Mold!

Have you ever smelled an odd odor and knew that it was there, but no one else could smell it so they looked at you like you were crazy?
Are you sure?
One thing I must admit, even when I used to be a smoker I had a keen sense of smell, except of myself that probably stunk with that nasty habit that fortunately I gave up nearly eleven years ago!...Anyway, I have this unique ability to smell nasty smells before most other people do and my tiny sniffer, no my nosey has never been large, always could sniff out what the rude cause was... like today.
Actually, for days I have been telling Hubby that I had smelled mold somewhere in our bedroom!
I know, disgusting!
I had asked him to move our rather large king size bed, but it is on wheels, because I felt it was emanating from beneath!
You see, as many with tiny homes and no attic or basements space do we use under the beds for storage.
In the guest room under that bed we have two very long molded plastic lidded wheeled storage compartments bought and made for just that and they hold a few of Hubby's cold weather coats as well as the other holds my Teddy Bear collection.
I decided years ago to discontinue displaying them. They became a pain to move off the bed and shelves when company arrived, and they became dust collectors, so they were all cleaned and stored away, perhaps someday for grandchildren?
No odor there due to nothing damp.

Under our bed I store our darker/winter colored cushions for the dinette chairs and in the winter our lighter striped ones switched out, and a few items that are for my medical use purposes, and Hubby has a box on the other side.
Logically, nothing that could or should get moldy or give off odors.
Even when Hubby moved the bed from side to side the report was dust, but no mold!
I was resting in the living room, and felt that my nose that has never betrayed me before was maybe this time was getting its pursuit of this putrid odor all wrong?
I rushed to examine the bedroom, as if a detective looking for clues and proof that I was right!
Although, this time, it appeared at first blush that Hubby was right, aside from some nasty dust bunnies that he has, since vacuumed up, no signs of mold were anywhere on the floor or wall!
But...no, not even on the window sill, but the ledge on the lower portion of window itself was spotted with dark greenish black YUCK!
This is the window directly behind our head board!
My NOSE KNOWS! VINDICATION!
Not that wonderful to have this time...

Unfortunately, with me having asthma Hubby did the honors of cleaning it up with a 50/50 bleach/water combo and filled the portion of lip with that combo that empties out into the garden on the other side.
The only thing I can figure out how this could have happened is that our air-conditioning regulates by shutting itself on and off, same as always with all our previous central air systems, allowing for very low humidity in the house and with my CPAP machine, tuned to a higher humidity on my night stand on the same wall...perhaps the combination of the two created the problem? Who knows?

In Florida you do not want any significant humidity indoors for that very reason, thus us learning early on that you must have either air or heat on accordingly, more so now with me having asthma!
All is put back together now, so all is right within my little world!

Mold was a significant issue after the hurricanes 2004-2005 for many of us in this state, and we do have in our home owners insurance as well as all other possibilities mold insurance, sink hole, hurricane, flood, theft, fire etc. etc... all insurances one can think of, and pay hefty premiums accordingly for them!
So when they found some under the eves after Hurricane Charley we had been treated 100%, most likely caused due to no electricity for weeks, in August to September, except when using the generators, but even then they were gas, so not for very long at a time too expensive.

Could the mold have made my last several days of my feeling badly been the cause?
With me I have so much going on one never does know entirely does one?
Anything is possible, and I am more than sure it did not help.
Any-who, its resolved now, and my nose did not let me down again!

Good night to all, share those blessings and we will too!

Next time please be here or be square, ya hear!
 

Cinco de Mayo!

"Cinco de Mayo—or the fifth of May—is a holiday that celebrates the date of the Mexican army’s 1862 victory over France at the Battle of Puebla during the Franco-Mexican War (1861-1867). A relatively minor holiday in Mexico, in the United States Cinco de Mayo has evolved into a commemoration of Mexican culture and heritage, particularly in areas with large Mexican-American populations."

Thanks to and to learn more:https://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=6184591836156499380&pli=1#editor/target=post;postID=7770490684941043391

 

 

 

 

 

Our homemade lower sodium and lower fat celebratory Cinco de Mayo dinner of burritos and tacos with refried beans! Cost effective too, all for less than two dollars a serving!

