windows to admire our gardens and check them out too!
I hate dead things in a garden, while Hubby insists that perhaps they will comeback and are only a little dead? I keep telling him this is not the movie the Princess Bride, when he does that!
Even dead branches bother me.
I suppose in some cultures there must be somewhere or some place that revered dead flora, but not me!

I guess in my older age I have gotten a wee bit stubborn on certain things, but most of you will have to agree that when it comes to plants, dead is dead!
And so move on and replant, right?

All in all I do love to look at pretty things and that includes gardens, but who doesn’t?
Aesthetically speaking, beauty is in the eye of the beholder, but we all know that it has been known to make the biggest sourpuss smile when they were trying not to!
When your senses have been compromised even a little I really do think that we owe it to ourselves to test them regularly it enhances our lives in a very good way!

On that note of positivity, I will bid you all a very happy good night and suggest that you count your blessings and we will too!

Saturday, August 21, 2010

I hope you like the new me?

We all need a change now and then, right?
You betcha and so I decided when I saw the app to use one of the many new choices that Google seems to have available, I said to myself, self that this old gal just had to try one!
And so I chose the watermark one from a web designer from Switzerland. And I figure to test drive it for a while and see how it goes, because there are a whole bunch more to chose from if I change my girlie mind. Women do have that ability to change it, and for that matter so do men.
Actually, it didn’t take very long at all for me to find the real new me.

In fact I have been thinking about some more changes in my life in this techno world.
That is as soon as I can figure out just how to do it.
You see; although I have been using these computer things for decades; who really does know how they work, do you?
Sure you do, doesn’t everyone who uses them?
No, and I would be lying if I said I did.
Why I even admitted to a very savvy techno thirty-something professional woman that I compared my use of the computer to my use of the telephone, and I meant landline that I don’t know how that works either but I can use that too!
If the almighty felt the need for us all to know how things worked he would have sent us to computer technologies schools, right?

Most of the gadgets were made with the inept in mind as a tool to make their lives easier, being poor not too bright souls with limitations; anyway, not to turn them into some outsource techno geniuses!
And that’s another thing…aren’t any Americans capable of handling our lamebrain calls for assistance on our glitches on these things; other than these brilliant people who always answer in some burner room on an island somewhere or in their native land?
I do know I am on to something here about that last comment and I also know that it is NOT politically INCORRECT; if so why would they be dedicating an entire half hour of TV to a comedy based on that topic and named just that, ‘Outsourced’?

Come on folks we all know as much as we love this country called America we are falling behind in our children’s education as well as almost everything else.
Blasphemy you say!
Nah, the truth, we are so negligent on educating our young that many aren’t even graduating from high school anymore.
Something’s gotta give, folks.
In all honesty we all know this.
And we are more ashamed of our downfalls than most, but we must do something to change it.
There are third world countries with better educations, health care, less hunger and the way they treat their elderly around the world is beyond belief and much more compassionate than us I am so sad to say.
But we Americans are resourceful and in our history we have risen above most of our failings and I believe we will in these cases too!

Moving on…Any-who-
Gosh, Hubby wanted me to hitch on to this mud racking lunacy called our state elections with my noble opinion, but I admitted that I am not as well versed as I really should be.
It’s not altogether my fault though; do you know when you register as a non-partisan voter no one bothers you with phone calls or literature piling up in you round file on the floor?
Well, they don’t and that’s one of the many reasons we both switched years ago, we really didn’t want any of that! And in Florida we can’t even vote in the primaries unless it is on a particular issue, apparently nothing important was on the early voting ballot since we haven’t even receive that!
The only honest commentary I could give you is my opinion on the ridiculous TV commercials and all that historical mudslinging that appears to never ever waiver, you know?
But yes that is just it, we all know and so anything I said would just be redundant.
You know Hubby and I have heard many others say this too we all should demand a, 'none of the above’ line on those ballots!
Sooner or later they might all stop shouting long enough to notice, we are as mad as hell and don’t want to take it anymore!
Huh?
Where have I heard that before that movie, ‘Network’?
And basically wasn’t that what the flight attendant, Steven Slater was saying, enough is enough!
Can’t we all just be civil?
We all want the same things I think…

On that note of a wistful huh, let’s wish you all a very happy good night to all and to all count those blessings and we will too!

Friday, August 20, 2010

Get this...

Just when you think you got it all figured out something changes to let you know…OH NO YOU DON’T! (I am waving my pointer finger while saying that!)
I was starting to feel pretty good about trying to be patient about waiting for the steroids to do the trick to fix the optic neuritis, and the plan was to not get upset or concerned for at least a couple of weeks.
After all the doctor said in two weeks I should start ‘SEEING’ some improvement, isn’t that what I wrote the other day?
Two things happened today to make me wonder about that, I received literature on optic neuritis from the National Multiple Sclerosis Society, which states referring to patients after IV infusion therapy that, “ Patients then recover rapidly and achieve most of their improvements by 5 weeks(up to 1 year). Despite recovery of vision normal or near normal, most patients are aware of differences in the quality of their vision. Persistent deficit in contrast sensitivity, color vision, and depth perception are common.”
Now you SEE my dilemma, will I be better or not ever the same?
The other thing they sent me was verification on my temporary diabetic reaction, or so I thought, here’s what they sent me on that, “Hyperglycemia may be described as an excess of sugar (glucose) in the blood. The endocrine system regulates the amount of sugar that is stored and used for energy. It is important in brain cell function, and energy levels.
Taking corticosteroids will promote gluconeogenesis, (biosynthesis of new glucose) or increased blood sugar levels in the blood. Many people who are on steroids for their disease, and develop high sugar levels (hyperglycemia), will return to normal after the medication has been finished. An increase in blood sugar seems to be quite normal for a person with diabetes who is prescribed corticosteroids and he or she should seek advice from the person who is treating the diabetes, usually an endocrinologist.”
Gosh I even knew who treats it, but I AM NOT A DIABETIC!
HUH?
I AM STILL CONFUSED FOLKS, how about you?
PS MY GLUCOSE LEVELS ARE NOW NORMAL, and so I will go with that!

