Saturday, May 31, 2014

A day in Punta Gorda Florida!




Who's that peaking out of the Salty Paws?


Good boy sit at the Village Fish Market for a delish lunch stop with outdoor seating for two legged patrons too!
A Poinciana tree in all its spectacular glory at Ponce Deleon Park.
These ridiculously pretty cycles started at the parks exit...
And this Great Blue heron stands sentry on the fence top of the  entrance/exit there.
More bikes along the way back into the heart of town.


In Punta Gorda proper.






Left for home way before those clouds made good on their threat!

Friday, May 30, 2014

So I called my eye doc...

As most of you know I had a laser surgery treatment with 99 zaps tweaking of my right eye on Tuesday, due to calcification's, opacity, secondary cataract, after cataract surgery two months ago.
Me being me, and quite impatient and since it is still rather blurry and so I called even though it did say that it could take days to see some improvement. 
At first Melissa in the surgery department did tell me that it could be for as long as a week for my blurriness to clear, and that I should basically hang in there...
So you can well imagine my surprise when she called me back within a very short time with a prescription for eye pressure medicine.
No, I do not have Glaucoma, but this medication is for a build up of pressure in the eye, similar to hypertension, most likely caused by using the very necessary steroid medication to heal the eye, that's all.


It is Alphagan P, which  is another expensive medication, over one hundred bucks without insurance, but for me just $40 with insurance, and this is another tiny bottle of eye drops for twice a day! The same amount of times as the steroids. But I was asked to call them back Monday to let them know how it is working...hopefully great!

Moving on...an update that I forgot to tell:

As far as those unanswered questions for my new neuro go... when I called there before my eye doc appointment Tuesday they said I had so many questions to write them all down and they gave me another in person doctor's appointment to see him next week!

Any-who, a storm is lurking nearby with nasty growling thunderous threatening noises and heavy winds...So I guess once again I will say an early goodnight to all and ask you to kindly count all of your blessings and share those overages and we will too!

And next time please be here or be square, ya hear?  

Thursday, May 29, 2014

When a billionaire tells you to ask a question what would you do?

Well, friends I got a bit selfish and asked for him to CURE MULTIPLE SCLEROSIS!
Or at least put some of it, his billions, into research; I really thought that was not too much to ask for, ya know?
This incredible Facebook friend had been poking me fairly constantly over the last few months that is online @ Facebook, one hundred times to be exact, since the poke section does keep track.
Thank goodness it's not up to me, to keep track that is...
The concept, or actual poking system, so I've read that it is used to make you alert to what your FB friend has posted on his or her timeline I do believe.
So once they have successfully brought you there you can determine what you have to do in the reasoning of liking or doing nothing or leaving a comment on what has been posted.
And today he, this amazing billionaire, said he wanted us to ask questions, and so I did.

To me, a Jew, ha, it did feel like OMG there is a Santa Claus!
And so I asked him to cure MS; why not? I have nothing to lose, hmm?

Any-who, moving on...
Have any of you signed up again to be on the donotcall.gov list?
I did for us and our phones, years ago and most recently a friend suggested to do it again and so I did, not more than a couple of months ago, for our home and cell phones.
But we are still getting annoying calls, at least five today alone!
Credit card offers, for air-conditioning checking and then some idiot that calls and hangs up when we answer; with somehow out of state area codes!
Crazy!
And another oddity of commercialization via snail expensive mailer...our current cell phone company offering us a deal to go with them and with a $20 cash back if we left our current company!
So I called, and confessed that I thought that they were wasting money that could increase their employees bottom line if they nixed sending ads trying to gain customers from people already utilizing their product!
The young woman on the other end of the line agreed and giggled and made"note" of my comment.

So many companies foolishly don't cross check names and addresses with their current customers.There has to be some way to do it with all this technology, really one would think anyway.

Paper is so costly, and not very green to waste unnecessarily.
Just my opinion; and we all know what that is worth, ha!

On that note of some distinction I do hope, allow me to be the very first to wish you a very happy good night and ask you to kindly count all your blessings and share all your overages and we will too!

And next time please be here or be square, ya hear!

Wednesday, May 28, 2014

Fires and storms collide!

Our dry season is running into our wet!
Ahhh, Florida, gotta love her!
Doesn't our wet season know it isn't official until this Sunday?
We seem to be having too many last hurrahs, weather wise. Alligator Alley, the main thoroughfare from Miami to Naples through the Everglades, thus the name, was so severe with brush fires and all that smoke that it had to be shut down for a while just yesterday...Apparently, lightening caused the tinderbox of dry  flora areas to catch!

Now severe thunderstorms with heavy winds are here and would you believe they are threatening this side of the state with hail?
It was in the nineties again today, hail?
Isn't hail made by clusters of ice crystals from way up in the sky's upper atmosphere?

What next, one might ask, now we have a brush fire west of Clewiston threatens homes there, they are evacuating people, this is located west of Lake Okeechobee, the largess hole in our state, but considerably east of us!
CRAZY!

We, once again appear to be getting more noise than action... Hubby just reported we are getting something!

Geez, anticipation is not always something that great when what you are waiting for finally arrives, its here!

Almost a definite given with our rain is the wind that comes just before....Oh goodie our severe storm warning is lifted, what?

It just finally got here!
So to be safe I suppose I will sign off!

Tuesday, May 27, 2014

Instant laser eye surgery!

Today I had my recent cataract surgery eye tweaked with a very fast laser, but it had to go 99 times to correct the problem...many more than most.
Apparently, I was getting what is called a secondary cataract in my blind for nearly four years right eye that had had cataract surgery just on March 27th  and on the 28th the next day I could see 20/30!
But as far as my sight went over these last two months, sadly downhill, to 20/200, back to legally blind, it was necessary to do a quickie fix, with a medical device called a YAG laser, yytrium aluminum garnet- the elements that energize the laser beam.The whole process takes about two minutes, and I am lucky enough that my doctor had his own laser right in his office.

"What is a secondary cataract?
Although cataracts cannot return once
they are removed, tiny particles or cells
of the original cataract can grow to form
a film on the inside wall of the clear
tissue bag that holds the new lens implant
in place. As these cells grow, the thin,
cellophane-like membrane becomes thick
and cloudy like wax paper. Since this blocks
and blurs light similar to a cataract, it is
often called a secondary cataract. Other
more technical terms for this condition are
posterior capsule opacity or capsule opacity."