 

 

The above picture might be confusing to some, but what it actually is it is that Hubby removed the garden below our front of the house gardenia bush weeks ago, including the Mexican petunias that are quite hardy and grow anywhere and everywhere! Now this was weeks ago and they were thought to be all gone, and today... do you see it, coincidently on Cinco de Mayo, that little purple flower is... a MEXICAN PETUNIA!
On Cinco de Mayo! That must mean something, but what?????

Any-who, you all enjoy your celebrations too!

Did you know...

...if you have cervical herniations with stenosis you cannot or should not allow the hair stylist bend your head back to wash your hair? I haven't for years due to that above mentioned issue, which is now slightly worse according to my 4-11-17 MRI. I wash my hair daily in my shower and when I go they just spray my hair with water to cut. Oh the reason you should or cannot, because it can paralyze you or cause a stroke! At the very least it could cause extreme pain.

Anyway, the reason I brought this up is because of another goof I did, once again.
Remember I said I finally decided to get dental insurance and so I did and it went into minimal effect on Monday for X-rays and teeth cleaning, six months for the rest, well I did not make an appointment yet since my neck/ cervical stenosis and herniations are worse, and they bend your head back too, my cervical stenosis and herniations are possibly the cause for my arm and hand numbness or it could be my brain lesions from the MS is causing it... I see the orthopedic surgeons P.A. next week, haven't been there in two and half years when she was putting me in pain management program with their doctor for that and that was when Skipper, our Bichon Frise got so ill we had to take him to the specialist in Fort Myers and he died in two weeks after that, very sad. I never went back, since my concern over injections in my spine was worrisome to me.

And now my symptoms are much worse than last time, but what are they from the MS or my stenosis, that is also in my thoracic region, which is rare but both showed up on my MRIs on the date above. The herniation on my thoracic region is between T8-9 and that is unusual, but taken on the highest MRI machines of tesla 3, and with and without contrast.

So that is why I have been losing sleep due to pain.
I gave in to another Gabapentin today, my only pain reliever that seems to work without too harsh side effects, for me anyway.
I am sorry to say I have been basically bedridden, only getting out to use the bathroom and shower too. Hubby even feeds me here, my lounge chair is even too painful to sit/recline in.

My concern for not moving is due to the Lupus Anticoagulant, a clotting disorder that can cause strokes and heart attacks etc. that I was diagnosed with this past fall, but I probably had it all of my life due to miscarriages in my twenties and thirties and my TIA, mini stroke, back in 2006,( been on 81 mg. of coated aspirin ever since, as per neuro then) and my Mom probably had it too due to her major stroke that did her in, so getting out of bed is a preventative measure and out of fear!

I have been using moist heat and even did try extra strength Tylenol, guess this pain is stronger than that. Turmeric in warm milk with honey also tried, as turmeric is a natural anti-inflammatory.

I even tried my soft cervical collar, but with my CPAP mask for my sleep apnea, it is not comfortable. The machine readings have been going crazy too, my average is just what is mild sleep apnea at 5.7 usually, but lately my readings have been more severe at 10.5 or even over 14!
Yes, I do doze off, but wake up gasping for air!
CRAZY!

Enough about me... damn GOP voted all wrong today, for shame!
Thankfully, more hoops for them to all jump through before all is said and done.
Keep writing/calling your representatives, be persistent and maybe we can succeed!
Too many people will be left behind if we stop letting them know how we feel.
Call them @ 1-844-259-9352, it's not too late!
Never give up your beliefs.



  

 

I just did my part in helping our large contigency.

AARP Advocacy has been a huge force in getting us fifty and overs to contact our representatives on any of the topics going to go to a vote by our Congressional representative's and here is the one I called today, most are form letters that you sign and send on, some are toll free phone numbers to call to speak to them direct or their assistants, and this was a toll free call.
Ellie, the intern answered the phone and as it tells you to ask below, when you click on the site, that I wanted to know how our local representative Thomas Rooney would be voting on this issue, but she did not know and handed me off to Max Moody a legislative correspondent, only twenty-four years old. He too did not know how our representative will be voting, but I told him all my concerns, especially the ones about pre-existing conditions for young people ( You see, I am on Medicare, and he assured me that Medicare would not be touched i.e pre-existing and this does not affect me anymore, Obamacare or the new one that they are trying to pass, but all of our children and perhaps grands someday...will have to deal with this!) that they should not have escalated premiums or have other undetermined charges due to no fault of their own of having pre-existing health issues, and also my concern about the gouging by the pharmaceutical companies with their pricing of such necessary medications as Epipen, asthma related and insulin medications etc. He assured me he would pass it on to Rep. Rooney.