The other thing that happened was that my cataract surgeon called me back this morning offering me a free office visit for my wooziness that I cancelled yesterday with all the agencies I had called including him and my Neuro, since it had alleviated itself.
He was fairly insistent through his assistant, who I finally asked for a rain check, you know me I can’t refuse anything free including medical check ups that should be especially medical check ups!
But you see that was what scared me the fact that he felt that I should come in, and yes he is an MD Ophthalmologist!
I really didn’t want to waste his precious time on something like my motion sickness that has seemed to have cleared itself.

Being curious has always been one of my assets as well as my downfalls.
I just proved to myself again that those who truly believe that ‘ignorance is bliss’ may be on to something!
Darn, though; it is not my way…

I am not unlike the ‘curious cat’ that will more than likely test all of her nine lives.
You know something though it may have caused some bumps in my roads along my way in life but it has also been part of why no matter what, even when I think things are boring in reality they are not!
Just ask anyone who really knows the real me.
On that note of a bit of mystery I will wish you all a very happy night and suggest that you count your blessings and we will too!

PS I would like to add into tonight’s Blog some handy sites that might be helpful to all of you just copy and paste: http://nord.org/ that is wonderful to people with rare diseases that need assistance in paying for medications like me.
http://www.walgreenshealth.com/whc/patientPortal/specialty/jsp/transition_optioncare.jsp?alias=http://www.optioncare.com
Where I found my IV infusions at a manageable price the site above.
http://www.eyehealthcenterofflorida.com/bio-dr-thomas-a-quigley.html
The eye doctor site that did my cataract surgery and offered me a free office visit with my problem!

Thursday, August 19, 2010

Relief...I think...an anniversary!

Have you ever researched something to death?
No?
Go with me here…
I thought that abstract ideas were more likely to have answers for solving problems that would take you all over the map of all possibilities?
In my mind scientific fact is just that, not budging with wiggle room for maybes.
But oh no I am finding that not to be true.
Bet you all have an idea on what topic I have been trying to find anything and everything about, huh?
Yep, you got it ‘Optic Neuritis’.
What set me off today was the fact that my head was still spinning with the sensation of motion sickness from what I presume now to have been my sudden withdrawal from having to stop those pills too quickly Monday night.
I put in a whole bunch of calls to try getting one or two medico types to get back to me to let me know what logical steps I could take to alleviate the problem, but this afternoon it had basically fixed itself, sort of… well lessened, OK?
And so now I have read everything from how the optic neuritis will heal itself without intervention to what the doctor’s say that you must have what I had, IV infusions of high dose steroids!
My other realistic concern was if I had waited too long like I was told I did and will I lose my eyesight in the infected eye? And here we go again with conflicting information from reliable sources, my neurologist/physician says possibly, and reputable sites on line say no, never will happen!
Talk about confusing, eh?
The other thing is my needing to have these ‘steroids’ and why are they all right for me, but not all right for major ball players like Bonds or Clemens?
These steroids have made me have a violent reaction of diabetes causing high glucose numbers in someone who is not a diabetic and when all is said and done, fortunately I am already on heart medications, blood pressure, ace inhibitors and cholesterol medications which these high doses supposedly can cause heart and stroke problems, but the weight gain seems to be another constant from these short periods of consumption of these illegal to pro ball meds too!
PS so far I still can’t see out of righty; my eye that is.
But one thing they all agree on it can take some time for that to happen, if at all.
Latest info is that it can take from anywhere from two weeks, from my doc’s info, to a few months from National Multiple Sclerosis Society.

Why bother most of the true logics are saying to themselves as they read this; yep you are very right, but what if it was your right eye?
Different story, huh, or at least a maybe?
‘Worry warts’ are ones with too much time on their hands, and so I rest my case…
HERE I AM!

All right folks I will move on…
Any-who today is our twenty-fourth anniversary, yes twenty-four years ago today we moved permanently to the Sunshine State, but to the east coast here, this lovely ‘quiet coast’ we moved to nearly just over fifteen years ago this past January!
The ironic part of when we moved here our dear friends up north in good ole NJ said that we would be coming back within the next two years!
I guess we proved them wrong, eh?
Listen how could we leave this great weather year round and a coastline that’s surrounded by some of the most beautiful beaches anywhere in the world?
Why most of those who predicted our return can’t wait for their yearly vacations to come down here themselves!
And when I was in better health we were where most friends and relatives would have considered us their vacation home/hotel/ bed and breakfast/one night stand en rooted/hold up while building their own retirement home here/ entertainment capitol of the south east!
You name it we did it for all those family and friends with a big smile on our face and never ever a charge!
How I do miss those early days, when I was healthier and gainfully employed to not be concerned with what this or that cost.
But I have no regrets since many had the fun, us as well, and we were largely responsible for that!
And that is a wonderful remembrance!

On that pleasant thought I will wish you all a very happy good night and to all count those blessings and we will too!

Wednesday, August 18, 2010

Respect, repeat and welcome...

Have you ever known about someone that you read a biography of when you were just a child yourself, perhaps one that you weren’t yet told to take on because it was not in the realm of your issuance of homework? But for some reason you felt the desire to read that particular true story because the synopsis that was given to you intrigued you so much that you in your immaturity at the time became lesser due to the need to know?
For me it was the book the Miracle Worker about Helen Keller and Annie Sullivan, her teacher.
As you all must know that Helen was an amazing woman stricken by a severe fever causing her, as an infant to become deaf and blind all in one foul swoop!
Helen becomes a wild child with no way to communicate, but Annie Sullivan tames and teaches the small extraordinarily strong banshee into an educated remarkable woman.
In the 1962 version of the movie Patty Duke played Helen and Anne Bancroft played Miss Sullivan. It was one of those stories that came in play form and so I read it that way, and it was wonderful and amazing to my twelve year old self; later on when I did get to see the movie with my father, which in itself was unusual since he worked so hard and so he really didn’t have the time to do it, but wow, what an impression the story made on me!
We are so impressionable at that young age anyway, but the resilience and perseverance of the whole story was overwhelming!
I do hope that today children are told to read the true story that resonance is unfailing and timeless!
The times we live in now are so hard for many or that should be most, but knowing that we as human beings have the ability to deal with anything tough and come out of the other end with amazing grace is a story of biblical quality, but so apropos for the times we all live in now.

