MERRY CHRISTMAS AND HAPPY 2020

                             

             TWENTY years ago.. were we even thinking about getting to 2020? I mean it seemed so far away and now we are almost there. I was not even blogging in 2000.. Hard to believe but I had just been introduced to the computer at the local library and was learning the ins and outs one hour each day as they would allow. I made some nice friends there. Sue Lehman visited Michigan for a class reunion and was with me at the library as I sat up my first e mail account at Yahoo. It would be awhile before I would get a computer from another friend so I could use it at home. Oh how far I have come and how many wonderful people have come into my life. 

There have been so many changes. I have lived in so many places, met people, experienced life and death and learned to cope with what life throws at me and adapt along the way. As we go into another decade..can we even begin to imagine what changes there will be then? We can only hope and pray we all have wonderful lives with good health and much prosperity. 

             MERRY CHRISTMAS TO ALL AND HAPPY NEW YEAR 2020!! 

                                     

NOVEMBER 2019

                                             

WHAT??? Something happened to FALL here in Michigan.. we got blasted with snow and some trees were still full of leaves. Coldest temps on RECORDS.. another polar vortex? Not sure what is happening, but we are used to winter, just not used to it so early and not much fall at all. What we had was beautiful to see. Ours was late this year, lots of trees had green leaves even at Halloween. The above photo is the Brooks fountain the middle of our town. A round about was built around it and it is lit up and water flows until October. Many gather there for photos and just to rest and hear the fountain. The link will take you to a little video of what we see in the summertime. Everyone loves it. 

ANYWAY...Thanksgiving is coming and shoppers are making choices already for Christmas. Today I heard that our little town has the LAST KMART in the state of MICHIGAN. WOW..we are sure glad. It gets lots of use and the nearest shopping stores are 20 min away. Those of us who have no transportation other than the local bus are grateful. We know eventually it will close. Just hope something comes in to take it's place. Only so much is sold in the dollar stores. 

On the health update.. the cardiologist ordered another 2 week ZIO monitor to make sure my AFIB episode was just one time. Waiting to see what it says..not too worried as I monitor things pretty well. The glaucoma is under control also. All is well..😃

Hope you all are doing well also..

                                

OCTOBER 2019

                                

October is almost a memory.. It went pretty slow around here. The leaves refused to turn until about ten days ago. Several storms and a couple of nights of 30's temps and WHAM we are into the great release. Leaves everywhere. The crew was mowing lawn last week and the grass was high, at this rate they may mow into November.

This month Sis still making trips to her home and moving things over. Hard to believe it but the clock is ticking and it all needs to be done before the snow flies and the time change takes place. Slowly her place is beginning to take shape. The house getting emptied. The cat was taken to the vet..that is just heart breaking, she misses her every day. She is trying to get used to apartment life,the people, the noises and the HEAT..We have free heat here and when it is on ...it is ON..no matter how warm it might get outside. I told her so, but she had to learn for herself that she would no longer need sweatshirts and heavy blankets living here. It's a wonderful warmth all winter long. She will love it , you just dress warm when you leave home.
                                           

Thirty plus years of helping seniors, I learned a whole lot. One thing I heard over and over again was ....." Never get old..it's awful."  In the past few years I have begun to see what they were talking about. All of the sudden, I have glaucoma, AFIB, and aches and pains I never had before. My skin is thinning, my love of baking and cooking has vanished and I am making changes in diet and lifestyle. I got rid of things I will or never use, cleaned up my closets and shelves. I think 2020 will be a way more simple life for me.  A sort of brand new start. I am looking forward to it.

I am sending many prayers to those in the fires in California. Terrible loss there and afraid more is to come. 🙏🙏🙏🙏🙏

SEPTEMBER 2019

OH MYyyy time just flies by...so much has happened. Grateful that the AFIB has not returned. Done everything I can to keep it that way. Visited my GP and that went well also. I won't have to return for awhile unless something else comes up. News that an apartment in my building was available, so my sister decided to move to my town.
That was a shock.. she had been thinking about it awhile.. her home just way too big..and all the relatives are living here in my town. So we spent most of August moving her over here and going through nearly 40 years of stuff. You just cannot take it with you, so a sale will be coming. She is hoping her home will sell before winter time. 
Worst part is she is having to leave her cat. Cannot take it here and it is too old to bring anyway. Rules here they have to be declawed and have papers from Dr. in order to keep it. The cat is too old to go through declawing etc. Feel bad, hope she finds someone who can take it.

