Short But Sweet

Jackson finished up his tour in Guantanamo Bay  and Amy finished up in Italy, they are finally going to be stationed together. That only took forever didn't it? We didn't expect to see them , I knew they had a lot on their plate coming home. They had to wait for Amy's dog to arrive, then off to Arizona to see her parents, get started with the cars and then off to Whidbey Island to see the girls. But he called on Thursday to let me know they would be down for a short visit with the girls - bonus! This time of year is the long stretch we don't see them as they're in school and there's no vacations to plan. I had to cancel plans with Kim and Steve, but they didn't mind, they know how infrequently I see either one of my kids. They planned to leave at noon and arrive around 5 but didn't leave til two and 5 potty breaks later they arrived about 8pm, the girls were excited to be showing Amy and Jack  their things here. We will have lived here 4 years in June (I can't believe it either! In August I'll be at the four year mark at my job!) but they've never been down to see the house.

I didn't take too many pictures - I know,weird for me! I just wanted to enjoy this short time with my family. Bee and Dutch were over the moon to have  so many visitors at once, Bee was hostessing her butt off and managed to sit on everyone's lap. Jack grew up with Vizslas and is used to their overly friendly antics, Amy was playing with them all weekend. We didn't do much, I had no time to plan anything and I think with all the traveling Jack and Amy have been doing staying put was not objected to. The whole house was full! The girls slept in their room downstairs and Bee somehow managed to sleep with the guests taking her hostessing skills to a whole new level. She did get under the covers and shared pillows but no one seemed to mind. Saturday we just hung out, it was fun getting to know Amy better and of course seeing Jackson - we are so proud of him!! D took him and Amy upstairs to play Barbies and C played video games and showed off the Office that they seem to think belongs to them and not Nana. They also managed to squeeze in a tea party even though I was out of marshmallows that they don't like.  But they feel the Not So Hot Cocoa needs them, who am I to judge?

The girls had school on Monday so they drove them to the halfway point to meet Brandi, I offered but Jackson wanted to spend all the time that he could with them. After this they will be down in March for the girls 7th birthday - I know! SEVEN! They came back for the rest of the day and evening and on Monday left to return the rental car and then fly back to Arizona to register the car and get Amy's dog. I had taken a few hours of personal time on Monday so I could see them off but then I took another two vacation days this week. Even though I've had time off - it was all non-stop. Christmas, over 2 weeks with the girls, the flu, emergency surgery.........I feel like I need a little time to regroup. Today David and I did Costco (we're completely out of fruit and Vegetables) and I took the hydro unit completely apart and scrubbed the bejesus out of it. Yes it's a pain but I only have to do it a couple of times a year and I think I finally figured out a faster way to do it. Tomorrow I have a few phone calls to make but I am going to take one day to do Absolutely Nothing Of Value. Because we all need to breath once in awhile. 

 

The Used and Reused.

A few years ago I decided to eliminate most of the disposible things in our home - not an easy task some days. The first thing I did was stop buying most paper products - towels, plates,coffee filters, cups. No bottled water, reduced bottled beverages (neither of us drink soda so not an issue). We have containers, water bottles and I have a reusable lunch box. I started growing my own produce and yes I can yammer on about that all day every day - I love to garden! We use laundry sheets which take up no room, work well and there's no giant plastic container. Reusable shopping and produce bags, if we get something in a box i'll often use it as a donation box. I buy most of household things - cooking utensils, table cloths, etc at yard and estate sales - I've gotten such beautiful things for a tenth or less of the original price. I bought a pampered chef microwave pot brand new for $2, it's on Amazon for $40. Some of the girls clothes are used from consignment shops, kids grow so fast I occasionally find some really good buys. 95% of our furniture has come from Facebook Marketplace or estates sales - you get the idea. Even the house we live in was bought at 1/4 of what's it's worth today - doing the cleaning and work yourself saves you.