 Thanks to this site.
http://odpcli.com/media/file/Secondary_Cataracts.pdf

And so now I am back on the steroids twice a day, i.e. eye drops. I had been down to once a day from the initial 3X a day.
 
All in all I am hopeful this will work, but so far not yet...
I am a bit upset that it hasn't, but it can take days.

Moving on...
Oh well, now you all must realize why again I have been having so many typos!
One eye again was doing the work of two.
And most of my grammatical mistakes can be attributed to where my brain lesions are, right on top and deep inside, so there!
I am sticking my adult tongue out at you again, since I do believe that's a pretty good excuse, hmm?

Any-who, my arms and shoulders too seem to be betraying me with pain and numbness and causing more dropsy situations and this is all due to my severe cervical stenosis also causing as well as my inability to use my legs effectively!

Oh well, such is life someone said to me not too long ago... which I felt was heartless... but that's just me, most think all my problems since NOT fatal are no BIG deal. But we with MS can die from complications or falls or so many other things that everyone of you could too!
To them, no BIG DEAL, but to me yes it is; after all it is my life these days, and no one asks for it...
But to them I say "se la vie".

This is, my blog writing, at times, is quite physically painful to do, but I do it because it makes me feel like I can do something, ya know? I love it, since it does give me a purpose and we all need that... six years, this coming June 25th!

On that slightly upbeat note allow me to be the very first to wish all of you a very happy good night and let me ask you to kindly count all your blessings and share your overages and we will too!

And next time please be here or be square, ya hear!

Monday, May 26, 2014

Memorial Day

Interesting the way people forget it is a day to memorialize our dead soldiers who fought for our freedoms and made the ultimate sacrifice of their lives.
One of my FB friends who I think the world of, actually started her day by wishing everyone a "Happy Memorial Day Peeps". Is it me or does that make you too cringe a little bit?
She is a joyous soul and loves life and family and all people in general, so I do understand where she comes from... most days.
Although, I am squeamish sometimes too much to my own detriment.
I really don't know why that is; death has always been a touchy topic with most of us, and perhaps her easy breezy attitude to handle each day with happiness is the way we all should.

Personally, I have always admired the Irish with the way they always celebrate the life of the deceased and not harp on their demise by having amazing parties for just such a time.

Jews sit Shiva ("Shiva (Hebrew: שבעה‎) (literally "seven") is the week-long mourning period in Judaism for first-degree relatives: father, mother, son, daughter, brother, sister, and spouse. The ritual is referred to as "sitting shiva." Immediately after burial, people[1] assume the halakhic status of "avel" (Hebrew: אבל ; "mourner"). This state lasts for seven days, during which family members traditionally gather in one home (preferably the home of the deceased) and receive visitors. At the funeral, mourners traditionally rend an outer garment, a ritual known as keriah. This garment is worn throughout shiva." thanks to:http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shiva_%28Judaism%29) and mourn perhaps too long, but even as a child I did notice that most times of going to my relatives when we lost someone the idea of having family get together was not that much different of a time than when there was a happy occasion, like a holiday or a wedding etc. Sometimes it weirded me out with not getting it if it was a sad or happy time, truly. So as soon as I was old enough, a married woman I opted out to any and all such occasions, that is until my parents died when I was in my thirties, but after that...way too confusing and scary about whether to cry or  laugh, ya know?

In my mind it is for the living anyways, funerals, and some people are not as sorrowful as one might think for their loss. Other times with being here in Florida I have made acquaintances that I did care about and sadly a few have passed on, but they had people that were much closer than I was ever to them to take care of that situation, which after my parents died and I felt gypped, since in my mind they left our lives way too soon... my heart was truly only broken for them and still is.
Who in their right mind would have the need to do that over and over again, seriously?

Caring hurts, and respect for all the decent unselfish dead that died for no right or true to your way of thinking reasoning is well in my realm of thoughts and devastates me like any other feeling being.
Maybe that is just it, not wanting to get close due to the inevitable for us all, but trying so hard to deny that part of life which is what it really is, isn't it?

Our youngest when he was a flippant way too cavalier attitude teen, used to say, "you are born, you live, and then you die, get over it!" He had lost two friends while in high school...I suppose his way of coping, heaven knows I was no help with that sadly.
But thankfully he became a more caring person or maybe not, since he  is our estranged son...although successful in his own life.

Any-who, ironically I made a promise to myself not to  make friends with older people when we moved to Florida after my both parents had died and  a few of their friends up in NJ, but I broke that promise when we moved to this coast, where we first moved to, most of our neighbors were seniors, while we were still in our forties! Then I began to volunteer with the Arthritis Foundation and had classes from self help to being an Aquasize teacher with the mean age of my students being seventy-five, as well as a co-president of that support group, no youngins there!
Sure they were going to die, but so could I. Death horrifically comes to all ages, our losses of friends started in school, from illness or accident, and of course our war, Viet Nam...
Maudlin, sorry, but as everyone says, a part of life!
Why are people so cheery when they say it, ever notice that? CREEPY!

Odd and a bit hypocritical of me, since I was an avid voracious reader of Poe and King...I suppose I do know the difference that is pretend and this reality, another no-brainer! (That's me all over the place, the one with no brain or wee...lesions, ya know?)

In conclusion how we handle the loss of a loved one is a personal thing, except in the matter of OUR SOLDIERS, what they did was for the love of all of us and our freedoms to remain etc...and so lest us never ever forget that or them!

For all of you please try to have a good night and count those very precious blessings and share those overages with you know who and we will too!
      
And next time please be here or be square, ya hear!

Sunday, May 25, 2014

Stay-cation?

A word that has come to mean, not taking one, i.e. VACATION and staying at home, but visiting places of interest nearby, huh? And everyone should get to know their area!

Well, in our case it is a NO-brainer, since we are fortunate enough to live in VACATION LAND!
Although, we have a pool and a boat, dock which means we have a short boat-ride to the harbor, five minutes, for fishing, swimming, shelling, or eating waterside etc., but we also are in not too shabby traveling distance from the amusement parks that the world comes to see! Disney and Universal, three hours, Busch, Weeki Wachee only an hour and a half away, the Florida Keys five hours plus, yep this state is big and full of fun stuff to do!