 Looking forward to late Fall so it will cool off and my allergies will slow down a lot. Leaves are just beginning to turn here, sorry to see the days grow shorter though..makes the winter seem so much longer. Saw the first woolly worm and boy 
it was more black than brown. Scary..he is usually pretty accurate around these parts. The squirrels are active gathering nuts too. Guess we wait and see what we get..after the Polar Vortex last year.. I am hoping it will not be as bad..

Well where ever you are ..hope you are healthy, happy and your fall season is a good one. 
                                       

HEART UPDATE

                                                 

The Zio lasted until JULY the 4th. At 3 AM I figured the day had come why wait all day long and I took it off. The two weeks were up and it was time to mail it back to the company. I copied the shipping numbers and prayed it got to them. In the meantime another trip to the cardiologist lined up more testing. It included a chemical stress test with a nuclear scan. Way better than a cat scan, and ultrasound of the heart. It took about 4 hours. I saw the cardiologist the next day. A very healthy heart..All tests were great.. including the blood tests and the chest x-ray.  WHAT A RELIEF...😃 

Why the AFIB started who knows. I have heard it is very tricky and will just pop up whenever it wants to. I prefer to think maybe NEVER again. I have not had any symptoms since that day in the hospital. I will learn what the ZIO recorded in a report this week. It takes quite awhile to get results back. I am not worried since everything else was good. So July became a whole month of testing and doctor appointments. 
Glad they are almost over. 

When my friends got here this is the sign they saw when I opened my door..

                                                    

I found this in the Goodwill three years ago. I bought it and was holding on to it just in case I got a visit. It was in the garden center, so I think it was to go outside but on the wall was a much better place for it.  Until later..Have a great August. 😃

JULY UPDATE....

                                             

 We finally made it to June. It seemed like May would go on forever. It was cold and then hot and then frosty. Typical for Spring in Michigan. I had my laser surgery and to say it was nothing.. that would be false. I was a nervous wreck, I had nurses holding me and telling me to breathe. Somehow I thought that if I held my breath and did not shake or anything it would go faster. God bless my Dr. she talked soothingly to me and encouraged me. I have to say it did hurt some..even with the gel that numbs you, I did feel it. I went back to a waiting room and shook for at least 10
min. 
They came and checked on me, and then she had to check the pressure in each eye AGAIN..I hate that part.. I wanted to see if any problems would come up and gather what questions I might have when the next appt comes.  By the time I got home I was exhausted.. all I wanted to do was eat and take a nap. A very long 24 hours.  I had my second surgery and much better than the first. The numbers were lower. That made me happy. Now I just have check ups to see the pressure levels. 

JULY came in and with it  something called AFIB..it is also called TACHYCARDIA..
Sue Lehman came to visit me along with my other lifelong friend Anita.I had not seen Sue in at least 10 years.  We sat and talked and boy did my heart race. I did not feel well before they came and pushed myself to join them in at least a dinner out. Guess that was not a good idea. The next day I spent 5 to 6 hours in the ER with a heart that just was beating all over the place. I could not take my pulse at all. 
Talk about scary. They tested me upside down and every way possible in that 5 hours. I felt bad as my friends sat and waited with me for results. There is nothing worse than just sitting waiting in a hospital. They would not let me go home unless my heart rate was lower than 100 and with meds it did go down. So I went home
much to the disagreement of the gals. I slept well and was feeling soo much better the next day. Heart rate back to normal and just a little weak. By that time Sue left and my visit with her was over. I felt and still feel cheated. I am dealing with it and trying to move on. 
I went to the cardiologist, who promptly put something called a ZIO on me.. a two week heart monitor. I must say it was not intrusive at all and I would not have any problem doing it again. I sure hope I don't have to though. Anxious to know what the results of that are. I am still going to have other testing done to check out the heart further. The unknown is scary sometimes but I guess it is my time to now...deal with it.   
MORE LATER>>

MAY THOUGHTS....