I've said before brand new only lasts as long as it's not in your house, the second you bring it through the door it's used, isn't it? And yes, you do have to be careful - the last thing we want to do is bring home unwanted visitors hiding but we dont' buy anything we're not sure of and certainly nothing dirty. We  have a beautiful leather living room set we purchased for $300 and refurbished ourselves, the iron and wood coffee table - $15. Our replacement chandeliers - new in the box and $5 apiece, scrounged from a hoarder sale. I love hoarder sales - I bought a large  tote for $20 a few months ago full of wrapped packages - they were brand new pelicans of every size and shape you can imagine. I only kept a few but the amusement value was off the charts and a lot people are now the proud owners of pelicans thanks to me. You're welcome! Not everything worked out of course, David refuses to entertain the idea of a bidet gently sprinkling his nether region and really nixed buying one at a yard sale. But other than that he's been onboard.

And the benefits! We of course save money because we don't spend a lot, when we retire we'll have to watch our spending, but we WILL be able to retire. I do plan on working a few more years though, I really like my job and it's pretty low stress - plus you know, money. One of the things I was surprised we save money on is trash collection, because we've drastically reduced our output we only have it picked up twice a month, we put out about 3 bags a month now. We save alot not buying pre-cooked or pre-packaged foods, dishes are washed as are containers. We recycle and reuse the bananas out of everything. This spring I'm planning on starting a compost pile to further reduce the trash with the goal of being able to just cancel it and David can bring what little we produce to the dump. I find I enjoy the challenge of it too, it's much more fun to find the things you wanted at a estate sale then simply take it off a shelf. Onward!

 

The Farm Report

So, I'm finally feeling better better - my larger incisions are still a bit sore but other than that I'm back to it. Work was a bit crazy coming  back, I'd been sick and out for so long it was hard to get started again, but last week was much smoother I think.  We went with Kim and Steve yesterday to celebrate his birthday a bit early, they drove here and then we drove them to Longview as there's a brewery there we've been dying to try. Scythe Brewing is in an industrial part and when you drive up it looks like a plumbing warehouse. But you walk in and it's this beautiful, huge restaurant brewery with soaring ceiling and fireplaces. Super fun and the food and beer were amazing. So, that was yesterday.  

Today I tackled the green house, or more specifically the Dutch Buckets which did not fare well. The thing with Oregon weather is we DO occasionally get a cold spell, snow, ice etc..., but it will only last a week or so and then you're back in the 40s/50s. The green house is largely unheated but I do have a small heater if I need to use it. The hydro unit has done wonderful, I am still picking lettuce daily and have shared the overload with neighbors and friends. And you don't pick it all in one go - it's just like a garden, you only take what you're going to eat and leave the rest, it just continues to grow.  But it more than survived the 20 degrees we had - the reservoir sits on the floor which is actually a deck but the unit itself sits high up so the water doesn't get that cold. The buckets however, sit directly on the deck and the water got so cold it froze the plant roots and killed the plants. Except one and one thing of lettuce. Because  of my lifting restrictions I've had to let it just sit there full of zombie plants which stare at me in the most accusing way every time I come out to get salad. Ugh. 

This morning I put my boots on and spent most of the morning emptying and scrubbing down everything - and it's a lot! Everything is reusable with the exception of the starter plugs so it all needed to be soaked with hydrogen peroxide and dish soap,, rinsed ,dried, stored - I managed to save one passive dutch bucket which will hopefully survive. This has been an ongoing learning experience - David had mentioned we could have moved the buckets into the sunroom or they could have lived there for the winter. I couldn't move them after they were set up because the air stones are all on one unit, if you disconnect them the water runs out of the bucket. Oh well, I am starting another round of seeds today and then after that I have to get fertilizer for my garden  and get started on that. Here it warms up much sooner than back in PA, Last year I think I had everything in the ground by early April and my hydro until started producing around May. So we shall see!!