Who am I fooling, I'm house bound?
BUT I was fortunate enough to do all of those things many times before I could not!

I wouldn't want to live anywhere else in spite of my limitations, since we have a convention center, fisherman village shops and restaurants, arts center, historic village, and cultural center with theater, with a few museums to boot! Restaurants from every land/nationality, and all this within my ten miles radius! Not to mention shopping from fancy to thrift.

Just call me lucky, not to mention a beach front park with tennis courts, swimming pool besides the sandy beach, with a boat launch and dock, and boccie ball courts, basket ball court, volley ball court and  playground and pavilions and shuffleboard, not too far away as well as numerous golf courses if I were so incline; all with a boat-ride, five minutes or car drive away, by just a few blocks!

I do better in air-conditioning these days, unless in a cool pool of water... its been an unusually warm nineties for this time of year, these last several weeks... YES! Even for FLORIDA, now we are usually in the eighties, the nineties have been in all the nearly twenty-eight years we have lived here in August, not unlike good ole NJ! Global warming I suspect.

This hurricane season, which starts June first and goes to November thirtieth, we are supposed to be having a slightly lower chance of hurricanes, but we are all reminded that it ONLY TAKES ONE to do the devastation, Andrew, Charley, Katrina and Sandy, to name a few...NOT GOOD!
Although with el nino  2014 this article in news at National Geographic explains how it will be beneficial to the west coast of the US and also preventing too many storms here on the east coast! Thanks little fellow!
http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2014/05/140522-atlantic-el-nino-hurricane-forecast-weather-science/

On that upbeat note, allow me to be the very first to wish you all a very happy good night and ask you all to kindly count all your blessings and share all your overages and we will too!

And next time please be here or be square, ya hear!


Saturday, May 24, 2014

Plans?

Parades, beach scenes, picnics, barbecues, family games and sports, etc. and lest us not forget why we have these three days...



"Memorial Day, an American holiday observed on the last Monday of May, honors men and women who died while serving in the U.S. military. Originally known as Decoration Day, it originated in the years following the Civil War and became an official federal holiday in 1971. Many Americans observe Memorial Day by visiting cemeteries or memorials, holding family gatherings and participating in parades. Unofficially, at least, it marks the beginning of summer."

Thanks to:
http://www.history.com/topics/holidays/memorial-day-history

Holidays... so many of us forget the true meanings to pass on to our children and the whys, they, the special days that many children only know as another day off from school, but why is that?
They should be told. From Labor Day to religious holidays for each family's personal realms, to national reasoning's etc. we have such easy access to know and so do they!

Is there a time more available for a learning moment than each time our children find themselves home with their parents?

Any-who, that's just my opinion and you all know how much that is worth!

Moving on...

Today I planted my key lime seeds, yes that tiny lime gift jewel gave me six!
It is currently in a clay pot with well fertilized potting soil, compost and a topper of coffee grounds, sitting in the sun in the sun-room. The directions called for acid soil and whenever the instructions tell us that I add the coffee grounds and they have been marvelous for our gardenia trees that are both abundant with blossoms a few times a year! And over the many years, ten, for the one in the front yard that I planted to take the place of our forty foot oak tree that Hurricane Charley took down. Our backyard one was here and overgrown, when we bought our home nearly sixteen years ago. We have contained it on the edge of the fish pond, since eleven years ago that we installed.
There is nothing as sweet as the aroma of gardenia; I love it so much, a few years back, I found that Jovan made a cologne in the scent and it has been mine ever since. I suppose it's my signature scent if I was better known in a good way, not famous or notorious just a local flavor/aroma, ha, kidding of course. But many women have that "Scent of a Woman", going for them, hmm?
I never wanted fame, and I am more than sure this has not created that for me.


Another thought...
If you have been imbibing please call Tow To Go a safe free service that helps people unable to drive due to a bit too much of the spirits! http://autoclubsouth.aaa.com/safety/tow_to_go.aspx

Tonight's blog was another thoughtful mishmash of things that came to mind.
I have been managing very little movement, although I do know that I must try to keep my circulation going without causing issues.
Again I found another wee mistake in the blood work that was taken, my white count and alt were higher than usual, in the normal range, but according to what I was able to glean, left to my own devices, without medical professional assistance that the Gabapentin has an effect on both and due to my medical need for it and it being the lesser of so many other evils, from narcotics to opiates, I shall continue with it for now. 

That's it for now and please all have a safe, fun weekend and don't forget the why, and allow me to be the very first to wish all of you a very happy good night and ask you all to kindly count all your blessings and share your overages and we will too!

And next time please be here or be square, ya hear!



Friday, May 23, 2014

Goofed 2!

Or did he?
I have no idea, but this time I am referring to the doctor's interpretation of my brain MRI, you judge, like me as other laymen may have it all wrong, but I am not so sure and neither was Hubby.
Fourth sentence in the brain MRI Image Findings, "Several of the lesions appear slightly larger on today's exam and there may be a couple of new lesions since the previous study." Comparison of brain 2-22-13. Over a year ago from this one dated 5-6-14.


He had stated there were NO new lesions and it showed that my MS was stable, perhaps it is, but I'm no doctor and that sentence above makes me wonder. I need to have it explained in terms my wee brain will understand, ya know?
I did call this morning as I said I would, and it was forty minutes after their office opened at 9:40 A.M. and I spoke with Rhona and she said that Cheryl would speak with the doctor and get back to me, but left the when open. I suppose with it being a holiday weekend I will have a very long wait. I had also asked my other questions about my three areas, yep I was wrong, not just my cervical and thoracic regions, but my lumbar area of the spine also has stenosis. I did Google it myself to try to figure out what to do and found out that Pilates can be helpful, but in my severe case (people with stenosis) must be monitored by a doctor or physical therapist. And that was my other questions, now what, and medicine wise, more or other, less doesn't seem to be relevant to my particular case?

I could be wrong, I've been wrong before.

All I know is that like most with any chronic illness; I'm sick and tired of being sick and tired!
You all get that; I am more than sure, and thanks for that!

