halt stop forget relax

My daily posting for NaBloPoMo is over. I made it through four weeks of trying to come up with things to say. It was dismal some of the time, thankfully not always, but ... when you have nothing to say, don't say it. And the Olympics are over! Go USA with so many medals! Go athletes for attempting many impossible things, and often succeeding! Go CANADA for winning the Hockey Gold in overtime. It seems only right - that outcome - this Olympics. I have no more to add. Good Night, TTYL and Be Well,

Our Chapter President, a member of just two and a half years, was named WOY, and boy was she surprised. Apparently she was talking with her sister on the phone this afternoon, and her sister asked her if she thought she'd win. "Are you Kidding!?" was her reply, but win she did. The chapter voted at our last meeting by secret ballot, and she was crowned tonight with a nice tiara, given the royal drape (which used to hang in a member's childhood home - but it is velvet and it is royal purple), and the royal scepter (a fringe-y dollar store toilet brush that's been spray-painted gold, and a lovely bouquet of verrrry old dusty, dingy, rumpled silk red roses. Lovely honor, no? Also, she gets to plan the next year's WOY festivities. With help, of course. But seriously, she was given another bouquet of real roses and nice vase, and a lovely ceramic firepot for a small patio, both of which I could tell she loved. I know she spends a lot of time on her patio in the ...

And so what! Everyday is Friday, or a weekend, or a Monday, to me. I thought about getting my hair cut today, but by the time I got up and dressed, there was no time. She probably would have been booked anyway. I'll try to get up earlier tomorrow and see if she can work me in at around 4 PM, if not, then okay. What's the big deal, you ask? Well, it's my sorority's Woman of the Year dinner. A new look might be fun. Besides, the long hair is getting harder to wash and rinse without running out of hot water. I know, sux to be me. Maybe I'll just get a trim, and get bangs again. I don't know. If I don't like the bangs, they take forever to grow out. I swore I'd never have them again, because I don't want to have to keep going to get my hair trimmed. That's how my hair has gotten this long. It's past my bra strap in the back, by the way, and it's mostly brown with the gray coming in evenly like highlights. And it's more than 20% gray, so L...

I am missing some of my favorite TV shows! Oh well, next week they'll be back. Also, next week starts with my first PT session. I have scheduled most of them for mid afternoon, but I think Monday's is at 2 PM instead of 3:30. No matter, I (or shall I say we) haven't yet gotten into a routine for me to do my exercises. I do some when standing at the counter, and I can make sure my legs are straight, and my cue for sliding my foot out to the side is "lead with my heel." That usually prompts the proper position. What I need help with are the quad and ham stretches. I might be able to manage the quads by sitting on the side of the bed, but the hams require that my foot remain straight, and it just (since I know I have flat feet I will assume) pronates , meaning I don't get a very good ham stretch. But we will work this out, some together, and some on my own. I am not a particularly disciplined person; never have been, in anything I ever did. But I always managed...

As I watch these 2010 Winter Olympics, I am thinking about the incredible fitness of these athletes, and the hours upon hours of training they have put in to master their sport. Then there's me, disabled and struggling and complaining (already, and before the fact) about trying to do the smallest of things, about getting tired after what amounts to ten minutes of effort. I revel in watching what these people can do with their bodies. The aerial skiers amaze me, as did the snowboarders, the slalom skiers, the speed skaters, the short track skaters, the figure skaters.... well, you get the picture. They all amaze me, and I struggle with trying not to feel sorry for myself. It is not like me to feel sorry for myself, because this MS thing? It is what it is, and that's all it is. Good Night, TTYL and Be Well,

I think the reality of my profound physical weakness hit me today. I felt like doing nothing. Not a thing. Unless you count sleep - it is my favorite thing to do, after all. All that talk about doing exercises did me in, I'm afraid. It's probably more like bonafide depression, and not ennui, that I'm feeling, but this will pass. I know better than to just sit around feeling sorry for myself. Everything is taking too much effort today. Slogging through molasses is how I put it once at a student PT clinic a few years ago. That ever-present question that PTs ask their clients, "How are you feeling?" I said that I felt like I was slogging through molasses, and we both started laughing at the silliness of my response. It presented a mental image that was accurate for me on that day. One that needed no explanation. Heck, who wants to bore your PT? Shannon is my PT who will be working with me. I told her my goals were to improve my leg strength and to make sure DH le...

Today was my evaluation at PT. It sucked, yet wasn't horrible. The anticipation wasn't bad; the being so tired afterward, especially since I didn't do anything, sucked. I have no routine set up to do my exercises. Next week, and for all of March, I will be going twice a week - on Monday and Thursday afternoons. This will help us to get back on a daily schedule, night owls that we are. My focus will be on strengthening my quads and hams and my gluteus medius (?) which assists with leg abduction. I am to do slight squats at the counter, and then slide my leg out laterally, ten times, twice a day. It doesn't sound like much, but I sure can feel it when I'm done. Then there are the seated ham stretches; the hardest part of those are keeping my feet straight as they want to flop out (thus the little bit of foot drop I've been noting.) Finally, the quad stretches done either seated on the edge of the bed with one foot on the floor, or lying prone and raising my foo...

