May Day

I have always loved May Day.

May Day, with sun and warmth and spring-like smells of new life.  All the Maple trees are that vibrant chartreuse green and the lawns?  Oh my!  The Red Bud trees are deliciously pink as are the Magnolia bushes and that neon yellow of the Forsythia.  Tulips and Daffodils give color to the green growth of future blooming perennials of Lilies and Iris, Peonies and Shasta Daisies.  The Lilacs are starting out, from the top of the bushes downward and already their scent is noticed.  Lovely.

It's all there, in my garden, if you look real hard through the downpour that has been going on for 3 days straight--if you step out on the porch, bundled up in your winter jacket, because it's 48 degrees.

Not exactly the May Day I prefer!!
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Darlene came over Saturday night.  Her brother and his wife had taken Dad to a movie.

It was exactly one year from her minor accident.  Nine different doctors and specialists.  Six months of physical therapy, twice a week.  Another round of MRI's and CAT scans.  There is nothing out of place on any of those scans.  A bit of inflammation near her tail bone--that's it.  Yet she claims to be in severe pain all the time.

Friday she had an appointment, 50 miles away, with a renowned (for the area) Psycho Therapist that deals with pain.  Her appointment was 3 hours long.

She had to fill out a questionnaire of 150 questions--repeated in different formats to see if she gave the same answer each time.  A memory test, in which she scored quite low.  Some sort of brain scan, with wires attached to her head, in which she was asked questions.  When the technician was putting the wires on her head, she had her arm in front of Dar's eyes and Dar jumped up and ran over to the corner of the small room.

#1--she cannot stand for anyone to get that close to her face.  #2--she had the feeling the technician was trying to strap her in the chair and was going to give her shock treatments through the electrodes.  So, they allowed her to stand by the door, that was opened a bit, while they did the test--so she wouldn't feel confined and could run out the door if she needed to,.

Then the doctor came in and talked to her for over an hour.  

She had to recount the accident, or what she could remember about it and she became quite anxious and near hysteria.  Doc thinks she has PTSD.  The accident was a minor rear-ender with only a small repairable dent in her back bumper and no front-end damage to the other car.

The doc flat out told her, she has magnified the accident into an "unreal" major incident.  That her mind has locked into it and the pain she is feeling?  Purely in her mind, feelings, emotions.

He can help her with the (imagined) pain, through talk therapy and hypnosis.

She claims she cannot be hypnotized and so there is no reason for her to go back to him!
She will not allow herself to be hypnotized because she is afraid of what will happen while she is "out".  I tried to explain the whole process to her and that she wouldn't be "out", but............

When she left, I walked out with her as far as my mail box, we were talking all the way, and I talked to her as she walked the few steps to her house.  She walked right along, as straight and flexible as can be.  I did that on purpose, to see if my talking could distract her from the pain she usually displays when she walks.

Well, we've known for years that Dar is a mental mess.  I've seen her weird actions so many times.  Now, she has even given up reading her Bible and praying, which was such a great part of her life.  She said, "It doesn't make any sense to me anymore.  God has left me and I don't know how to find Him again."

I told her, "This is the time when you should be praying more.  You are trying to control everything again and you know--you can't do that.  God hasn't left you...you have allowed your mind to be so filled with all this junk--imaginations, fears, jumbled thoughts...there isn't any room for God."

That doesn't sound very kind, but Dar reacts better to straight, sometimes hard talk.

"I know.  You're right." she said.
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AND--I best get too it! 

WHEW!!

I've been absorbed with the latest genealogy I am doing.  So absorbed that I had no desire to write a post and, there's nothing else going on here.

I got stuck!  I had no problems finding all I needed for the father's side of the family, but when I started the mother's side?  Three generations up and could not find the parents.  Nowhere could I find that guy's parents.  Not a birth record.  Not a census listing his parents.  Not a marriage or death record that listed them.

I perused State records, not listed in Ancestry.com, but just in Internet State records.  Nothing.
I Googled his name.  Nothing.  I spent hours searching.  Uncharged hours because I didn't feel it was fair to charge my client for the hours I spent searching for something I KNEW HAD to be there and I just couldn't find!  That was Thursday.

I took a break and got my hair cut.  I had been trying to get an appointment with the new stylist I have at Fantastic Sam's.  They don't DO pre-appointments.  You call the day you want and see if your stylist has an opening.  (I hate that!)  So Thursday, I had to run into Brighton and figured, as long as I was in town, I'd just drop in and see.  I was at the point where I'd take ANYONE to get the long hair off my neck!  Well, I walked in and asked and it just happened that the stylist was sitting in her chair with no customer.  

YAY!  I was outta there in 30 minutes.  I don't really like it there.  Not much personal interaction.  I had known my last hair stylist for 14 years.  She had done my daughter's and grand daughter's hair and that's how I found her.  She knew most everything about me and me, her.  Then she died and they set me up with another one in that salon, and we got pretty well acquainted.  Then she decided to get her own salon, many miles out of town and three round-abouts to get to her.

