One of my happy places

 

Awww… I needed that! I had a great few days in the mountains. I just love that little Inn, and I’m afraid it won’t be there much longer. It’s run by two sisters and the husband of one of them. Maintaining the garden’s alone would be a huge chore and then, of course, taking care of their guest and the rooms. The sister I spoke with sounded doubtful that they would be able to keep it opened much longer. I understand, they aren’t much younger than me, but I will miss this place when it’s gone.

Here are a few pictures:

 

I sat here and wrote for several hours.

 

I met other people out here and had a little wine.

And here are just some of their beautiful flowers.

 

All the guest I met were nice and friendly and I enjoyed talking with them. I’d tell them I was up there writing and that usually piqued their interest. Of course, most asked what I wrote. I gave them my usual spiel, “I mostly write romance, but I was tired of reading about twenty-year-olds and my main couple is above sixty.” I’d go on to say, “It basically a sweet little old couple mixed with Fifty Shades of Gray.”

I loved watching their reactions! Most of the women’s eyes sparkled as they laughed. “Well, that sounds interesting!” They’d tell me. And would give them one of my business cards. Once in a great while I’d get a frozen stare and a frosty, “Oh.” I didn’t bother wasting my cards on them. But I’m happy to say that most of the people I talked with seemed very receptive.

I was able to get a lot written. The end of the book is in sight – I’m not there yet, but it’s coming.

I'm off to the mountains

 … and I’m loving it! I’m on the trip I've been looking forward to. I’m in the mountains, where it cooler (still not really cool, but…) and I get to do nothing but write for the next few days. Internet is not the best here, which may keep me more on task.

 

This is the beautiful place. I’ve posted about it often. It old and quaint. Each room has a nice ceiling fan and a screen door. Open the back window and you get a nice breeze through the room.  

The gardens here are beautiful too. These folks put in a lot of work on them. I’ll post pictures when I get home. There are several places out in the gardens where I can sit and write. In the evening people usually gather under the pergola for a little wine.

 

I’m right at the edge of town so I can walk to tons of little shops, several good restaurants, and most important a wonderful ice cream shop.

Now it’s time to buckle down and get this book finished.

Today's the day!

It’s my anniversary! I began blogging sixteen years ago today. I can still capture the excitement I felt when I found these blogs back in 2006. I was coming off a really bad time medically. In the spring of 2006 I was feeling a thousand times better and determined not to waste a minute. What a joy it was to find people like me who not only enjoyed spanking but were willing to talk about it and share their stories and their advice. I truly felt like a kid in a candy shop with unlimited funds!

 

People have come and gone over the years, but the friends I’ve made have been the best in the world, both those I’ve only met online and those I’ve been privileged to meet in person. It’s true that blogging has changed a great deal over that time. I’m so glad I was here for the heyday of blogging, at least it felt that way. Back then there were so very many people blogging and commenting, it was like a little party every day. The crowd is smaller now, but I still love reading what everyone posts. And I still feel a rush of joy at every comment I get.

 

I won’t be out here forever, but I’ll be here as long as I enjoy it and people stop by to read to say hello.

This must stop!

I took the time to count yesterday and I got seventeen, SEVENTEEN nuisance calls! This is getting out of hand. They all came in on our land line and I'm not ever sure why we still have that - you'll have to ask Nick. The phone usually says that it's a  span risk so I just answer and hang-up in the same motion. But it's still very annoying! Is there any way to stop this?

Why now?

What do you guys know about blood pressure? I know it’s called the silent killer and I’m trying to keep it reigned in, but it’s fighting me. I’ve been on BP medicine for years, 10 mg. a day. Fine, no problem. But it was a little high at the doctor’s office the other day and she wanted me to go to 20mg. I follow doctor’s orders, so I went to 20 mg. I began taking my BP several times a day at home to keep up with it. 

 

On the higher dose my first check of the day was 167/116, ridiculous! After four days of high reading, I took the average of several days and the average was 158/86. I took Nick pressure too to see if my machine was just wrong but as usual his was 120/58. 

 

I called the doctor back with this news and she increased my dose to 40mg. It did go down some after that but certainly not where I want it to be. I took another average for the past five days and it was 142/79. That seems too high for me.

 

I called the doctor back with this information and talked to the nurse. I’m guessing they will be back with me sometime today. I’m also seeing my heart doctor today for an ultrasound and I’ll be sure mention it to him.