Boy did I sleep in today. Once again my schedule is turned every which way. I may have been vampiric in another life, because I am drawn to, and feel most awake at three AM! In the past two Summers, which were really warm, I so enjoyed sitting out on the patio at that time, playing on my laptop. I wonder how this Summer will be, given that this Winter has been very warm. Anyway, my friend G, who was hit by the car, has come down with something, and she's not keeping food down and has become dehydrated, so she has been put back into Harborview for IV fluids and the appropriate meds. She was to meet with her Ortho docs on Wednesday anyway, so I guess she'll just stay there several days. I just hope she gets back on track sooner rather than later, and that this doesn't set back her rehab much. You know how rehab goes, two steps forward, one step back. Send her your positive energy, please. And while you're sending positive energy, send some my way as well. I have a PT app...

So you like to talk on the phone with your friends, even if you don't have anything to say? Do you sometimes think that nothing is particularly important? Well, that's how I often feel. That nothing is truly important. Many things occupy my mind, but they are really meaningless. And when women (especially women) get together and chat, it's usually about a bunch of nothing. Late last week a friend, L, called and left a message. I forgot to return her call. So today she leaves a 'frantic' "are you alright?" message which had me rolling my eyes. I finally relented and called her back, and she didn't have anything new to add to our last conversation, except that she planted five more primroses in some pots her landlady had left behind. Actually, planting some primroses sounds nice - still, it doesn't make for the most interesting conversation. Also, she is living on a tighter budget than I am (which is plenty tight), and she keeps telling me about what...

Yeah, I don't know how it happens, but today just flew by in a flash. Whoosh and it was over. So there isn't much to say about today. But I'll post this anyway. Good Night, TTYL, and Be Well,

It's a third Thursday, and that means an Omicron business meeting. I managed to arrange a ride to Gig Harbor, though of all the addresses over there, this one is probably the easiest to find. But the dark, tree lined roads make driving at night a bit of a challenge for me, so I nabbed a ride. The meeting was pretty uneventful. We don't have the final numbers yet, but it looks like we only cleared about $250 in profits on Pizza night; well, with donations and the sale of eight pizzas that night, we may have cleared about $550. This is our lowest year ever. As with any fundraiser, they run their course. So, unless we come up with a good money making idea, this may have been the last year for pizzas. We voted for our Woman of the Year, who is bestowed with a tiara, some old velour drapes, a bouquet of withered silk roses, and the honor of putting on the dinner next year. I hope I NEVER make woman of the year!!! Anyway, that's how we do it at Omicron, and of course the Social ...

I'm talking to the Catholics, current, ex, or recovering. Did you get ashed when you were little? I did. All through grade school I was ashed after the morning mass that the whole school attended, then walked around all day with them on - even after I got home from school - but mostly because by that time I had forgotten that they were there. I wonder what my (non-Catholic) friends thought. They never said anything to me about it one way or the other. The only other ritual I've ever participated in that comes remotely close to it was getting a red dot put on my forehead by (two different) East Indian Saints. It was their way of giving their blessing at the ens of their visits. I remember my Mom not liking it when I came up to see her once after a lecture by Shree Maa . That was the time that I felt something when Maa gave me her blessing. She held me down just a bit longer that with the others who were in line. I felt a small surge of energy pass through me. DH told me he tho...

What was the craziest Mardi Gras you've ever celebrated? Seattle's Pioneer Square used to put on one hell of a bash, and they called it Fat Tuesday. I remember their first poster: It had a picture of Tuesday Weld in a cheerleader's uniform that was at least a size 20! That was FAT in 1978. I used to work at Doc Maynard's/Underground Tours in late 1977-1978. First in the restaurant for the lunch crowd, then during the Summer of '78 at the office of the Underground Tours. Those were fun times. That was the Summer I read Even Cowgirls Get the Blues by Tom Robbins, and later would say that book had changed my life. Now I don't think it was so much the book, but the people I met while working there, and the fact that I was becoming my own person, that so much of my world view that I had held onto so dearly I slowly loosened my grasp and learned to make mistakes. But back to Fat Tuesday - two of the tour guides made these incredible lizard costumes, with hand sewn...

This afternoon my sorority had a State Convention Planning meeting and I lucked out by not having to do any big job. Yay me! If you think that's me being lazy, to some extent you're right, but more to the point I'm just not that into State involvement anymore. Chapter involvement is one thing I feel comfortable committing to, except for events that start at or before 8 AM. I have limits. (Remember last year's State Meeting? When I tired myself out during the day, and got too hot at night, then fell and couldn't get up? The visit by the firemen; the breaking down of the room's door (because the hotel couldn't find the tool that releases the lock latch)?? Such fun. I slept 12 hours a day for the next three days! But, I will go if I have to; as long as I get some help paying for it. Hell, I might have DH drive me there and use my w/c and/or crutch. That would solve a lot of the fatigue issues right there, but it would also leave me stranded w/o a car at my di...