So besides when things get difficult for me with my own ills I try to think of how much worse they could be, and at times they had been. I won’t elaborate on that tonight but believe me things have been much, much worse for me…the best part is to know as I have said before and what my father used to say is: it is always darkest before the dawn and when you have reached the bottom all you can do from there is go up!
And so when we all know of someone who we admire for their unrelenting gumption to succeed no matter what, and Helen was that person for me, my heroine!
And oddly enough I had nothing going on in my life to relate to her personal ordeals when I was a child, except the average trials and tribulations of growing up that we all go through…but now and perhaps for the last few decades as well I do go back to that tremendous story of her survival and it lifts me up to knowing that I too can endure so much more!

Moving on…I am again taking a big step in my voicing of my political opinion and really don’t want hate to follow what I call my logical spilling of my feelings…
Any-who, I am a strong believer in America and I am proud to be called an American and with that moniker goes all the freedoms that have been fought for us such as the freedom of speech, freedom of religion and you got it… I suppose you all know where I am going with this…yes, freedom to worship in a building of your faith.
As I have mentioned before in just our immediate family we have Lutheran, Catholic and Judaism as religions and so I am one of those people who feel the need for all people’s to have the freedom of being a law abiding worshipper of your chosen faith, including Muslim.
These people who are building a Mosque are not building a battleground and they are not the militant ones who bombed the Twin Towers, or flew into the Pentagon, or crashed the PA plane. They are Americans too with all the rights that we Americans share. Why have we all forgotten that we are a melting pot, and that many of our own personal ancestors came here because of religious persecution and the inability to practice their solemn beliefs?
I love our country mainly because of our history that was all inclusive not limiting to just, you or you, or you the way you think or believe; have we all forgotten?
I sure hope not!
Please dear fellow Americans understand that is what our president is saying, he is upholding out true American laws and beliefs!
Check your history books or ask your family about why they immigrated here.

If anyone is still reading now I will give you a short update of my condition if I have not lost you: My eyesight has not improved. I am still very tired but my headache and neck ache has diminishing significantly from yesterday, but still dull pain accompanies me throughout my day today when I least needed or wanted it. And I have been hopping in and out of bed to rest when I can.

The last part of my dissertation for tonight is, and I hope I have not scared her off since I am so proud to see that I have been fortunate enough in acquiring another follower! Welcome dear new person I will try hard not to bore you, but for what the cost is of all this entertainment … all that is going through this small withering mind of mine is… you get what you pay for! LOL!
Truly you are so welcomed onboard this lunacy ride of mine!
And I do hope that I never ever turn you off…

Happy night to all and to all count those blessings and we will too!

PS END OF COMBAT IN IRAQ!

PSS My spell check again is not working and since my eyes are compromised with my brain intellect as well, please forgive all grammar and spelling mistakes!

Tuesday, August 17, 2010

Steroid Free!

Yes! Spoke with my neurologist yesterday as I believe I told you all last night and if the glucose level went back up to a dangerously high one then I should stop the step down pills, and so they did make my glucose go up and for me to need an additional insulin shot and so as of late last night I am no longer on the, ‘cure’!
But supposedly the three days of the IV infusions of the 1000 MG. of the Solu-Medrol should be enough anyway to help with my optic neuritis if we caught in time, and hopefully make me better. But I won’t know for some time yet…

Meanwhile I have been receiving many caring phone calls all day saying that they have information for me or just wondering how I was doing!
Nice. I also had the privilege to share my networking ability of all the resources that I had acquired while searching to help myself and that made me feel very happy.

I am still not seeing any better out of my right eye and lefty has been misbehaving too, and scaring the bejeebers out of me. And I really don’t know why I have been sort of dizzy most of the day; could it be withdrawal from the heavy steroid treatment or something else? I did feel the need to nap again, and that childish leisurely habit seems to becoming all too familiar these last few days.
Well when your life is not that exciting I possibly could become tired just from the boredom of it all?

My senses are not being utilized for what they were intended, to be used without stopping!
I can still hear and smell things fairly well and unfortunately (I am saying unfortunately only because my appetite has not diminished at all!) taste things too since the metallic residual sensation has diminished somewhat, but my eyesight is definitely impaired and staring at a TV or computer screen is slightly challenging and if done for too long a bit painful!
The balance issue which I have had for a few years now due to the Ataxia seems to have become much worse as of today! I really do hope it is just temporary, but with my vision impaired as it is perhaps that is one of its reasons for its amplification or of my perceiving it to being that way. You close your eyes and try to move normally!

Also my body temperature appears to fluctuate constantly, from being too warm to too cold, and back again and again, how odd?
As I said I did go off the steroids and perhaps this is just the way a cut off quickly reacts to ones body, since previously it was done slowly and I do not recall this happening; nope it did not!

In fact as I sit tonight at this computer I am perspiring and our house is the same temperature that it was last night when I did not have this problem…Ah withdrawal, gotta be!
Well, at least I am not going manic or some other lunatic type reaction, whoa, what a thought, but I have heard of such things and I am sure you have too?
I don’t care what anyone says drugs are drugs even if prescribed by doctors.
And right now physically my ability to sit here unencumbered by pain is not that great, and so I will most likely be calling it quits very shortly!
Sorry, but I have to listen to my body and it’s crying a great big OUCH!
Happy night to all and to all count your blessings and I will too!
And, a BIG Thanks for being there folks; I do REALLY appreciate it!

PS Hubby has become my male nurse with administering the insulin shots when I needed them and also taking my vitals, BP pulse and temperature too what a guy! Thanks to him I am running on awareness!

Monday, August 16, 2010

Pin cushion here...