Hubby went out this morning to pick up food items for the weekend before it gets crazy, we are hunkering down right here. I stayed home to hopefully hear back from the doctor's office, but nope, nothing, still waiting, they're more than likely gone for their long weekend...OF COURSE!
Geez, and then people wonder why so many of us with physical illness get a bit crazy!
I am, or I should say I'm not the only impatient patient on this planet? That seems highly unlikely, truly!

Any-who, having this time to chat with all of you does help the time pass a bit quicker so allow me now to be the first to wish all of you a very happy good night and ask you to kindly count all your blessings and share those overages and we will too!

And next time please be here or be square, ya hear?


Thursday, May 22, 2014

Goofed!

Have you ever done something and thought afterwards, huh?
Today I had my new neuro appointment, (my third with him, wonder when I will stop calling him the new guy?) and I don't know if the fact that I had not gotten too much sleep last night; got up at 1:43 A.M. due to my headache again and didn't fall back back to sleep until 5:51 A.M., or the fact that I was more concerned with getting my copies of my tests or my pain got in the way or me forgetting the number one cardinal  rule of being a good patient, since I did not write my questions down, shame on me!

Dr. Khalidi, my new neuro, is a pleasant soft spoken man, and has been in his field for nearly forty years.
That said, he said I have some good news for you and that was that my lesions in my brain indicating that my Multiple Sclerosis is stable and that I have no active disease showing up there or in my cervical, thoracic or lumbar regions. And  my cholesterol is good, yet my blood work was a  non-fasting one my A1c was up slightly to 6.0,  and I am still not a diabetic, but I am borderline.
Most actually, nearly all of my parathesia and other weaknesses in my legs and arms were actually being caused by my spondylosis as well as stenosis in my cervical and thoracic spinal areas and lumbar degeneration, which seems to be getting slightly worse, but my MS seems to be in check with use of my Copaxone and vitamin use of doubled up Calcium with D as well as the B complexes showing they're  helpful in my blood work and due to my results of my lumbar 3Telsa MRI's inflammation there I suspect that also with all my existing bulges in nearly every segment of my spine and that again explains why I have pain in this overgenerous derriere while sitting upright, I suspect. No PT or curbing of my Gabapentin use, which he initially was concerned with, apparently now with legit documentation of reasoning for each and every medications' need he felt that was necessary too and my Copaxone refills were taken care of without any question for need either.  
And fortunately in spite of it all my liver and kidneys are none the worse for wear; the blood work attests to that too; ten vials full.
But what I forgot to ask is, now what?
Is there anything that I could or should do more of to help myself without creating more problems with my now known delicate spine, scary that thoracic stenosis is called creeping paralysis!

I know, I should call back and speak to his people there to explain my foolish mistake and the need to ask those questions and anymore I can come up with tonight, before tomorrow's call...
I do have another appointment for four months from today, but that is a long time for this not advantageous status quo; I am living with daily. I need to find the appropriate measures to take to get out of this living lump mode, my brain is functioning in spite of that being where my MS lesions have decided to remain and not spread down my spine...which is fantastic!
That does prove some of these disease modifying MS medications do and will work, thanks TEVA Pharmaceutical, who makes my Copaxone. They are out of Israel, but my medication itself comes from Indiana, I think.

Knowing that you have been waiting weeks to try and feel better and when you get the opportunity to change things for the better, you GOOF BIG TIME, by not following through! Sort of like a sports star choking on a basketball hoop shot, or missing the hole in golf on the green or fumbling the play on the field in football, you get the idea, OOPS! Mud on this face metaphorically, of course!

 Any-who, I would like to be the first to wish all of you a very happy good night, lest I forget, and also ask you to kindly count all your blessings and share those overages and we will too!

And next time please be here or be square, ya hear?


Wednesday, May 21, 2014

"Let someone know how special they are to you." "Keep your feet on the ground even though friends flatter you."

"You will learn something knew every day." "You will discover your hidden talents."

The first two that I used for my title were mine, and so here goes... You are all very special to me and I love the fact that you read my blog nightly without me having to twist your arms!
And each and any time that I have had any at all kind words thrust in my direction have my feet never ever once, twice or thrice or more ever left the ground!

As you may have guessed the next two were Hubby's and he has promised that today  he learned that he needs a drip cap for our courtyard shed's roof, and that his hidden talent is yet to be realized... but more possibly a shed roofer?

Hubby and I chose our favorite Chinese food restaurant, China City, to have the honor of preparing our dinner tonight!
Odd as it may seem Hubby could not get through to their place of business to place our order, but after several tries and his determination to succeed and my concerns for their safety or possibly a broken phone system for their business and might I add that depends on phone orders for their livelihood, so he decided to drive over, being the good cop. (It is way past snowbird season, seasonal guests, and it is mid-week, so being too busy did not enter our thought processes)
It turned out when he got there that the phone had not been hung up properly and they were very thankful that he told them!
We have been customers of theirs since they opened several years ago.

This blog is late due to talking to Fla Blue, their abbreviation of Florida Blue Cross and Blue Shield, after I found out from a newer agent that we will probably go with this fall that my first three office visits with my GP has no co-pay at all after that only $15, and so I called to verify and they said that they credited my account with the one they did charge me for.
That was the GP's office and I also found out that due to some type of mix up I was given a three quarter charge co-pay that Fla Blue suggested that I was responsible for and of course I always pay when I believe I owe and so I had and now according to them it must be resubmitted....
As far as the exorbitant hospital bill goes for only about two hours in the ER, it was well over $18K but my responsibility was only $75, so far, not counted the PA who they said was an MD we will see where that goes! I am going to be going over this bill and all the incoming ones and make sure they are correct; I am most billing offices worst nightmares! I have found hundreds of dollars of mistakes even with insurances as well as with the IRS paying us back several hundred while still in business in NJ years ago! I goofed paying the next day on that first bill and according to Fla Blue they have not even received that bill or my cataract surgery one yet!
They did receive all my MRI's.

Exhaustion with talking to all those people, and even with their i.e. Fla Blue's answering calls in a very wonderful timely manner! Used to wait hours, literally, foolishly, two hours or more just to talk to someone who would have to hand you over to another person, talk about frustrating!
As I expressed it was like a religious experience waiting the one minute for my call to be answered is a vast understatement!