Karen recommended this stylist as her friend goes there and the stylist DOES know how to cut short hair.  But....it's kind of like a drive-thru oil change place.  You go in, you get your hair washed and cut and out you go.  When she was done with the cut, she whipped off the cape around me and headed off to turn her ticket into the cashier.  By the time I got to the cashier, the stylist was gone.

Bada Boom, Bada Bing.  No "Hi how are you?".  No,, "Thanks, have a nice day." In you go and out you go.  I did get a decent cut this time, after she finally relented to cut it shorter in back.  She "thinks" (I guess) that I want fringes hanging down the back of my neck.  When she was done, I asked for a mirror so I could see the back and then asked her to cut it much shorter.  "Shape it in from the sides to that natural point I have on the back of my neck.  I don't want to look in a mirror and see any hair hanging down behind my ears."  She did!  I don't think she likes it that way, but it was perfect!

It only costs $17.00, which is half what I used to pay, so--------in and out we go and no chit chat!
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Friday morning I got right back into the genealogy.  I was searching again--places I had already been, thinking I had missed something.  Then--all of a sudden, a message came up on the monitor that asked if I wanted to link into another search program.  It is not connected to Ancestry.com, but can be linked (like Ancestry) into the program I use to collect, sort, record and store all my information.  

What the heck, right?  Why not.  I opened an account, it's free, when it came up, I put in the name and--Oh My Gosh--there he was and his parents and his parents and on and on back 11 generations!!!

YOWZA!!!  What a gold mine!

So that's how I spent Friday--and that's why I didn't post on here. 

Onward and upward I go.  Printing out information, scanning records, inputting the info into my Family Tree Maker.  I also ordered two brand new inkjet cartridges and a box of the special paper I use because.....I am going to be writing and putting the book together sometime next week!

YAY!!!

Life is Humming Along

It was 81 degrees today and a bit sticky and I am probably the only one in Michigan complaining about it.  I have a fine tuned preference for 68-75 degrees and humidity around 40%.  When the humidity gets real high, it makes me physically sick.  I had a bad heat stroke when I was 15 and ever since then............  I took the cover off the air conditioning unit this afternoon--just in case, but I guess it is going to cool down a bit the rest of the week.

I spent all morning on the genealogy.  I wanted to get a hair cut, but my stylist at Fantastic Sam's was all booked up.  At that place, you cannot make an appointment ahead of time.  You have to call the morning you want your cut and get a spot in the schedule.  I called at 10:04 and was told the stylist I wanted was booked up until 7:00pm.

Now, I ask you, if I called 4 minutes after they opened, how many calls came in before that to fill up my stylist's schedule?  I "think" they are allowing people to call the day before, but they sure won't let me do it.

So, I will try tomorrow and if she is "booked" I will just ask for someone who knows how to cut short hair.  My hair is long and thick and hot right now.
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At 7:00, I walked up to visit Pearl and Merle, but couldn't find them home, so I walked across the street to visit Dar and her Dad.  Her Dad now sits out in front of the house, in a chair, in the sun, with his shirt off.  Now to see a 95 year old man shirtless can be a bit staggering.  I don't know why he doesn't sit in the sun in the back yard, but.............................

Dar showed me her new Smart Phone--some kind of fancy thing I will tell you.  You can talk to it and tell it where you want to go and the GPS will talk back as you drive along.  Talk about distraction!

Then she told me how many On Demand movies they watch on TV--those cost $4.99 to watch and they watch 2 a day.

Then she started telling me about the new sneakers she got.

" I was told to get a good support shoe  Now, you know I don't like to spend money (oh really?), so Dad and I walked around the store for about 3 hours, talking about it.  Then I decided......................."

Just then Dad threw his hands up in the air and said, "Just show her the damn shoes!"

I just about chocked on my laughter and said, "We gotta hear the story first, Mickey." he rolled his eyes.

She went and got them and took them out of the box.  They are slip-ons.  Sketchers.  I don't see as how they are very good in the support department, but.........................................
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I got my January cross stitch project--finally--mounted on the foam core.  I could not find a frame narrow enough or long enough.  So I just put a nice heavy backing on it and glued a hanger on the back.

Up above the back door it went.  It just fits that 6" space.

Good Day

Another day of windows and doors open to let in the 72 degree air.  My gosh.  I love this time of year!!  

All of my windows have blinds.  I hate the top of the blinds contraption to show.  Therefore, I am obsessed with Valances.  I was sitting in the bathroom looking at my back door last weekend and I thought to myself, "It has no character.  Just a back door, with a window and blinds.

So, when I went to Walmart yesterday, I bought a tension rod = $2.37, screwed it out to the correct width and put one of the valances I took out of the den and put on it.

I love it!!  Dressed it up a bit.  Considering the fact I rarely use that door, I don't think it will ever get in my way.

The garden around the Lilac bushes that Karen edged for me.

Hostas coming up in there too.

The view out my kitchen window by my table.

I have another surprise for tomorrow.  A cross stitch I was working on that is now blocked and stretched on foam core.

The weather outside is delightful, but my Dear you are so frightful..........

.....wait.  That's not the way that songs goes, is it?