Below is one of many emails that I receive often and respond to just as often, this is the one I took action on today:

AARP advocacy sent this: online advocacy is quite painless. They do ask for monetary contributions, but that is a personal choice; in other words: you do not have to do it if you do not want to! You can still use this site for your advocacy without any monetary contributions.

"I'm sure you're sick of hearing about the special interest health care bill, which Congressional leaders just won't let die. So are we.

But until this bill is 100% dead and buried, we can't let up the pressure. Not when they're threatening to remove protections for people with cancer, diabetes, heart disease, and other pre-existing conditions. Not

when they're pushing an age tax that could cost you up to $13,000 per year. Not when they're weakening Medicare, opening the door to Medicare cuts and vouchers. As long as Congress keeps pushing this awful bill, we're going to keep pushing back twice as hard. XXXXX will you help us make sure that it never, ever becomes law? Thanks for everything you've done – and continue to do – to stop this terrible bill and stand up for affordable health coverage for all Americans. I'll be in touch soon with another update from Capitol Hill. Sincerely, XXXXXX    AARP Campaigns" The phone number gets you there then follow the prompts and you will get to your representative, I suppose due to caller I.D.?

An international experiment

I thought that what I did earlier below could go viral on Facebook, and I am still waiting, now I would like to see if  just how much action Google gets even from its smallest quantities of pageviews Blogger.
Here's my average numbers for in a breakdown as well as ten of the countries that see my blog weekly, and even that fluctuates. This week so far... no Russia!
To see any of the PICS numbers clearer you can tap on them to enlarge.

I posted this today on Facebook asking how many people can see my post out of all my 5000 Facebook friends and 310 followers on there going well, but slow...

 

 

 

To respond to this with a name and location, no street addresses, just a city and a state or even just the country would be welcomed and you may do that right here in the comments section or on Facebook whichever is easier! The numbers are there but I would love to see you as the people you are and know from where you are in this vast world.

Call this a social experiment with peaceful intentions. I am trying to prove we are never ever really alone on this large planet and in reality we are a neighborhood of caring human beings!

And that makes us a much better place than some would like us to think!

Share this and pass it on please and let's see where in the world this takes us!

Love and Peace to ALL!

The difference between avoidance and denial?

Avoidance:

a·void·ance

/əˈvoidəns/

noun noun: avoidance, plural noun: avoidances

• 1. the action of keeping away from or not doing something: "one third of cancer deaths could be prevented by avoidance of smoking"
• ▪ the action of preventing something from happening: "a pilotless passenger aircraft would rely on computers and automatic collision avoidance"
• 2. the action of repudiating, nullifying, or rendering void a decree or contract:"insurance underwriters could not rely on non-disclosure to justify avoidance of the contract"

 

Denial:

 

de·ni·al

/dəˈnīəl/

noun noun: denial, plural noun: denials

• 1. the action of declaring something to be untrue: "she shook her head in denial"synonyms: contradiction, refutation, rebuttal, repudiation, disclaimer, ... morenegation, dissent
• ▪ the refusal of something requested or desired: "the denial of insurance to people with certain medical conditions"synonyms: refusal, withholding, rejection, rebuff, repulse, ... moreveto, turndown, declination
• ▪ a statement that something is not true: "official denials"synonyms: contradiction, refutation, rebuttal, repudiation, disclaimer, ... morenegation, dissent
• ▪ failure to acknowledge an unacceptable truth or emotion or to admit it into consciousness, used as a defense mechanism: "you're living in denial"
• ▪ disavowal of a person as one's leader.

 

Thanks to: Oxford dictionaries for both words definitions.