I did get one touchy grouchy guy who seemed to be talking from his own home, I at once rushed to the wrong judgment he was speaking to me from his home! I thought, yes I really thought I heard a dog barking in the background and to me that was the last straw with them, but it turned out to be a co-worker, who sounded to me like they might have a bad case of bronchitis! And that is what insulted the guy who told me he couldn't talk to me and said he would get someone else and put me on hold after less than a minute I hung up, I wasn't going to be a victim of telephone waititis ever again. I felt confident it would be safer to call back and take my chances that I might get lucky with someone else and not too long a wait time, and fortunately it was a smarter move on my part, since it did work!

Somehow I was able to glean my necessary info and how to proceed.

So that is why this is sooo late, and for that I am or should be forgiven if anyone out there cares at all?
On that note of let us all hope, allow me to be the very first to wish all of you a very happy good night and ask you all to kindly count all your blessings and share all those overages with you know who and we will too!

And next time please be here or be square, ya hear?

Tuesday, May 20, 2014

Two major corrections from our weekend festivities!

 The above woman is Kristy Moore and she works for the Animal Welfare League of Charlotte County, FL, Inc. And their motto is, "the best pets are shelter pets"! To contact the local shelter for adoptions: goto: 3519 Drance St. in Port Charlotte, FL 33980 or call to donate: time or money @ 941- 625-6720 or goto their web site of www.awlshelter.org for additional info.
This is Dennis Hale the man with quite a collection of diecast miniature vehicles, five thousand strong, to contact him call: 941-743-3113 or  goto: www.autoairspecialist.com 

These fine people had PICS in my Saturday blog, but lacked additional information, and for that I apologize!

Below is access to their original appearance in this blog, but additional info is here:
http://tobi-adayinthelife.blogspot.com/2014/05/another-hurricane-conference-and-key.html

The fact that I did not identify them is a terrible oversight and I have been guilty of this plenty of times before I am so sorry to say!

As with the influx of new news people I cannot seem to keep up.
We have a tendency to watch all the networks affiliates and that at times that can make for much confusion on who is who, but in fact, to be honest, we are more interested in what they have to say than who they are, sorry! Although, some strong personalities have endured and we do make note of that too.

Moving on...
Today I had a hair cut appointment, where I sincerely got only a trim this time from my hair stylist, Sheri.
Last time we talked so much she cut too much off, but that was the time I did say to cut all my blond off, and she definitely did!
Today, my self naturalization of highlights were snipped onto the salon floor too!
They are created with warm water and vinegar or lemon juice rinse to my all natural hair these days instead of harsh chemicals or waxy conditioners, my shampoo is the most natural one I can find that is clean and creates volume. I was told my hair is plenty thick, there was concern due to the hypothyroid issue (but my medication seems to be working) and my color seems to be unusually dark for someone my age without any help beyond nature, oh poo, I wanted Hubby's colored hair, my silver fox!

After the hair salon we went to lunch at the Cracker Barrel and today we both had their rendition of rainbow trout that was better even than my Mother's Day one!

We go over that way when we run out of pond fish food and wild bird seed, since Tractor Supply is over there, east of us, by the I75 exit, and that is where we buy that; now we are well supplied once again.

On that note of well.... that's all folks...!
Allow me to be the very first to wish all of you a very happy good night and ask you all to kindly count all your blessings and share all your overages and we will too!

And next time please be here or be square, ya hear?

Monday, May 19, 2014

Who's laughing now?

I suppose that is a bit harsh due to all of the millions of recalls of General Motors vehicles that have so many flaws that many have caused fatal accidents.
I'm not happy over any of that, it makes me very sad, but lucky too!

Just the part where so many felt that we should have traded our ancient auto in years ago, even though to date, at nearly thirteen years old, it still has just around a mere forty-one thousand original, one owner miles, that being us, on it and that we own it outright, and don't go out of our ten mile radius at all these days.

No recalls for our 2001 Chevy Blazer four-door LS, bought new in August of that year, and still wearing its silver paint well.

There are so many same colored cars as ours on the roads it's hard to tell ages with the same, apparently classic choice of paint that we made all those years ago. Electronically we can listen to AM or FM or slap in a cassette; if we could only find one, ha! Kidding, I still have more than a few, I'm embarrassed to say, nah, not really! Our computer's accuracy on the exterior temperature in either Fahrenheit or Celsius, yep, it has both, and it is still within what the true range must be! At least it seems that it should be, according to the radio, anyway.

Scary, that at several different times over the last few months we had tossed the idea around about trading in our ancient, but very capable transport machine, the frightening part is that we could have been one of the masses of millions having to take those shiny new automobiles in for a ride for their lives. Some problems were so severe that people have been told to have them towed in or put onto flatbeds!

Sometimes being careful with one's money is not too dumb after all, hmm? 
I just would like to add here that I sure hope that General Motors gets this all resolved as soon as possible so when we are ready, we can continue to purchase their brand or maybe Chrysler's ... or VW or Toyota or Honda or any of the newer ones when we are truly ready in a few years, ten or fifteen when we have perhaps one hundred thousand on the ole gal, I mean Blaze, not me, I have so much more, you betcha!

But over the last few years it is a rare motor company that hasn't seen any recalls; I do believe each that I mentioned has had them too...

OH WELL!

In a way, all these recalls can only be good if their message is heard on the dangers, here is a list of the most recent and be careful out there, ya hear!

http://www.nhtsa.gov/Vehicle+Safety/Recalls+&+Defects

On that note of check your own manufacturers lists, allow me to be the very first  to wish all of you a very happy good night and ask you to kindly count all your blessings and share your overages and we will too!

And next time please be here or be square, ya hear?

Sunday, May 18, 2014

This Old House Marathon with an Ask This Old House One Hour Chaser on PBS!