To be honest the IV’s are all over but the testing of my glucose is not, and neither are the insulin shots since I still have the step down pills that I am taking, and my normal daily Copaxone injections forever, thus the pin cushion comment.
The fluctuation in my glucose numbers has been lower than they were to put it into perspective if you only understand the A1C test Saturdays was equivalent to 11 and Sunday’s was a 9, but now my numbers are, about an 8, still significant enough to require an additional insulin shot this afternoon, at a slightly lower dose though. Hopefully this does not mean I will have to contend with diabetes, which is in the family, and it will diminish after time passes like it did last time, but it took over six months!
I did speak with my neurologist this morning to keep her informed about the weekend and what occurred. We discussed whether or not I should continue with the step down pills and she suggested if the glucose goes too high I should discontinue the pills since the IV infusion alone should be enough and that the pills are not always necessary.
Then I asked for a time frame when I might being seeing, yes seeing some improvement in my vision in my right eye. Her answer was within two weeks and if not that would be it; the loss of sight in my right eye would probably or more than likely permanent.
Now is where I tell the world to not wait on this sort of thing, for it would be foolish and could spell disaster not unlike what I may have to live with from now on.

There is no known surgery to fix vision loss from optic neuritis, and even if I got another cataract in this right eye that I used to call my good eye that won’t fix it either or Lasik or any other!
Gosh I feel so stupid, and hopefully all this current worry will be a moot point in two weeks when I look back and see how silly I sounded when the vision has returned!
But to be honest I did wait a bit too long…Two to three weeks is usually the cut off and foolishly I waited about twice that!
A week should be the required time to allow for such things of this nature, and if still blurry go to the doctor!

The continuation of my acquiring a large number of FB friends has continued most of the day and the tally is up to 625!

I also heard from our Canadian, six months of the year neighbor from their summer home in Montreal.
They informed us that our neighbor who passed away this winter well his daughter who lives here in Florida is extremely ill and will be having quite a bit of her internal organs removed since a mass that was found inside of her, no mention of cancer thankfully, so hopefully benign but its called the Humpty Dumpty procedure where once all is removed from her pancreas, stomach, and gall bladder etc. will be taken out she will be put back together again! They passed on her note to us, I suppose thinking that we knew her but we have never ever actually met her, anyway her attitude about the whole ordeal sounded tremendously positive! What a gal, perhaps we will be fortunate enough to meet her when she feels up to it and is hopefully on the mend.

We currently have a gentle rain falling, and the thunder and lightening seems to have passed.
Oh, many are wondering how if my eyesight is so compromised I can write this Blog… let me explain, my left eye has the cataract lens and is working fairly well for close work, but the problem that I am finding is that my dear sweet righty, bad one now has trouble staying out of the way, and eventually causes a headache, neck ache and exhausts me since it doesn’t know what to do yet, but is trying to do what it can’t.
Got it?
In other words I can see close due to the left one but my inability to see clearly is compromised due to righty fighting for positioning and thinking that it is all right, but not! OUCH! The battle goes on, since when you are right handed supposedly you are right eyed?
On that weird analogy I will bid you all a very happy night and to all count those blessings and we will too!

Sunday, August 15, 2010

603 and 323

Good news first… 603 is my tonight’s tally on my FB friends, and hooray to that! And thank you all!

The 323 is a last night’s nightmare of my glucose number that caused me to have to call the wonderful on call RN to come back to my home from hers way down in Fort Myers to give me an insulin shot, because as many of you know that glucose number is not a good one!
But to the good within a short time it went to 312, then to 271 by the time she arrived from her hour haul, and by the time she left I think it was down to 237 or there about.
The six unit dose apparently was sufficient to do the job, because by this morning very early at five thirty A.M., I told you I’m an early riser, it was all the way down to 105, and this afternoon, 160 at 2:45 P.M. then down to 156 by four P.M. so we still are monitoring it, but have three syringes one of 2 units and two others of four units each if necessary. I did just finish dinner at five thirty, what can I say we are in our sixties so we eat early, haven’t any of you heard of early-bird dinners?
So it will be checked once more or so if need be in a few hours.

Foolishly I told my FB friends about my situation, and I think I may have turned many of them off, because for all the sympathy I did get was less than two percent of the FB Friends group, oh well. I suppose that sociology test did not go too well.
Revealing TMI is too overwhelming and proved to be an embarrassment to myself and many others, especially when I elaborated on about the details!
Reality check and note to self NEVER give too much away, mystery is much better than too much info! Feeling stupid is not that unfamiliar to me, been there done that too, too many times before! Agh!

Fortunately, having been in this situation before it is refreshing in many ways since I do know that this to will pass. Personal history is almost as good a learning experience or tool as world or American history!
But what I have just proven even when we do learn it we are on occasion doomed to repeat it! HA!

Carrying on in this vein of harping on health issues is not what I wanted to do with this Blog regularly, but when you haven’t been out and about for a while this is all I got right now to discuss with all of you, so for that I am truly sorry. What I would like is to know about local venues having something indoors in the air-conditioning going on that I can scooter around at? And Hubby and I would be there in a flash! You betcha!

Who said this writing thing would be easy night after night, although I did for a short period of time deviate from all this boring health business. After reading the online paper this morning I found a mistake in the one section, and OH NO, this is not going to make any of you happy because yes it was maudlin, I do read the obituaries on occasions, sadly my reason is because when I did volunteer for all those years the mean ages of my friends were around seventy-five since I did work with seniors and fifteen years later and me being out of that world of that now for nearly two years I wonder if they are still with us or not, got it?
Any-who, this morning the online section of obits had the police blotter arrests on it not the dearly departed and so I contacted the editorial department but the head of it instead of the online editor, which was an enormous faux pas, but you see I had not done this sort of thing in quite some time and I forgot that the new guy was in-charge of the online items. Sincerely I just wanted them to be aware of the mistake there was no malice intended, and so I do apologize to him. Boy what a big ooops!
I did receive two emails about the issue first from the head editor and then from his under-counterpart saying that it was straightened out right away! Oh well, talk about a bad day…we all have them, but look at it this way “tomorrow is the first day of the rest of your/my life?" LOL! An oldie but a goody!

On that silly note I will bid you all a much happier day tomorrow even if this one was great and also for your night to be happy as well, and don’t forget to count those blessings and we will too!

PS Mr. Pres. you and Sasha looked like you had one wonderful swim in the Gulf, we all really loved that picture, a so happy daddy and daughter one, brought back some of my own memories of me and my dad! Gosh I’m tearing up…

Saturday, August 14, 2010

594, and a bit of frustration after two IV infusions...