 

Have Yourself A Merry Little Christmas

As you might imagine Christmas this year was a bit weird. I'm still working on getting better and I can actually stay up til about 3 now before I poop out - progress. Kim and Steve do Christmas with their daughter and son in law in St Helen's. Our house is right on the way  and usually Brandi needs to be on her way home on Christmas or early the next day due to work. I do the big Christmas dinner midafternoon on Christmas Eve, then Christmas day is present opening and eating left overs in our pjs. The girls love it because they have the whole day sprawling out in front of them to eat candy and play with all thier new stuff - what's not to like? David was running the ship this year from shopping to most of the cooking to clean up - we had a few mishaps but nothing too major. The biggest was he did the shopping on Wednesday and knew you had to defrost the turkey - he put it on the stove meaning to ask me but I was sleeping........ and I found a defrosted turkey breast in a pool of water the next morning. So for Christmas the dogs got 9 pounds of premium turkey breast. Which they're still working on. And will be til New Years.

Brandi got here around 11 after a long and tedious drive, we'd had an ice storm which was melting but she said there were patches of black ice and her car got tidal waved multiple times on the highway, her top speed was barely 60, but she got here. Kim and Steve made it past the downed power lines, the downed trees and the now famous landslide in Astoria.... but we were all here! I had a fun time but was by the time everyone left I was completely wiped out - back to bed with an ice pack. Brandi took care of bathtime, pjs, etc... The girls slept with mom upstairs so after they went to bed we finished wrapping gifts, hung  out and then back to bed. Christmas morning was so much fun - chaotic, but fun. Jackson was on video so he could watch - it's so funny. Adults open each gift, thank the giver, etc.... Kids? It's like letting rabid ferrets loose, the  paper is flying, screaming and jumping, they ripped through the entire pile in less than  15 minutes while simultaneously shoving candy in as fast as they could. Then of course it ALL has to come out of the packaging so we can see what we got, then everyone spends the hours looking for the seashell barette that came with the fairy that is the size of an eraser. 

Brandi headed back around lunch time  after brunch, the girls are staying until New Year, they have a two week vacation this year. I go for my follow up with the surgeon tomorrow, it was supposed to be last week but due to the weather got moved. I am working from home Wed and Friday, possible Thursday depending on what the doctor says. Then we have then Saturday and Sunday - then they go home. I'm hoping by the weekend I will feel good enough to do something fun with them, not that I haven't. With David's help we did do gingerbread houses, decorated the tree, etc... but it was pretty limited. He also got in a few days of duck hunting, he's actually off hunting today. It's been raining since Friday and the rest of the week is rain too so it will be inside stuff for the remainder of their visit. They arent' complaining - we have a ton of new stuff to play with so I guess it all worked out in the end. 

 

Great Galloping Gallstones

First off I can't believe it's been since AUGUST since my last post - I'll try to do better. I tend to blog in my head, but I guess getting it from point A to point B can be the sticking point. December has been unkind, for the first time in my entire life I had the Flu. It was bad enough to stay home and work but I can work from home - so I did. I didn't use any sick time at all and only had to reschedule one visit so I was pretty pleased. Last week I went to the office on Monday and worked the whole day - I had taken some vacation for when the girls were here  with  all sorts of Christmas stuff planned.  That night however - I thought I had heartburn, I didn't eat anything weird, hmm. I could not get comfortable, it got worse - I sent David upstairs as I was up and down, up and down. At 2am I took a turn for the worse (worser?) and commenced puking.  David got up and took me to the ER around 3am.  I saw the triage nurse and then went back to sit, 2 hours later I asked if I would be seen, the woman at the desk was very apologetic, the back was full and not moving.

We left at 6:30 am. 