A nice relaxing day to have after yesterday for me, an enjoyable day, but quite exhausting.
Although, Hubby mowed our lawn today, on his ride-on machine though, before he relaxed with me.
We have both been fans of the This Old House Show, since they begun, while we still lived in NJ, it has to be over thirty years.
But we have been DIYers longer than that, before we were married, designing, installing, homey needs and designating the space by definitions of paneling and bar by separating the eat-in kitchen, also fine tuned, and the living room etc. and flooring all in our first space, our basement apartment and since we are married over forty-three years yep, that was quite a while ago, since we were engaged for fifteen months prior to that.

And having done everything from building a home from scratch to renovations, modernizing baths with new fixtures and tiling to adding more rooms, installing ponds, decks, windows and doors upgrades, patios and swimming pools, baths too, you name it!

Ah sweet blessed rest...
Balance seems to be what anyone with a chronic disease needs to do to manage it better.
Or in life itself!
Sure we all know that to be vital.
Hard to accomplish at times.

Moving on...
I did take the time to empty the gift basket to find locations for everything.
The spaghetti and Barilla brand sauce went into the pantry for hurricane season stock, the wrapped Gharardelli chocolate went into a pretty candy dish in my glass door cabinet, on the ready for company, the Bahlsen all natural Deloba biscuits are half gone, by Hubby and myself, nibbling yesterday and today, the Starbucks instant coffee eight individual packets are also stowed for hurricane season and one of the two Good Seasons packets was turned into Italian dressing for our salads today, using the glass cruet that came with them. 
And the miniature Italian flag and ribbons went in with my gift wrapping items in the guestroom, wish my Italian friends lived closer I would give them to them!
The curly papers went in there too, great for stuffing around breakables if mailing gifts.
The wicker basket with wooden handles is now on our in-between our recliners table, with magazines in it, Harbor Style and the hurricane related ones from yesterday.

I was able to thank the woman, Diane Koby, again who was way too generous since I was able to contact her through her site. It is still overwhelming to me. I wonder what you would do if someone did that to you, gave such an unexpected generous gift? After I argued about the person still might show up, but she said no...
To be honest I have been very fortunate with many generous people over the years and so in the old days I would pay it forward.
These days I am too pooped, sadly with much guilt...
But most recently a fine man, in the last few years, Lee Stein, has given Hubby and I tickets to the Charlotte Chorale performances, twice that we had enjoyed more than he could ever know, but he offered too many times more, another lovely thing for a person to do... he has been the director for the last several years and has finally decided to retire next month, after many other careers, as well.We, Hubby and I wish him all the best sincerely.
 

On that note of with many reasons to have hope due to great people showing there are good ones still out there, allow me to be the very first to wish all of you a very happy good night and
 ask you kindly to count all your blessings and share all your overages and we will too!

And next time please be here or be square, ya hear?  

PS of course lest us not forget all those polite people and all the ones who open doors physically for us... nameless, decent folks all over the world!

Saturday, May 17, 2014

Another Hurricane Conference and Key Lime Festival!


 Another opening of another show! Today was chocked full of fun things to do things from my scooter view...Above is the Weather Authority of Wink News, our CBS affiliate, right here in Southwest Florida! This Expo is held yearly at our Charlotte Harbor Events and Conference Center in Punta Gorda, Fl.
 Lois is with Chris, two of their news anchors.
 These attractive youngsters are what I like to call the Newbie News cast, that's Andrew in the middle.
 Lois was nice enough to pose with some woman whose name escapes me.
 The reason this group of guys made the cut is due to their product that cleans the air and is added on to your existing heating air-conditioning unit and there is one for every size; Joe Paul Tvaroch is the fellow in the middle. www.grandeaire.com or 941-697-4884; they are out of Boca Grande, but care/service most all of sw fl.
This is Lyn the woman and Lana the Rottweiler and they are part of the Peace River K9 Search and Rescue Organization. They are in Englewood, FL and can be reached by calling 941-548-7560 or www.prsar.org They are private, but do assist the local and national law-enforcement units, anyone from Alzheimer patients to disaster victims they are there to help find. More trainers and dogs are also involved.


 The Animal Welfare League, as usual, could use your financial support as well as great homes for their temporary four-legged guests, so help your local chapter.
 This fellow was just plain fun with his multitude of die-cast classic and antique miniature autos and his company is Auto Air Specialists: 941-743-3113 or www.autoairspecialist.com (Where they take care of full size vehicles)

On to the Key Lime Festival for the second year held at Fisherman's Village Punta Gorda, Fl!
Diane Koby is handing Hubby a beautiful basket of Italian goodies that apparently the actual winner forgot to pick up and after we spoke, her and I, for some amazing reason she decided that I would receive her left for no reason generous gift! I wish I knew what I said, it was too much, but I also realized the time was growing closer for everyone going home from there. Just too sweet and amazing!  Her business is Bubbles Baby Diaper Bouquets and Cakes a wonderful concept of not giving unnecessary hospital gifts to the proud new parents, but beautiful practical collections of necessary diapers, blankets, and stuffed animals and other toys for boys or girls or vice versa... all displayed and in the shapes of cakes or bouquets! What an incredible concept for the addition to any layette! You can go to their site at www.BubblesBabyBouquets.com
PS I didn't tell her that I had a BLOG until after she bestowed that gift on us with complete fixings for a spaghetti dinner, including olive oils(3)and a cruet with powdered salad dressing as well as tomato sauce, and Ghirardelli chocolates, crackers and that's all I could see without opening it yet... I feel a bit badly for the original people it was intended for, but there is nothing I can do?

 The whimsical characters above and below as seen with their, Artist Margaret A. Stinson whose more amazing Gourdeous Critters can be seen on her  website at www.AnniedotsAttic.com, or 941-697-9263
 Below is Cathy Graham who is a book seller with a bookstore called: Copperfish Books in Punta Gorda, Fl, with an amazing array of books for all tastes, and speaking about that she found just the right ones to fit the bill for today's Key Lime Festival at Fisherman's Village, their second. She brought an assortment of proper key lime themed titles and everything from recipes to just about anything you could think of; her site is www.copperfishbooks.com or just visit her store right next to the historic Punta Gorda Train Depot or call 941-205-2560.

 Jugglestheclown.com

Looking for signs of more lime and I found it!
On that note of raw hope, allow me to be the very first to wish all of you a very happy good night and ask you all to kindly count all your blessings and share all your overages and we will too! 
And next time please be here or be square, ya hear?