I am in a mixed emotions sort of day… since I am so thrilled that I now have 594 new friends on Facebook when only about a month ago I started my campaign to have a million when I only had 34 friendly peeps on board, hooray! And I would like to thank each and every one of you!

My reason for also having still of a bit of frustration is the fact that after two days of the IV 1000 MG. of the Solu-Medrol infusions I have not gotten any difference in my sight yet, and yes I do know it could be awhile after treatment by days or even weeks, but it is still a wee bit disappointing. And last night I had a bit of a scare when my glucose level rose to 260, but believe it or not after drinking a cup of decaffeinated green tea my glucose went down in just a half an hour to 251, and with another cup and hour and a half later it was down to 207!Could I be on to something or perhaps I was just stressed from the initial number and it relieved that?
I did have an RN on call who was ready with insulin if need be, and we spoke by phone and fortunately I did not need to have her come back to give me those shots! I also was running a low grade fever that still this morning was fluctuating on the high side; steroids are no fun folks believe me!
Well, tomorrow is the last IV dose and then on Monday I start the step down pills.
Meanwhile I spent some time trying to find out more about my fate with this Optic Neuritis and I read some of those chats about the topic and some were so sad and negative. And a few made me want to cry because as most do know I am sure that MS is usually a young person’s illness where many in the twenty to thirty age group are the first diagnosed, and getting the optic neuritis can be an initial indication that the Multiple Sclerosis will follow in fifty per cent of the cases of who do get it.
Blindness can be caused by optic neuritis too and when left untreated for too long and it can be a tremendous faux pas in not acquiring speedy treatment. But you see, no pun intended, oh all right it can be intended, since sometimes this enigma of a symptom of blurriness can mean all sorts of eye problems that are less extreme in the affects to your sight and might very well diminish on their own accord or have many other types of treatments including cataract surgeries if that is what it is. What I have learned and do hope not too late is that medical intervention when things aren’t right as soon as possible may be more beneficial and proper to do especially if you have a history with all sorts of eye problems like I have had. Foolishly I am now praying, yes, this Agnostic child of the almighty he/she perhaps or not, that I will not lose my sight in my right eye for good because I waited too long to take care of the problem and hoped it would go away, which to be fair sometimes it does even with optic neuritis! But sadly it didn’t.
I also discovered that what can bring it on are too warm temperatures, ha!
This is Florida in August, and most days I have felt like a prisoner in my own home in the air-conditioning, and now even with my pool calling to me to do my ROM exercises, which I had to put on hold due to my nasty shoulder sun exposure problems then the rains chilling it out, and now it causing this eye problem of too much sun exposure even with my very dark sun glasses and the heat, heat, heat! What can one do?
Seriously, what can one do?
My only form of exercise has become my enemy to my health and that is too weird to wrap my head around! Think of it, the exercise is good, but the heat and sun are not, for me! Oh well, if any of you out there have any ideas let me know, OK?
And I do mean that folks! You are nearly a few thousand strong on this and now with my FB friends too why that’s nearly my million, LOL!

On that short note of required silliness ending I will wish you all a very happy night and to all count those blessings and we will too!

PS welcome to Florida Mr. President and First Lady Michelle and Sasha please enjoy your stay!

Friday, August 13, 2010

Friday the 13th, oooooooooooo, oooooooooooo, who's afraid of this date?

Well you should be!
I’m joshing you; the fear of Triskaidekaphobia is a real problem for some people.
Personally, I have mixed emotions since good and bad things for me have occurred on Friday the 13th.
Shall I elaborate?
Hurricane Charley arrived six years ago on a Friday the 13th and destroyed our home and I wrote about just what happened on that infamous day on last year’s fifth anniversary, if interested you can access my Blog from that date by copying and pasting this link I think: http://tobi-adayinthelife.blogspot.com/2009/08/friday-august-13-2004.html

My niece died on October 13. 2006, consequently the same day I had, had an MRI for my MS and the results from that, at that time I was told that my MS was stable, boy has that ever changed! And today I was able to get my first of three Solu-Medrol infusions for my optic neuritis; which could be considered either good or bad. So I am torn with the date’s power of that number and its occurrence on that day of the week.
Most will argue it is only a day of the week and a number!
And that is so true… or is it?
Below is another site that you might want to try to find out all the reasons that fairly sane people believe the date is to be feared, well if not a scary date but one to take in with much respect.
Copy and paste this info if you dare to see some logically or maybe not so logical reasons for this date’s notorious reputation: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Triskaidekaphobia
Most of us just go about our business all day long without regard of what each numerical date may mean in the broader sense, in the bigger picture, or call it the scheme of things…
We as human beings generally just go through life with knowing birth dates, anniversaries, holidays and the like, but some dates are not that important and as many would have you believe just another day!
Why September eleventh 2001 was just another day to most until that horrendous infamous happening occurred of the Twin Towers, Pentagon and PA and nearly three thousand lives were taken, December seventh, the day Pearl Harbor was hit, comes to mind and I bet that was just another day too at one time, why probably on December sixth.
You see my point is that unless we personally can relate to a specific date it means nothing in the grander scale of life itself. Sorry for such ghastly emotional examples, but you know me…
And so I have come to respect people’s reasoning of what gives them chills of remembrances good or bad, and interestingly enough that’s just another commonality of human nature, and so my sociology experiment goes on…
And yes, I do have an awful lot of time of my hands.
In my opinion observations, by answers to questions that I have posed to people, also when my eyes work better just watching the world at large gives way to many diagnoses of the ids of persons in this generation, and I do so love to try and learn…for when we stop that energy we become brain dead!
On these weighty concepts, who knows it could be those heavy doses of steroids causing all this!
And again I have asked too many questions of a dear old friend, but she being the gem that she is answered them for me, and for that I am sorry but thankful.
And another thank you goes out to the lovely woman who at one time I was able to call my editor for I was fortunate to have her edit my By-lines that I wrote way back for the local newspaper and she is now one of my FB friends and has offered to edit this…nah that would be too presumptuous of me and who reads this drivel anyway! LOL!
Sorry, my faux pas, but you all know me by now… my followers and avid readers who remain anonymous! LOL
Now back to a wee bit of silly that felt good! And so, happy night to all and to all count those blessings and we will too

Thursday, August 12, 2010

Hooray! The answer was found!

http://www.walgreenshealth.com/whc/patientPortal/hcare/jsp/hcare_home.jsp

The above link is to my IV Angel’s company that finally made my life and medical problems more manageable.
You see, today after banging my head against the final wall and hopefully I thought for the last time since I thought that late last night I had my problem solved but actually my bubble was burst earlier this morning.
What happened was the fact that I realized that I had quite a bit of my non interest for two years credit care account available for me to utilize for my dilemma, voila!
And I truly thought my problem was to be solved by that realization and that I would call this wonderful hospital who was giving me this great discount down to only fifteen hundred for what they claimed was actually a forty-five hundred service!
And now I had the means to pay them too! Wow what a concept!