The weather IS delightful!!  low to mid 70's--my perfect temperature.  Still in the cool 40's at night.  No annuals planted in Michigan as yet--we all know about last frosts and even late snow.

I am waiting for this next weekend.  That is when I am going to haul my garden and porch decorations out of the shed, hang up the wind chimes, bring out the pots and get them situated where they belong.

I need to paint the porch steps and the railings--the squirrels I feed all winter have done a bad number on my porch railings.  Dug off the paint and gotten the railings all dirty with their little muddy paws!

Today, I worked all morning on the newest genealogy, laundry was chugging away in the washer.  Every time I took a bathroom break, I'd fold the ones in the dryer, throw in the wet ones and put another load in the washer.

At noon I took my break.  Noon news and weather, small sandwich, then my Soap and at 2:00 the TV goes off.  I usually get back to the computer work, but today I had to make a run up to the Walmart.  It was pretty quiet today.  I had to get wet and dry cat food, litter, Scotch Tape and typing paper and a tension rod for something I want to try.  Also some fruit and salad makings for me and of course, the obligatory Diet Pepsi. and gallon of milk.  HAH!
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I have never seen my Tulips open this wide!

...and the Gold Finches are back!!!!!!! 

Which reminds me, I must get my bird bath situated.

If my tension rod idea works, I will show you tomorrow.

A Good Week----------------------

Kathleen Gentile, thank you so much for the lovely card, which touched my heart, and the information clipping.  I DO get help with my Medicare insurance.  Thank Goodness.

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I am hoping to get back on the daily post bandwagon.  I'm trying to get everything  organized once again.  I cannot believe how tied to this computer I have become.  Face Book starts and ends each day.  Plus, I had 256 e-mails to go through, bills to pay and a new genealogy to start.

You know how I get when I am researching a genealogy!  Time flies by.  I am so engrossed in the search.  Just when I think I have found all that I can on a person--there's another tiny clue that needs to be investigated.  I am trying to keep myself at 4 hours on the genealogy and then get out of this room and do whatever household chores I have to do.

I forgot one item when I was spring cleaning.  I need to strip my bed and flip my memory foam topper.  I remember how heavy that thing is an how unwielding it is to maneuver.  I gotta do it though.  Don't be scared for me--I don't have to climb anything.  HAH!

Did I tell you, Karen came over on Tuesday to help me do some outside chores?  She cleaned up that large oval garden I have around my Lilac bushes--she wanted to mulch, but I have too many spring bulbs and Hosta's coming up right now--we need to wait.

Then she hefted a couple of plastic storage boxes out of my office closet for me to put things in.  Then she ironed the new office curtains while I sat in here, on my desk and put them on their rods.  What a great help she was!!!

I am done with Physical therapy.  Glad to report that my neck and shoulder are doing great.  I had 5 sessions left on Medicare for the year, so I had her work on my lower back.  Lost cause!!  All the PT did was irritate it and make it inflamed and it hurts worse now, than when she started.  HAH!!!  When a person has herniated discs, arthritis and spinal stenosis, there isn't much to be done to help.

I have heard people discussing taking Turmeric supplements to help with arthritis.  I read up on it and knew I probably couldn't take it.  Anything that has the words "anti-inflammatory" on the label is off limits for me because they all interact with the blood thinners.  So no--Advil, Alleve, Naproxen, Aspirin, Vitamin E, Fish Oil--nothing like that.  I can take Tylenol which helps hardly at all.  Even though I knew I "probably" couldn't take it, I did call the doctor to ask.  He said, "Absolutely not."

We got about 2 inches of rain yesterday and none of the predicted severe thunderstorms, thank goodness.  We did need the rain.  All of our spring flowers look much better than they did a year ago.  My Forsythia had few blooms on it last spring, this year it is loaded and gleaming beautiful bright yellow.

Guess there's nothing else going on around here.  Hope you have a great weekend.

Honey Pie

Honey Pie or HP, as her initials are on the front of her, is back from the computer hospital.  A bit longer than we thought as Honey Pie was 19% away from a massive stroke where she would have lost all her memory and everything stored in her brain.  Consequently, Honey Pie's hospital bill was about $130.00 more than expected.  

Good thing I requested she have a colonoscopy as she was stuffed with cat fur and dust.  Then she was given a new "cloned" brain and everything stored in her old brain was transferred over to that.  2GB's were added to her heart--free of charge.

She is alive and well, and faster than when she was a young girl.
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I worked on cleaning her room all day Monday and part of Tuesday, so the only time I really started missing her a lot, was Tuesday night and Wednesday. 

The house was entirely clean.  There was nothing to do Wednesday morning, but I managed to find a good documentary about the Hatfields and McCoys to watch on the History Channel.

Then I watched my Soap.  The hospital called at 2:30, with her release, but I had PT at 3:00, so I had to wait and go pick her up at 4:30.

When we got home is was raining like crazy, but I got her into the house.  I think she gained weight while she was in hospital.  What good PT did to my back was ruined by my having to lift and carry her into the house.  

But she's home and now I can get back to my computer work.  YAY!!!
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Washing Windows Video

Dusting the Monster