At 11 am David packed me up again to Kaiser Urgent care, we were seen pretty quickly. They drew blood and ran an IV for dehydration, my labs came back normal but the MD noted my white count was very high. He thought it might be  a virus and said if I wanted they could do a CT to rule out anything , I said yes and then changed my mind while waiting. Take me home, but David said no, just do this one thing and then I'll take you. I waited, asked to go home 14 more times, had the scan and then back because the MD wanted me to wait just in case. When they said an hour - I honestly Could Not. The MD said I could go and he would call if anything came of it. We were a mile from home when my phone rang  telling me to go right back to the ER. Can I do it in the morning? No, I needed to come back now. We ran home, I packed a backpack, let the dogs out and back we went. I got settled in the ER - David had packed me a pillow and blanket and then I sent him home. I knew nothing would happen that night and he was beyond exhausted. I was given a room in the ER - my gallbladder was extremely infected and swollen, the reason I had to come back was it was close to perforation. Yeeha. They were so nice - I had pjs and slippers to change into which made all the difference in the world. I ran fevers, they ran antibiotics - I could not seem to retain that I'd be having surgery as soon as I was afebrile. I was surprised every single time - after the 4rth time they just stopped telling me. I went straight from the ER to surgery at 8:30am

Surgery went smoothly and at 2pm I was discharged to home, it was laproscopic so I had 5 incisions. Of course complicating things was I still had a nasty cough from the flu so that was really fun. David went to pick up the girls on Friday - and no, we didn't want to cancel. David is fully able to care for them and I was able to do some quiet activities with them - I just have to take frequent breaks. I've used up all the sick time I didn't use when I had the flu, I feel like it's been years since I've been to work! But I am getting better and so glad it was not was worse! And very glad David insisted on the CT scan instead of going home like I wanted. 

 

The Very Bad, Very Awful Horrible Week.

It happens sometimes, but why does it always happen at once? We had the girls the previous week - this year since they're older we take them for 8 days a month and that has been going very well. I work from home a lot so I could be around if  needed and they had a ball. David dropped them off Sunday morning and that is where my tale of woe begins. Every couple of years David takes our expenses - cell phone, internet, insurance, etc and re-evaluates. We dropped the umbrella policy, got cheaper and better car insurance, went from Verizon (that has been steadily going up) and got T Mobile. When we were there we also signed up for their internet service as ours was closing in on 60 a month, T Mobile was half of that. And for a week and half it worked great - until it didn't. Our house is ALL connected so when the internet goes out it's a problem, plus I work from home most of the time. I called and spent TWO hours on the phone with the tech, back on line. then had to drive into the store and got a new tower. This was while the girls were here and I was working, it was fun. Lots of fun. But I was back online and figured we could switch to the new tower after the girls left. I've also been having some problems with increased heart rate and some shortness of breath, concerning but it could wait. SO Monday I"m working and I also emailed my PCP, 

Around 3 or so the internet goes down again and it's super out. David heads to the store again and I do what I can. Then Kaiser emails me and asks me to call the triage nurse who promptly tells me to to go to the ER  because I might have a PE(yes, they did email me, that's Kaiser).. I don't think I do....but you know. ARRGH. So I call David and no, I don't want him to come, I feel fine aside from the aforementioned issues and there is no reason for both of us to sit around the ER - it's about 4pm by now. He gets home and proceeds - I kid you not - to spend FOUR HOURS on the phone with the "tech". The tech keeps panicking and leaving and coming back, they reboot, take the sim card in and out, factory reset, move it, turn it on turn it off, reset, move it.....a whole afternoon of assholery. Meanwhile I am stuck in ER Hell because there is no way to tell if I;m ok without extensive testing. Assessment, bloodwork, Xray, CT scan, more bloodwork, IV to flush out the dye - I got home around 11 pm still short of breath but with a whole bunch of things not wrong with me. Hopefully my phone call on Thursday will go better. We still had no internet so I'm at work at 7am the next morning and now have to go into the office daily. David returns all the T Mobile towers and  Zipley is coming on Thursday to put it back on. He had actually called the tech that morning to give it one more try but the tech - this is insane -looks at the notes from the last call and tells him he can't help him! What kind of service just does that???Ugh. Our phones still have internet but no TV, no Alexa,no tablet, etc... we are like well dressed Amish people. Well, maybe better dressed. 