Unfortunately, when I called though they said that they did not have an account with CreditCare and unless you did they would not accept them or vice a versa.
So I was still in my same situation!
Then out of no where I thought why not call CreditCare and ask them who does cover my type of need, and they said perhaps my Ophthalmologist who did my cataract surgery and so I called them, and of course they DID NOT!
But they thought another eye doctor in Fort Myers might and they gave me his name and phone number, he DID NOT EITHER, although their office there knew of someone who did do infusions exactly of the type that I needed for optic neuritis!
And they gave me the name of the person; let’s say Ms. K, my now called IV Angel Lady!

She took all my info and also that about CreditCare to see if they would pay for the medication, but while she did try with them my curiosity and good business sense had to know how much their medication and the rest of it would be and she told me… Well, she said the one gram is the same as 1000 MG. of Solu-Medrol in IV form will be $63.11 per dose, and so I figured it out, and for three days it will be, $189.33! And the nurse who will be showing you how to do it will be $90.00 a day! So I figured it would be a total for three days at my home, yes they come here, at $459.33, but again I was wrong since she would only be there the first day and available if I needed her more! So my actual total will be….drum roll please…..$279.33 in total!!!! And so I said even if CreditCare can’t do it we can hooray! I had been saving and I did have a little bit more than that and so we were good once again. My biggest fear is that my illness will be responsible for us losing our home.
WOW what a concept; why at this rate I can afford to have OPTIC NEURITIS, almost five more times! Hopefully I won’t though!
Shame on you local hospital, when more than fifty million citizens are un-insured in America and many more are under insured! Padding those services for you’re over the top profit that is really repugnant in this day and age and not very nice at all!

The company is Walgreen’s Option Care and as I said I put the link to it on the top of this Blog for you all to access if your need is there, just copy and paste.
What apparently happened a little over a year ago there was a merger between Option Care and Walgreen’s that in my book appears to be a marriage made in heaven!
And so now if anyone out there needs assistance in any of their very long list of available medical options you can go to their site or call them on their toll free number which is there too, and find the local one nearby you!
I was so thrilled with my find that I had to let most of the nicest people who with honesty and compassion tried their hardest to help me out, and so I notified them of this incredible find just as I am you too!
Isn’t this what networking is all about, really?

And so on my happiness find I will tell you too to have a very happy night and to count those blessings and we will too!

Wednesday, August 11, 2010

Desperately needing some happy in our lives? Who doesn't?

Oddly enough if you ask people what makes them happy the answers you would get would run the gamut from materialistic objects of status to doing wild crazy sometimes dangerous fun sports or traveling. And or to what I like to call emotional happiness causing things from the warmth and fuzziness feeling of the fur coat of a pet or the smell of a baby, or even just the all encompassing joy of being with your friends or loved ones, which in some cases are the same people!

But honestly folks when we can’t get a hit of that all encompassing happiness all of the time; so what do we do?
As human beings we normally would busy ourselves with our work or some other necessary fulfillment; volunteering and helping strangers comes to mind.
Lest we never ever forget that happiness is the sanity of all humans’ beings’ nature.
Why without a dose of ‘happy’ daily we can become nasty heartless creatures.
And we all know that the world already has too many of those!

With the above said and discussed as much as I possibly could I will now carry-on with my reasoning… today after feeling that my cell phone was attached to my left ear and my house phone was getting too cozy with my right one due to my relentless need to accomplish what is beginning to appear the impossible dream of getting aid in paying for my eye treatment of IV 1000MG of Solu-Medrol for my Optic Neuritis in my right eye before I lose the vision in said eye!
One person actually from a MS organization said to go to emergency room at the hospital and then worry about paying for it later. I explained that I am still paying off my genuine hospital stay from a year ago last April! And the other one who was doing my financial information for another hospital rationalized since she thought I had such good credit that I should put it all on my credit card! I said that’s why I have such good credit I don’t charge more than I can pay off at the end of the month! CRAAZZEEE!!!
And so when it got to be noon-time I remembered that today was Hubby’s day for his free introductory dental appointment at two o’clock this afternoon and that before all this craziness started we had planned to go to the luau at the cultural center for lunch and so I said, “I really need to find my happy so let’s go!” And so we did.

Pure escapism; since there is so little to do around here during the summer months; mostly due to our normally hot weather and the fact that our largest population for shindigs having decent turnouts are in the northern winter months when the Snowbirds return. At least that seems to be the reasoning for street fairs, art and home shows to be here in the fall and spring more often than not. It is always the busiest here from October to late April, usually.
Almost like clockwork they fly, drive or whatever mode of transportation fill in the blank, but indisputably they enjoy coming on down to help our economy and the businesses love them, but us locals complain we have to wait for this or that in lines for the theaters, restaurants, groceries you name it… but this year with the way the economy has been and us getting the double whammy with people unjustly thinking we have oil ridden beaches we as residents of the all year round type will find ourselves being much more capable of waiting with patience for those extra people to help get the jobs back on track, lower the crime rate, help our tax base so the taxes don’t fluctuate so much where we have to pick up the empty homes slack of payments! Lawns will be mowed and maintained, noise, crazy drivers you name we look forward to it, and if anyone reading this doesn’t truly believe we need those people I do really think you are not all there!
Our happiness is based on less stress and so when taxes go up, crime does also we end up having fear and sadness all too prevalent.
Be welcoming, kiss them and hug them, share the road with them; seriously I can’t wait for them to come back here!
You see, we have made friends with them over the years and do miss them all as if they were family or friends or at the very least good neighbors who make my taxes manageable and homes lived in and cared for; you name it, nothing bad with those temporary residents helping us out, huh or is it eh?
Since a majority of our Snowbirds are from 'CANADA', and are here for six out of the twelve months of the year!
So the next time someone seems like they don’t know where they are going or cuts in front of you in line, be nice they are helping you in ways that you might not realize…economically!
Grab them and hug them!
Nah they might call a cop, but be nice and pleasant and then you will find your happy and they will comeback and see you real soon!
Personally I can’t wait… one less worry is worth all the rest!