 

Why is this happening now? There have been no changes in my life, my eating habits or anything. I feel I'm at a fairly low stress level. What's happening? I'm of two minds about all this. I both hate going to  doctors and glad that they’re available.

Dog sitting and a word from Fondles

My dog sitting duties will be over by the time you read this. The dogs were good for the most part, but Lucy is still a puppy. A seventy-five pound extremely exuberant puppy. Lucy’s favorite past times are 1) shoving filthy, slobbery toys in your face and praying you’ll wrestle it from her and throw it so she can do it again.

 2) Waking at three in the morning to play. She lets me know by squeezing up near my face while I’m in bed and banging her tail happily against the wall so loudly I can hear her even with my good ear pressed into the pillow. To wake Nick, who is easier to reach, she goes back to the slobbery wet toy in his face. And 3) chewing on her sister, Maggie, who is not a big fan of the chewing game.

 

Maggie tickled me the last morning I had them when she ran to the door, seemingly desperate to get outside and do her business. I obligingly opened the door for her and seeing that Maggie was getting to go out, Lucy ran out first. Then Maggie backed up and went to the writing room for a nice peaceful nap. This dog ain’t stupid.

 

Like I said they are good dogs but I’ll be happy to go back to being a one cat house.

 

Moving on, I checked in on Fondles the other day. She’s doing all right, but as many of us suspected, has her hands full.  She asked me to pass on the following:

Fondlers Anonymous

 

I havent been on my laptop much, ive gone days at a time without turning on the comp.

Im still ok over here but am busy getting stuff sorted out for mum. Ive had a house call doctor, nurse and physio come already. Then a medical assesor from the govt for eligibility for an insurance type payout that we’re putting in a claim for. Nursing foundation had to come in to approve the subsidized home caregiver service (interim-6hours a week until we can find that second live in caregiver) and the social worker has rung and will come on friday to give me forms to fill. 

 

Speech therapist had me run to hosp to pick up a form for subsidised-rate for mum’s thickener, and today dietician rang to talk about applying for subsidy for nutritional supplement that mum’s taking. 

 

Ive also been to the geriatrician to arrange for what they call Community Psycho-Geri programme which means they’ll send someone in to see mum so i dont have to take her to the clinic anymore. 

 

And have also started the process for a home medical service so i wont have to take her in for her usual heart and kidney blood tests either. Its all taking up loads of space in my head! Lol 

 

I guess it’s easy to see that blogging isn’t at the top of her ‘to do’ list.

 

I’m at that yard sale I’ve been dreading. Let’s hope is less than 95 degrees.

This and That

Grandma is back at work babysitting. Mollie is at Disney and her two fur babies are here. I sent Nick the following email this morning, Morning honey. In the future if I should ever tell you that I want a puppy, I don’t. They are really doing well, but they get up earlier than I do. Not fun.

We’re having an estate sale this weekend at Nick’s dad’s. There are few things I dislike as much as a yard sale – the getting ready and the cleaning up parts. And this will be a big one. I’m supposed to help Friday. Woopee.

 

The rest of the month is full too. I have three doctor appointments and a mini vacation coming up. A heart ultrasound, just a recheck from two years ago. Then I have to go back for the results. A few days later I have to go for a breathing test. I had to wear a pulse oximeter last night – a medical company delivered it the day before and then picked it up the next day. 

All I did was asked the doctor why I occasionally wheezed. Geeze, I didn’t want to know this badly. She wanted to do a complete sleep study, but I told her no. I do not what to have to be dependent on one of those cpap machine. I don’t snore and I don’t jerk awake gasping for air. I’ll wait and see what all this other stuff says before I agree to anymore tests. 

 

The vacation coming up is what I’m really looking forward to. More about that later.

Update on Collin and a disaster averted

Here’s a quick update on my boys. Collin got his staples removed yesterday. The doctor seems pleased with his progress and wants him to begin putting more weight on the leg. He walked half a block and back yesterday, still with crutches. It was very tiring for him, but he did it.

Now for their near disaster today. They’d hired a car to take them to the hospital. It took them to a corner with a small quarter-circle drive where you let patients off. While they were standing there a car in the driveway slowly began backing into another car. It moved slowly but it kept coming. LJ was just thinking I don’t want to be standing here, when the car shot forward as fast as it could go. Collin had to hop in his good leg to get away as LJ dove for the other side of the drive. The car continued across a street and smashed into the passenger side of a van and pushed the van up onto the sidewalk smashing it against a donut shop. Thankfully, no one was in the passenger seat. LJ said they would have been badly hurt.