Friday, May 16, 2014

Funny thing...

...about another day is, its another day!
Sure any of us who suffer the doldrums way too often knows that the best way to shake them off is either by distraction or waiting it out for the next day!
Usually one can make it a better one with little or some or no effort whatsoever!
That depends on your mindset.
Yep, turning off the negativity and switching on the positivity!
Simplistic for your most basic brains, such as mine; sometimes simple mindedness is truly the best. bud dub bum...
Sure I have been known to harp on bad things, but I am also willing to let them go...just like Adele Azziz (Idina Menzel), kidding, I am NO John Travolta, ha! See even I know who sang that award winning song, Let it Go!

Bad, hard things that we cannot change aren't worth bestowing our misery thoughts on.
Of course physical pain is more difficult to derail in our thought processes, don't get me wrong, but even pain can be deflected by changing one's thought patterns...
I don't mean a cure from any of our own true harsh realities or even preventing the pain from hurting us, but a mind respite, a vacation from it, ya know?
Most people who study how the mind controls the body knows it is not that far fetched to think of that possibility.
But we mustn't think that not trying at all will magically work.

Most people do profess to think and do what they feel is best for them, but I have been known to be more of a do what I say type person and not listening to my own commonsense advice, huh?


 All in all being alive is not always as easy as it may seem to some, but the effort to make it look that way will be an honest way to do something, and doing something is always better than doing nothing, true?

TRUE!

On that note of some thoughtful hope, allow me to be the very first to wish all of you a very happy good night and I would like to ask you to kindly count all your blessings and share all your overages and we will too!

And next time please be here or be square, ya hear?

Thursday, May 15, 2014

Spirits are down tonight...

I seem to be having an emotional and physically not too good day.
Let's face it I awoke with stiffer arms and legs than usual.
Even with my usual movements that have helped in the past, today they did not seem to do that for me this time.
Although, I take nearly half my old dosage of the Baclofen still, at 40 MG. daily; when originally months ago it was 70 MG. and although back on the Gabapentin it too is less but back up to 1200 MG., it had been at 1800 MG. prior to my first time weaning myself off last winter.
I am beginning to wonder if I had made a mistake, with weaning then completely and then going back and weaning again and having to go back, twice prescribed by my old neuro, but this last going back was  my own decision, albeit approved by this new neuro when told my reasoning and the fact that I had not been told to wean myself off again, actually both times were my idea, not the doctor's.

Sometimes we make mistakes, and all I am asking for is guidance from someone I respect that is more knowledgeable than myself.  So I hope this new neuro who has been in practice nearly forty years will be able to help me figure it all out...even my fingers are double hitting this keyboard without me making that decision, it is scary uncontrollable when it happens daily, when I am overtired I think

This will be done shortly, due to how I am feeling, and that is poorly.
I am writing from bed now and even while here it is not too comfortable, with my laptop on my chest.

Moving on...

The opening of the 9/11 Museum was today and was a sad remembrance of that horrific devastation of so many lives lost. We had indirectly known people lost at all three crash sites and perhaps that may have added to my personal sadness of frustration of this disease and it being affected by the slightest thing, such as weather changes outside... as well as major sad historical events.

I am a wimp!
On that note of trying to find some hope, allow me to be the very first to wish all of you a very happy good night and may I ask you to kindly count all your blessings and share all your overages and we will too!

And next time please be here or be square, ya hear?

Wednesday, May 14, 2014

A full moon means...?

YES! It means half price Jersey style 18 "thin crust coal fired pizzas from our Jersey Guy, from Toms River NJ, now right here in Port Charlotte the owner of  Bocca Lupo and two other different types of restaurants! Hubby went on the run for our half priced ones, $7.50 each, due to a full moon tonight, that means two, one for us to eat tonight and whatever is leftover goes into the fridge for lunch and the other is separated and put into freezer containers to be accessed when we feel the desire for such a treat!
Sometimes we might forget, but not often!

Moving on...

I will be going in to see my new neuro for a plan of attack on how to handle my MS and an in depth explanation of my test results next week. My preliminary results were given to me without all the results back, but it does appear my brain MS lesions are stable, great, and my thoracic and lumbar showed my arthritis, even though my blood work was back she, the person who called me back, Cheryl, was unable to tell me for some reason those results; all info told was rather vague. The cervical report was being sent to them later today, and so by next week I guess I will be better informed.
All I know is this medication for pain, the Gabapentin at 1200 MG. and my Baclofen 40 MG. seems 
to be working less and less, and I hate having to take any of it! What might be next?
Well, at least I don't seem to be having an exacerbation of the MS, which would call for more IV Solu Medrol (steroid) at 1000 M.G. for days and at an additional 15-20 lbs. added to my body!
At least this doc got that; he mentioned the weight gain from the IV steroids before he ordered all my tests! I have been on those IV's five times, you do the math; pounds wise, not counting all those lbs. from quitting the cigs in July of 2006 too, thus my grandeur of size!

Any-who, at least I have some idea with what is going on, but still no resolve...
MS is so bizarre that unless you actually have it it is difficult to understand all the crazy daily symptoms from the parathesia to spasms to pain to falling, dropping things you are sure you have... and on and on with exhaustion, memory of words gone and frustration due to it all...and these are daily, not an exacerbation just a so-called 'normal' day with Multiple Sclerosis; welcome to my world!

Sadly, I was hoping they would find with the higher tesla of 3 MRI machine that my ole neuro had misdiagnosed the MS too and that it wasn't there, but alas it is, like she had done with my "dead optic nerve", causing the blindness in my right eye and that she kept saying that the cataract was not worth fixing due to that and that was NOT true! We would have had a heck of a case if she misdiagnosed the MS too! Since she was at least the one who did start me on the Copaxone back in 2010 and if nothing else she could be responsible for it being stable due to that, oh well... that was a very good thing; but my sight was important too and she goofed there!
And so did the other eye docs not checking my MRI's like Dr. Klein was willing to do and using a simple flashlight to check if anything was there with my pupil dilating and contracting.

On that note of trying to cope, allow me to be the very first to wish all of you a very happy good night and ask you kindly to count those blessings and share those overages and we will too!

And next time please be here or be square, ya hear? 