 

Those  are two words our commander and chief lives by and uses daily!

 

Moving on ...

 

As far as those above words uses in my daily life, none, nada, nil, not in my lifetime!

I do not deny my abilities or lack there of them.

But I do try not to avoid things due to them.

I allow for my body to tell me what to do or not to do.

You all know those little ditties, I may have-------- blah, blah, blah, fill in the blanks/chronic disease, but it doesn't have me!

Sorry promoters of so-called positive thinking with chronic illnesses, because I do have Multiple sclerosis and it may not have me, but it sure has its way with me more often than not! Duh, bud, bum!

Lately, I do feel the need to complain again about this invasive ill.

Although, with me I have no idea what is causing what where or when...does that make any sense?

 

Take today, yep, you can take it somewhere far, far, away!

My body would not allow me to get out of bed too often and that is rather annoying!

Pain and numbness prevail still/always, drunken sailor balance issues, twitching, and spasms in the oddest of places, no, not there, but one eye is pained, both blurry, and the other is twitchy.

Headaches, backaches, numbness in arms and legs, oh my!

See, I do have MS and yes it does have me! But so does spondylosis, sleep apnea, asthma, LA, hypothyroidism, and still almost gone pre-diabetes.

Or at least they want to play with me.

Oh I am not asking for sympathy, because that would be too much too often to ask for, and redundancy is my thingy, not my friends, I hope.

If I wrote daily about my accomplishments... and I just learned that showering is one, I do that daily, well another MS recipient had a great day since she was able to do it all by herself!

I suppose I do not look at the smaller picture of those little triumphs meaning so very much, she posted hers on FB and the response was compassionately observed by most all of her friends.

I on the other hand thought, Geez I did not realize that I too have been amazing!

Small gratitude's in life, blessings, hmm? 

I was lost though, since when I questioned her on the private messaging about perhaps some modifications to her home, she said that she was just having balance issues!

What?

She could have fallen in the tub, but this brave woman felt that there was no reason to add a seat or a grab bar or any other safety measure, wow, how brave! Or foolish, since she does live alone, but also has wonderful neighbors!

Although... why post how proud she was that she could do it for herself, without a home health aid that she admitted to having these days too?

None, of my business, but it makes one wonder, ya know? 

We are all stronger with positive accolades from whomever we so desire.

But... when we do not take to helping ourselves, we have to think why maximize our need for help from others, when there is usually a way to help one's self!

Hubby does not bathe me, and yet I do have mobility and balance issues, but I have many grab bars and in my barrier free shower that is 3'X6' I have a bench with two grab bars and a hand held shower head as well as a soap, shampoo and conditioner push button dispenser attached to the wall to use and a pouf to apply my soap. I even have one of those solid tube seats for softness. Before, in the regular bathroom with the tub that I could not get my legs over, thus the barrier free was made, but in that one there I had a bath chair and another hand held shower head as well as the soap, shampoo, and conditioner dispenser and grab bar and that pouf too.  

The least some one with balance issues should do is have a seat and hand held shower head for safety!

 

Are we our brothers or sisters keepers?

I think these days only if they let you, assuming always gets me into trouble!

I validate my concern with all my years in occupational and physical therapies, twenty this year and the fact that I was certified by the state health department for their self help course, way back in 2004!

We do have the Good Samaritan Law in this state, I think?

Anyway, nothing I do or say can hurt?

See no avoidance or denial!

 

Share those blessings and we will too!

 

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

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Chiming in...

Here is the refurbished blue moon and wind chime in our northern facing front of the house, side by side, nestled between the palms and off to the left of, if facing towards our home's big picture window.

 Below that is the trinity of backyard sun room window bird crashing protective chimes! Prior to that birds were dying in droves! I had Googled what to do, and the ideas were from leaving the windows dirty to these much more pleasant wind chimes. Although, some on a windy day, might not care for their constant chiming! To them I say, close your windows, its nearly one hundred degrees out there, so turn up your air...conditioning!