 

LJ told me that there were two older women in the car. I’m guessing the driver finally realized they were rolling back into the first car and stomped the brake – only to hit the gas instead. No one in or out of the car was hurt, but it was a very scary experience. I’m just so glad neither of them got broken again.

 

Today is an anniversary for them. Eighteen years ago today they kissed for the first time. They were both in a local play. Collin was the lead and my sixteen-year-old child was a townsperson. Collin was twenty-six and I was terrified. Not that I knew all this at the time. But all’s well that ends well. 

Collin even spoke of this in his wedding vows. He said, “I remember coming out on a stage in a small town in North Carolina and a boy smiled at me and changed my life.”

 

Their goal to celebrate their anniversary is for Collin to be able to walk to the small bar on their block and they’ll have a drink.

 

LJ will begin his new job at the museum on the fifteenth. The third interview for the other job never happened. He said he felt good about the first two, but they never sat up a third. He emailed but got no response. I think the museum will be perfect for the time being and he does too. I think he’s really looking forward to working there.

 

I know that they still have some problems to overcome, but it looks to me like things are improving. And that’s all I can ask.

 

In case of emergency

Have you ever put together an emergency get away bag? I used to talk to my students about this when I did a course on safety. We discussed things like, “Do you know how to turn the water off in your house if a pipe breaks?” and “If there was a fire in your house, can you open your window and get out?” I encouraged them to go over some of these things with their parents and practice.

 

One topic that got a lot of discussion was an emergency bag. This was something that they could grab in an instant and carry themselves.

I enjoyed the discussion of what should be in this bag. Children and adults have very different ideas.

 

But with the state of the world – I’ve begun thinking about it again. People are forced to leave their home very quickly for a variety of reasons. Fires, a truck accident spilling something toxic, or a fire in some business close by with toxic chemicals that you never even knew about. Often, you’d only be leaving home or a few hours or maybe a few days and then you’re  back, hopefully to an unscathed home.

 

But I took a minute to actually put this bag together. Many of these things are in their own little zip lock bag to make them easier to find in the bag. Everything fits in an ordinary book bag. Here’s my list and what I have in my bag … what have I forgotten?

 

·      Extra underwear (I can wear the same shirt for days, but I want clean drawers!)

·      Shoes, stored beside where I keep my bag. An old but still good pair and a pair of socks in them.

·      Extra cords for my phone and my watch. I’ll grab the computer and its cord if I have time.

·      Knife/scissors

·      Paper and pen

·      Comb or brush

·      Deodorant 

·      Flashlight – solar powered or extra batteries.

·      Emergency radio – I have one you crank to charge it.

·      Band-Aids, antibiotic cream, burn ointment, Ibuprofen, Imodium, eye drops, lip balm.

·      A week’s worth of my prescription and a week’s worth for Nick.  (Note on my phone reminds me to switch these out for new every 4 months.)

·      A couple of bottles of water. No, that won’t last long, but it’s something.

·      Some food, crackers, cookies (I’d change these and the water out at the same time as the medicine.)

·      A half roll of TP flattened – if you really need it, you really need it.

·      Nail clippers and emery board – a torn nail would drive me insane and it does weigh much or take up much room.

·      For us, hearing aid batteries.

·      Baseball cap

·      My most recent old glasses.

·      Work gloves – this may seem silly, but if you crawl out of your basement after a tornado has ripped through your neighborhood, that pair of sturdy shoes and work gloves would come in very handy.

·      Cash

·      Copies of important papers, insurance, and such.

·      A written list of important numbers. What if your phone is lost or not working? How many of your important numbers do you know by heart? 

·      Cat harness and leash. My cat’s never worn one but if I have to grab her and run, I’m going to want it. And a zip lock bag of cat food.

 

There are tons of other things I might want to have with me, but I’m not trying to be a survivalist. I just want a few necessary things that I can carry all this myself in my backpack. I can’t pack to be gone months, but I feel more secure knowing I’d have enough for about three days or so, it’s there, it’s packed, and I can grab it any time. I might even keep it in the car at times. 

You might think of putting one together for you or your family. I think it’s best for each family member to have one. But I could barely get a spare pair of underwear from Nick to stick in my bag, so I know he won’t do it. But it makes me feel a little better knowing it’s all there if I need it.

A little more southern speak

 I love my country.

 I want to wish it a happy and safe birthday.

But I don't agree with everything that's been 

happening lately. 

So to say it in 'southern',

'I'm not in charge.'