Tuesday, May 13, 2014

White rice pasta and scallops...

Got to go out today again!
This time with Hubby to the  grocery.
Dinner for tonight is my title.
Never had Asian white rice pasta before, I suppose it will be a bit of an adventure; it takes longer to cook at 17 minutes.
Even after it was done for the prescribed amount of time it was still al dente.
The scallops are sold behind the fishmonger's counter, in shells, breaded like the stuffed clams, but even so at a dollar a shell they are a bargain these days with all other fish at very high prices, although the Tilapia was priced very nicely at $6.99 a pound. Would you believe medium white shrimp was on sale for $7.99 a pound?
I can remember, a time, not that long ago, when jumbos were that price!

Wish I was well enough to go out in our boat and go get them.
We used to get all sorts of fish and blue claw crabs, you name it, swim a little, shell a little on the beaches down in the islands; lunch along the way...oh what fun we had...

Dinner tonight was fine, not great, we had picked up lunch at Subway, me seafood salad over a spinach salad with every veggie and pepper they have no dressing (I make my own with balsamic and extra virgin olive oil, a touch of honey and garlic, here, at home), and Hubby had a meatball sandwich.

We spent again $175 at the grocery and it looks like very little, this is at least three times a month at that amount, for two people, who eat out, often! Hubby just said he wonders how young couples can make it? PS no wine anymore for weeks for Hubby and me months with all  my meds and my taste for it has gotten sour, but the same amount of fruits and vegetables fresh and frozen! It had to be due to my Nova and herring desire... but not that often, really!
Quite a bit of those veggies and fruits fresh and frozen too and can goods now too, due to it getting closer to hurricane season in about two weeks, on June first,and it lasts till November 30th!

On that note of our addition to the my diary, allow me to be the very first to wish all of you a very happy good  night and may I ask you to kindly count all your blessings and share those overages and we will too!

And next time please be here or be square, ya hear?



Monday, May 12, 2014

Dallas Buyers Club

TV trays stationed appropriately as little soldiers with our chosen dinners of pizza with peperoni and Greek salad, and one lone calzone all from what Hubby had picked up from our favorite coal fired pizza place sans the full moon, Bocca Lupo!
Our lunch had been very tasty too at the Fish Market Restaurant at Fishville. I had had the Mother's Day special of rainbow trout healthy broiled, four ounce, with rice pilaf and cole slaw, unsweet iced tea with  extra lemons, Number One's gal had fried cod and mashed potatoes and cole slaw too with a Coke. Number One Son had fried cod sandwich with lettuce and tomato and fried onion rings and a Coke. Hubby had a seafood casserole, cole slaw and fried onion rings with a coffee back with sugar.

So two slices of the medium pie with peperoni and my club soda while watching that award winning movie was not too shabby or foolish an idea and we all had fun in spite of the movie's extremely serious content about the beginnings of the treatment mal and good of AIDS. Matthew McConaghey lost around fifty to play the gritty character of Ron Woodruff an electrician/rodeo rider, after being a straight guy diagnosed with AIDS he is treated with a preferred drug of the time AZT and told he has 30 days to live. Through a bunch of realizations that his coke snorting and alcohol abuse is magnifying his symptoms and killing him faster he ends up being cared for by an eventual sympathetic woman doctor, played by Jennifer Garner as Dr. Eve Saks and Jared Leto as the gay friend to both.

Below is another synopsis from Wikki:

 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dallas_Buyers_Club

"In 1985, Dallas electrician and rodeo cowboy Ron Woodroof is diagnosed with AIDS and given 30 days to live. He initially refuses to accept the diagnosis, but remembers having unprotected sex with an intravenous drug-using prostitute. Ron quickly finds himself ostracized by family and friends, gets fired from his job, and is eventually evicted from his home. At the hospital, he is tended to by Dr. Eve Saks, who tells him that they are testing a drug called zidovudine (AZT), an antiretroviral drug which is thought to prolong the life of AIDS patients—and which is the only drug approved by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) for testing on humans. Saks informs him that in the clinical trials, half the patients receive the drug and the other half are given a placebo, as this is the only way they can determine if the drug is working."

The link below is the true story in more detail:

http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2013/11/03/the-true-story-behind-dallas-buyers-club-meet-the-real-ron-woodruff.html

To me the story in spite of colorful expletive use and graphic sex scenes it told a story of how the beginnings of a killer virus was being handled by the patients wanting a better way to solve the mysteries of how to find natural and healthy logical nearly homeopathic ways working in tandem with changing the dosing of harsh FDA approved drugs like AZT and so the AIDS cocktail was born and people of every possible ways of contraction could realize that they now would no longer have a death sentence and hope could be had.

Many of the ideas of treating AIDS with vitamins and healthy eating non-processed foods are working for so many other autoimmune diseases today like Multiple Sclerosis, balances have been made with both old ideas and new methods in medicine and I personally find that there is hope for so many diseases that have no cure and that there is no written rhyme or reasoning documented yet  in medical volumes... 

On that note of much hope; I found that my cringe factor issues with most R rated movies I can look past some of my still prudish thinking and learn more. Allow me to be the first then to wish all of you a very happy good night and to kindly wish all of you a very happy good night and kindly count all your blessings and share all your overages and we will too!


And next time please be here or be square, ya hear?

PS Number One Son and his gal are both over forty, so they were old enough to see the movie.
No harm, no foul and if you are eating while watching a R rated movie with adult children less blushing ensues! LOL! Bottom line: a great flick, highly recommended to see with an open mind and a learning curve to boot! Wish I took notes; many useful logical ways to help many chronic ills!












Sunday, May 11, 2014

Mother's Day!

Today it is wonderful seeing our two out of four children/adults, and we had an incredible visit.
They are still here and we will be enjoying another meal, but this time picked up and brought home!
Those Belgian chocolates were very select and selected by our son's girlfriend when on their last cruise to the Bahamas!
So far I had one and so did Hubby, they refused to take any, since they have their own at home and insist that these are mine! But I will share with Hubby.
They too are checking out their tablet (surface) while I write tonight, Hubby went to pick up dinner!
He should be back soon...
I hope all of you Moms out there are also enjoying your day...
Love and prayers to all...
Good night.


Which way will the war go?

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