 

Behind the chimes you may have noticed our window coverings, post Hurricane Charley circa 2004, any-who they are the fabric waffle cone type with strings to pull them up and down, and at the time the five altogether seemed quite expensive to me, but the windows were odd sized and I had tried all over to get something on them. We even had the professionals tint them with the thought now we don't need any curtains... not true! It was a nifty privacy helper, we could see out and people could not see in, but the heat penetrated in spite of that! So we went with someone who could specially fit them to the windows and they cost us at the time back in 2004, $1600 for just five! The other day the cord broke on the one over the door to the patio, and I said, a quiet yay... thinking now we could replace them!( Now good for a few more years... yay!) But instead Hubby switched the one from the patio with the one door we never use next to the second bathroom. That door was put in with thoughts it would be handy for the pool to go in there and not traipse through the room dripping wet, never happened and was never used. Oh many might wonder why only one door to the patio, the original configuration was an enormous slider, simply put we needed the wall space for that desk you see there that it too has become nearly obsolete, since we use a laptop these days, more than the desk top PC, but the printer/scanner is there as well as the other scanner that we do not use, our printer had finally died last year.  

Shade up, shade down, the room is not crooked as seen above, not, just the photographer, me, I hold the phone/camera crooked for some unknown reason.

Unused door by second bathroom, now without a cord. It really doesn't matter since that door's glass has been replaced two times due to the lawn mower hitting it, and so there is no tinting on it at all, so way too bright! In fact only the second bathroom window and the three over sized windows below are still tinted, Hubby switched out the second door with the first plain glass when the first glass was broken, really should get them tinted again. Oddly enough with all the building of homes, even put in a pool, and docks and decking, renovations and crafts etc. window tinting is very hard! We did try to do it ourselves, but that darn stuff kept ripping, ha! No wonder people specialize in that, hmm? 

Our sun room is not enormous, just 10' wide and 19' long, and there is too much furniture in there!

That white futon full size sleeper sofa from Target, BTW, after the hurricane I turned the guest room into a sometime one with that, but when we decided to return it to a full-time guest room it came out and was placed across from our blue queen sofa bed one. the trunk with the decoupage fish of Florida Hubby and I made, the trunk was a gift from Number One's girlfriend at the time, and the interior painted all a lovely vivid blue, it was unpainted when we received it, and the design was my idea. 

Since this room is sort of a fish themed room. The awning type valances were my design too, to encompass a beachy outdoor/indoor concept, Hubby did the woodwork but I painted them, by using  Frog tape to help with the stripes, at the time Frog tape was a brand new idea for DIYers! 

Below is another return from Number One Son, one of two sections of a solid oak breakfront we had bought for our first home in Florida on the other coast, it has had a couple of incarnations besides half of an entertainment center, his brother was given the open shelve side, this was also used for our dinning room China closet, and now too or once again. Our China in this smaller retirement home, had been stored in our kitchen cabinets, but when we got it back it allowed for me to put so many of the little appliances away instead of leaving them cluttering on the kitchen counters and so the "good China", went back in there. I had wanted it to become a wine bar or to also paint it a new cheerful color or modernized it in some way, but I still haven't decided exactly what I want to do.

Anybody out there have any ideas? I had wanted to donate the futon couch, but Hubby said we should keep it. Right now in our tiny house we have enough room to sleep ten guests in an emergency as long as that emergency isn't here, because we will be out of here! Oh, the reason the trunk, which I also put caster wheels on them is along the wall not in between the two couches is because of my wheels needing a wider fairway. I, mean Hubby put the wheels on the trunks, but it was my idea, also on our nautical oak stained one in the guest room under the window like a seat.

The bookcase you see here in white Hubby made out of found wood in our formally outdoor laundry room shelves and he believes them to be mahogany. The bookcase was made right away, since we had moved the laundry indoors, access from the foyer and leads into the garage and had custom cabinets made in there too and was first in the foyer then the guestroom and lastly in here. I, I mean Hubby has to under my direction, need to at the very least rearrange this room. At least I have learned one very important thing over the years measure, measure, measure first! Where you want something and that things dimensions should be noted as well, extremely important, so if NOT possible to fit where you want it, no harm, no foul! Would love that cabinet to be a future project, with the too hot weather we will be hibernating like most due with too cold, again today in the nineties!  

 

Share those blessings and we will too! And next time please be here or be square, ya hear!