Happy night to all and to all count those blessings and I will too!

Tuesday, August 10, 2010

Black hole or third world country?

Come on over to my dark side of life…
Hellish is the only way to describe my day!
Have you ever felt as if you were constantly trying to bang your head against the wall?
Not literally, but figuratively, although the feelings are not that much different.
I definitely feel as if I went through the mill today!
I spent it not unconnected to my cell or my house phone for any short period of time, for I was on a mission.
My objective was the same all day, to try and find someone to help me resolve my need to get the infusion of my IV of 1000 MG Solu-Medrol paid for or at the very least discounted and affordable.
But, I was either way too wealthy for such help or not trying hard enough?
Financial questions all day long…
Was I on food stamps? No.
Was I on Medicaid? No.
Are you married? Yes.
Do you have a pension? No, but my husband does.
Do you have Social Security? No, but my husband does.
Do you have Medicare? No, but my husband does.
Do you own or rent? We own.
We have running water, indoor plumbing and even electric that they expect to be paid for so we indulge them and do it as they request.
We do like to eat and have some prescriptions too! LOL
What are your monthly expenses? Medical payments to the hospital and for my surgery last January; most of the rest I will keep private; sorry folks! But some things are sacred, but I did tell them.
Well, then you should have such and such left at the end of the month.
But the air-conditioner broke and we had to fix it, and the water heater also went and that had to be replaced, and the flood needed to be cleaned up.
Well, that’s just the cost of home ownership, so they say.
Duh, yeah thanks for telling me, since this is our fifth home in forty years of marriage!
Why if you didn’t say that how would I have known, gosh, Geez oh mighty!

Whenever we get that money set aside something like the above happens or then I get sick needing medical intervention.
And no I am not on disability I goofed thirteen years ago and will pay for it the rest of my life, all right?
Yes, I have tried several times but they said N-O!!!!!
No I don’t have insurance, yes I tried with several notable healthcare companies but for the last time I AM PRE-EXISTING!!!!!! And COBRA wanted $1200 a month when my Hubby became disabled nearly four years ago!
And the insurance companies don’t want me, not even our state system, since they had said that they would take even pre-existing people, but the ‘Catch 22’, is that you have to be HEALTHY for at least two years!
And no, sadly I have NOT been!
Fifteen hundred dollars to not lose the sight in my right eye?
Sounds like a bargain, but if you don’t have it, it might as well be a million dollars!

Here’s my dark side… why did all those Ophthalmologists go to Afghanistan to help those people; so they could be killed? Sadly, I think not really, but just imagine if…
They had stayed here…
We need that type of altruism here.
So many doctors go abroad to help people, doctors without borders and the like etc.
I do believe they are wonderful decent loving giving unselfish human beings to the fullest extent of what that means.
But folks I know I may get hate mail, but I wouldn’t mind some mail even hate to be true, but why don’t some of these wonderful doctors see the need here for free care or in my case just discounted, huh?
I would pay, but a percentage of what those jacked up insurance prices are.
You see as we all really do know the doctors, hospitals etc. pad those bills and then settle on accepting just percentages, well folks I am here to say, why can’t they just be honest with the under-insured or not insured folks and let us pay the true real amount that the services are actually worth! Why; is that not too logical for them and simple enough?

I cried a bundle with each turn down of my unrelenting desire to maintain the sight in my bum eye, but to no avail. Thus the sensation of head banging against a brick wall…figuratively of course but exhausted from my emotions going all out on this non accomplished trek of trying with all my might to not lose what I do need.
I know an eye’s loss of sight isn’t lethal or not like loosing a limb or my life itself, but it is my ability to see…in the distance, from afar…out there!
And it means one more concession of not having me whole me ever again.
I have lost the ability to walk without an aid, also my balance is basically gone, or to stand for any length of time for my legs will go numb so it is limited now my sight is only half there and only close up?
I’m in my own ‘Black Hole’ of no return, and the third world country I am living in is ….my beloved US of A!
At least the way we treat health matters of those of us who fall between the cracks I do believe at this very moment of no success in helping myself!

SMASH BANG CRACK!!!!
My head is overwhelmed with frustration and deep feelings of not wanting to exist this way! I can no longer stand it! All I want is some help, a hand up; not to buy the fish but to teach me how to fish, so to speak, got that?
Is that too much to ask?

Happy night to all and to all count those blessings and I will too! Or at least I will try.

Monday, August 9, 2010

Righty isn't so right anymore and the eyes don't have a thing...

What the heck; I hear you all saying!
To be clear I am having eye troubles with my so-called good eye, the right one.
It appears not to have a cataract or as my Dad used to jest, a Cadillac. I think he was channeling Norm Crosby while he was still alive; both of them that is, he and my Dad.
Any-who, Hubby also had an eye issue today that besides going to my neuro’s office we went back to his eyeglass distributor with his complaint of foul, he was not happy with his new eyeglasses that he just purchased last week.

Apparently, the bifocal part was not located in the right place he thought, but when checked by the eyeglass person it turns out the bifocal prescription part was actually the wrong prescription, way too strong for what he needs. And so now we will have to return to his eye doc to have that fixed.

Me, on the other hand found out that my eye problem is fixable with medication, but not the pill type, the IV type, yep folks back on those wonderful STEROIDS that we all love so much in 1000MG Solu-Medrol form, like I had in the hospital a year and half ago!
The correct treatment for optic neuritis, which I appear to have after three docs determined it was not a cataract, now I almost wish. The best part of this treatment is nothing; it is costly money-wise and causes me to temporarily have diabetes, and plumps me up to even larger, and let us not forget it knocks out your immune system not unlike a chemo therapy, but only until it is over with fortunately, but then for a small additional time you must take two weeks of the pill form of the medication to step you down!
I am just too thrilled for words.
If this hadn’t been going on now for nearly six weeks I guess I would be more hesitant to be concerned.
But foolish me I thought it would go away or maybe the new injectable Copaxone would fix the problem, but alas no it’s not for that! But it is to protect me from more relapses which is a good thing really!