                                             

What's going on?? Well.. hmm I finally got my eyes tested again and low and behold that old word GLAUCOMA is back. I am on the border. Readers here might remember that a few years back a dr. told me that I had glaucoma already and gave me drops. I was so upset I got a second opinion and that dr. said NO glaucoma. So my numbers dropped low enough to not need anything. 

 Anyway a procedure is needed to laser zap my ducts so that fluid will not build up and cause more pressure there. Never heard of this but my doctor is a specialist/ surgeon  so I am guessing she knows what she is talking about. So I had the procedure and it was NOT fun for me at all. I hate anyone messing with my eyes. Talk about nervous for days before. So now I have to have the second eye done. I love how the dr. says "oh it will only take 30 seconds".. yep.. maybe for her. It felt like 30 min.  I was so tense about moving I practically held my breath. The nurse kept saying BREATHE..When it was over I was so dizzy and relieved. They put some drops in and let me sit in a room for at least 15 min. I still was not too steady leaving the office but I did not have to drive so that was GREAT.  I will know next time what to think but I still am leery of anything EYE related. I will be glad when this whole thing is over. 

SPRING is finally here in my neck of the woods. We have had some decent wonderful temperatures and rain, but now the first 80 degree days are soon to come. About time I have waited for a long time. The winter was very cold and LONG.. 
Hope things are well with you all.. Have a great SPRING..

ARCTIC BLAST!!

WE survived it.. days and days of arctic weather with wind chills of -30 plus. Hard to believe it was colder here than in Alaska. I stayed inside all the time, very few left around here except those who had to work. EVERYTHING was closed..it seemed as if it was
declared a holiday with all businesses and schools closed for days. I went to the store before it blew in and got many supplies to get ready. 


I placed all the insulation I could around my windows. Our boiler worked overtime and sure could not keep us warm. I found I was not the only one in my building wearing many layers of clothes, and using the stove to keep us warm. Maintenance told us to do the best we could. The rooms were pretty chilly at night. Most of us slept in our clothes. Thirty degrees felt really good when it finally came days later. I don't remember ever being around those kinds of conditions before. Hope I never do again. I will know what to do if it does happen though. 

Well February is at least a lot warmer so far, seems like our winter is crawling along. I have to look on the bright side though..we are gaining daylight 17 minutes a week now. and in 40 some days it will be officially spring. I for one welcome it. 

HAPPY NEW YEAR 2019!!!!

I AM FINALLY ABLE TO GET BACK INTO MY BLOG.. 

WOULD not take the password that I have always used and I had to redo practically the whole thing over. Scary stuff.. I have other blogs that are hooked to this one and well they do have other passwords also. WHAT a mess!!  Soooo

           

I will try to keep this blog going as long as I can get into it, not because I have

forgotten about it. I could never do that. 

Since OCTOBER things have been busy around here. Lots of people in the complex moving out that have been here a long time. Could it be the raise in rent.. or could it be they are tired of the QUIET?? Yes, it is very quiet up here on the hill. There is a pretty steep driveway that leads to these buildings and we are away from the road so far we cannot hear traffic. WHO IN THE WORLD WOULD NOT LIKE THAT???

Some prefer the lobby or closely packed apt houses. NOT ME. I love this place. Anyway, hope they find what they were looking for.

 Oct was warm around here.. it felt like summer. It went on for awhile and when WINTER arrived.. Well it was not much to talk about. November we had some snow and it all melted pretty quick. Talk about global warming. The guys here have only had to shovel ONE TIME this whole winter. Yikes makes me wonder about  the summer. Thanksgiving was nice too. NO snow. I started my new exercise routine of lifting two pound weights twice a day that month. It has helped a lot. 

DECEMBER  1st I started using a new machine I bought daily,  since I don't get outside to exercise much. 

                                         

 I was using it three times a week, but decided to up my game. It feels pretty great.

I can do many different things with it, but am working my way up to those. Very happy with results. I have a bad knee and this has helped a lot. Christmas rolled around and we still have little to NO SNOW here. When we get an inch, by the next day it is gone. 

RAIN mostly and so many many gray days. The sun has hardly been present the whole month long. I received some pretty nice surprises for Christmas this year I never expected. Made for a memorable holiday. 

SO NOW it is a new year, I sure pray for it and our nation and the world. So many tragic things happening in the world. They say that things have to get bad for you to appreciate when they get better, well we sure are ready.