So. Wednesday I am scheduled for my last COVID booster which I'm on the fence about. I get bad reactions but I am also out in the field seeing a very medically vulnerable population so I decided to do it. When I get up the next morning, I am a little achy and tired so I called off - I have over 3 weeks of sick time banked so not a worry. About 9 am I'm back in bed, shaking from chills, everything hurts, I think I have a fever.....and then the guy from Zipley comes to hook up the internet. David just shuts the bedroom door leaving me  with my canine nurses - Dutch likes to test my reflexes by squashing a kidney every 20 minutes. But then we have internet again and I watch the final episode of the last season of Stranger Things on my little Alexa in the bedroom and by dinner time I'm sitting upright. I work a half day on Friday from home and get my stuff organized, finally feeling better. The weekend has gone better - we did a little yardsaling which is more that we were just driving around. We came across a gun show so in we went, I looked around but mainly sat and played on my phone while David perused the latest in weaponry. Got coffee and watching the Matrix. Thank goodness. 

 

Not Babies Anymore

The last day of school was the 17th - last day of kindergarten and we are now the proud owners of First Graders. They no longer look like preschoolers, they're long and skinny - accented by the fact they seem to be inheriting thier father's height. When I bought them new clothes all I could think was this can't possibly fit - but it does. A little sadness for the toddler/preschoolers that are well in the rear view mirror. Thosae chubby arms and legs are stilts, they eschew any clothes deemed "babyish" and the battle cry is often "I can do it myself!" Big kids talk to them and thier eyes light up in admiration that an older kid paid attention to them and it's retold in great detail. And that's what they aspire to, to being a big kid and being able to do so much more. 

How did those days speed by so fast? 

I blinked and it was gone.

But as one age ends, another begins. Six is such a fun age - they're old enough to dress themselves but they dress like Elton John. Once they brush thier hair they have no problem letting you braid it - the fancier the better. They are so much fun to take out, both the girls can sit through a meal now and we can go out without having to chase one while having an iron grip on the other. This time around we took them with us to Seaside to visit Aunt Kim and Uncle Steve, they decided to show off thier (LOUD) singing skills by singing "Chicken wing, chicken wing, hot dog and balony, fucking macaroni"........ - I almost fell off the sidewalk and Uncle Steve instantly declared this was his new favorite song. I said what did you sing and they sang it again, insisting this was the correct words. FYI it is CHICKEN and macaroni but not a battle I wanted to fight downtown Seaside so we just stopped the singing for now. We ate lunch at Sams where Nana had a beer to help her get past the singalong. They had a great time and liberally complimented the guy bringing the food that he was the BEST EVER. They told the waitress she was beautiful many times. C and D are very complimentary and honestly I've seen them light people up - it reminds me it's never a bad idea to compliment people. 

We went to the arcade and they had a blast of course - favorite games were shooting and driving race cars, C managed to not only shoot all the pirates but then sank the ship - we know who will be Poppop's hunting buddy. It was a lot of fun and Aunt Kim gave us her points so we could get extra prizes - a fun afternoon! This visit has been a bit more low key, one of the perks of them being more independent is I don't have to take days off from work, David takes them to the park and I can work with them here, they can amuse themselves. The loft office gets a great deal of traffic - I have a teapot and china sets for them so lunch is always  a tea party while Nana works. I bought a low table so they can do playdough, draw, etc while I'm working. The downside is the dogs often join us so it will be me, girls, both dogs, Bob the Cat in my 7 x 7 office and Poppop has the other 2000 feet to himself.  When I'm off work we do art projects and bake, play on the swings and wading pool, the days go by pretty fast. We were doing pretty good this time around accident-wise until Dutch whacked C in the eye with his tail this morning giving her a red peeper, but she recovered pretty quickly. Oh well, we tried. They will be heading home in a couple of days but will be back a couple of times over the summer. I never thought in a million years I would be one of those doting grandparents with the best granddaughters in the world - 

But here I am!