Right this minute we have a heck of a rain storm coming in, actually it’s already here!
And so I am saving this over and over again, I learned my lesson when I lost too many of my little verbiages from not doing just that!

Tonight’s Blog should be a wee bit shorter due to my fear, honestly there is no other way to explain it; I am concerned that lightening will strike me while on this thing!
And living in the lightening capital of the world doesn’t make me feel that I am the least bit irrationally wrong!

Meanwhile back at the hospital… I have been searching for the right price for this procedure to take place since it is coming out of our pockets with me being ‘pre-existing’ and non insurable once again! First quote was fifteen hundred not counting the insulin shots or my additional pills after. Might as well be a million, since I already paid most of this month's bills and a few more should be arriving soon, and our balance is not even close to that number! UH oh, well I did do Hubby’s suggestion and called the clinic that I went to a few weeks ago and so far they appear to be on board just fax the prescription, but my doctor’s office closed an hour and half before I was able to reach my IV Angel MS. "L", we will call her, and so I now must wait until eight thirty tomorrow morning, no problemo, I do believe! And so that is where we stand now, wait and see.
Although, once again I will have to fill out another financial report this with the hospital where it will be done, but gosh I am getting real good at this!
On that possible solution to another day in my life, hey I am back on topic; how about that folks?

On that hopeful note of resolve I will wish you all a good night and to all count those blessings and we will too! Let’s face it sometimes its all we got!

Sunday, August 8, 2010

Sunday, Sunday can't beat this day... la,la,la ...

You do know that everyone that you say TGIF to always welcomes those feelings of what may come of the weekend i.e. its anticipation I would think, which to some who may have already made some plans and others that enjoy just going with the flow and the surprise of whatever the end of the week may bring for them personally. Although, you do all know that in actuality Saturday is considered the last day of the week and that in reality Sunday is the first.

And so being one who occasionally takes joy in bursting people’s bubbles, nah not really that would be way too evil and mean and I would never ever do that, but I will elaborate, since when I worked in the retail field we worked seven days a week! The only time I had Sundays off was when I worked in a town who still maintained the ‘Blue Laws’ (closed on Sundays for religious purposes) for six years of my working career or when we had one Sunday off a month in our restaurant business when we finally hired a manager who we eventually had to fire since he was stealing from us, oh well…trust is a weird two way streak, huh?
And weekends were for more customers to come and eat or shop!
Real-estate too is a seven days a week business, and to be honest there isn’t many fields of business besides office workers who I can think of actually work only nine to five, lawyers’ offices and courts are closed weekends, as so are doctors’ offices and the like that I can only think of. And so why would we say TGIF in this day and age?
When the truth is by far and in the majority we Americans are hard working souls.

So it stands to reason that most enjoy looking forward to their retirement.
By the time you get there and have figured out if you will have enough saved to keep you going in the lifestyle that you have become accustomed to without working your butts off anymore, you could be either quite old or sick and tired!
And so even though so many plan to relax at a certain age they ruin it for themselves by expecting it to be other than what it should be…and what is that you are all wondering?
Why my friends it means the time to truly relax and take it easy and that also means not worrying about this or that!
When you are younger and enjoying all that life has to offer traveling here there and everywhere and doing things that you only thought were in your dreams; dear peeps I truly believe that’s the best time for it all and its when I did almost all of that!
Before I married I had been to eight countries and forty states, and before and during I worked in all different fields of enjoyment for me and to be honest to this day I feel like I missed nothing!
And that is when you know that you’re ready to relax and turn all those TGIF’s into TGIW’s, yes each week is now in your master plan to enjoy and look forward to and not just pray for TGIF to come soon as possible, so you can do what you as an individual, not a worker, owner or anything but you by definition your very own self that you own all your time and its not salable for any price!
What a stress proof joy to behold!
And well worth the hustles and bustles and joy of finally getting there.
But some of us found out that retiring is not for sissies some of us have medical issues that have caused us to slow down and realize lesser dreams to go on… but when you live already in paradise and you have all your needs met why be upset or miserable in any way? And so being the realist that I am personally I accept my challenges as just a new and different way to handle life and try hard not to make them into more than they actually are. Finding new ways to do things is not boring by any means. And being able to still voice my opinions and complaints on this medium is rather exhilarating!

And do you know something I just acquired another follower on this Blog of my very own and I am thanking her very sincerely right now for taking that plunge into the black hole that I call my life!
You are a true brave soul, Brava!

‘Opinions are us’; I should have named this thing.
But I didn’t and little did I know at the time how often I would go off topic of my actual ‘day in my life’, which would be way too boring to constantly divulge.
How do I know this you ask?
Well, to be righteously honestly on target I do, on occasion, feel the necessity to stay on track with moment to moment accountings of my day’s movements and reaction to that has not been overwhelming, but to be honest I haven’t gotten too much feedback at all from what I write. I do notify people I mention with a head’s up when I do, but I don’t mention anyone by name; wouldn’t want them to feel embarrassed or anything like that!
Sadly not only do I bore the pants off my readership I do also bore myself at times!
So why continue; you all must be wondering? Simply it’s become a nasty habit.

Any-who…
Most of this afternoon it has been raining so I suppose you could say how normal for Southwest Florida to have in the rainy season!
See, boring.
Gosh, I am good at writing about nothing!
When tonight’s Blah oh that should be Blog is done I will have written over a thousand words, ha, guess I made up for last night’s shorty!

On that rude awakening of mine and totally nonsensical offering (Tomorrow I will hope to be much more entertaining, must be the rain causing this, huh? Oh that’s another thing… when you’re retired you have a tendency to make up things! Now some might think it’s the beginning of dementia but I would like to think it’s all the time you’ve got on your hands to be more creative!)), got you all I will wish you all a very happy night and to all count those blessings and so will we!

Which way will the war go?

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