Gung Hay Fat Choi , the year of the Tiger. AND ... Yeah, it's that time of year - Valentine's Day. I've never been a fan of this day of romance because, until I got married (at 31), I never had a real boyfriend with which to celebrate it, so it brings with it deep seated memories of being alone. I'm so happy those days are over. I am enjoying watching the Winter Olympics. It just amazes me what these athletes can do with their bodies. Yeah, yeah. I know. This coming from a cripple who is pleased when she gets up from her chair and reaches for her crutch and carries a cup to the kitchen without a wobble. Wax eloquent, Crip ! But that Chinese couple in pairs skating! Amazing performance from two who are in their mid to late 30s! A flawless performance. Deserving of its score of 79. It makes my knees hurt just watching these guys (and women, too) skiing the moguls - too many bumps for any body to withstand. I predict hot tubs and Ben Gay in their future. Good Night, TT...

It was a rare and painful start to these games for the Georgians -- to lose a teammate on a practice luge run. I'm very sorry for their loss. But with fast and dangerous sports come risks, and this was a risk fulfilled. As I'm (sorta) watching luge right now, and guess what? I see snowflakes! This could bode well for the skiing that was delayed due to all the rain lately. Wait, I think it's mixed rain and snow. But if a cold front moves in, well, that would be a good thing. Now they're calling it sleet. This is Winter precipitation in our part of the world. Ever changing. Apolo Ohno qualified for the 1500 meter in short track, as did J.R. Celski ; both are from right around here. Their race for gold is coming up after the commercials. Short track skating is interesting to watch. The 1500 meters go by so fast. When I think of all the incredible training that was done for this moment, it spins my head. Okay, here's the race: OMG The three Korean skaters were headin...

It will be nice to see some events tomorrow, because I can't wait for the opening ceremony to end. It had a few moments, but none were particularly memorable. It was good that they embraced all of their cultures, including the natives. Of course nothing could compare to the opening of the Summer Games in China which was, in my opinion, insuperable . I want to see Shaun White catch some air, and I want to see Apolo Ohno win more gold medals in short track, and I want to watch the figure skating, just for the artistry. I like k.d.lang, but could she possibly have sung Hallelujah and more slowly? and, get a tailor, girlfriend. (Okay that was the snarky me coming out. Forgive me.) I talked to G tonight, and her insurance company wants to cut her off and move her to a group home. I don't think so; she's not near ready to be with amateur caregivers. Her next move is to appeal that decision. So, for now, she stays put. Damned insurance companies. Good Night, TTYL and Be Wel...

I woke up early, being that 11:00 is early for me , to check out a new coffee shop called The Greener Bean with the lunch bunch. Usually there are four or five of us who meet for lunch perhaps once a month, but one was out-of-town, one was working, and the other was visiting with the tax man. So it was just K&E and me. I had forgotten that I was to call her when I got up, so she wasn't there when I arrived. I called her from the coffee shop and she got there in 15 minutes. So we had sandwiches and coffees in a nice, new little place that I think will be successful in that location. It's only been open for about a month, and it was busy. If I were a critic, I'd say that if their feature sandwich is a panini they should probably have more than one panini machine. Maybe they do - if I was a real critic I would find that out - nevertheless, my grilled turkey, provolone and tomato on WW took a very long time to come to my table. Also, waitresses do need to put a name on th...

I have cold feet. Not the 'I'm afraid to do something' variety, but two very cold to the touch appendages at the bottom of my legs. My primary care physician tells me to move more, and I do try to do the ankle rotations and foot taps, even as I sit here typing or reading my laptop. But maybe I need to do more than that. He also made the analogy of older people who are in nursing homes: how they are always cold and needing an extra sweater, or a lap blanket (which I also use). It's inactivity, pure and simple. While I have found that the tapping and rotating make the swelling go down, they don't warm them up much. But I have a friend, K, who has MS and uses a w/c all the time. She has cold hands. So cold that they are often reddish in color! And she uses her hands all the time. So it has to be an MS thing. Right? That was one thing I liked about going to the YMCA pool. Getting into warm water was wonderful. Getting into my swimming suit, not so much. Speaking of whic...

Are you a neat freak, or are you a slob? I am a slob with neat freak tendencies. Call me a neat slob, or a neat freak wannabe. I just don't know how to be one. Either that, or it takes too much work. When I was a kid I was soooo un -self-aware. My Mom was at the end of her child rearing years when I came along, and I think she was just plain tired. I went to Catholic school where we had to wear uniforms. I don't remember mine getting washed very often. I probably was viewed as a slob by the other students. I can remember putting of my white blouse with its ring around the peter pan collar. How sad is that? Was that my responsibility - to put my uniform into the laundry basket, or was it my Mom's, to notice that it was dirty, and to tell me to get that darned thing into the laundry!? Like EVERY Friday afternoon. But she didn't, and I didn't, and so it didn't get done. Add to that, I was a chubby kid starting in, maybe 2 nd or 3rd grade. Chubby and slovenly. B...

I know there are many in the D.C. area, and other parts of the east coast who have had it up to here with snow, but here in the Pacific Northwest and the Pacific Southwest of Canada, we are experiencing the lovely effects of what the weather 'casters call El Nino . El Nino is a phenomenon characterized by unusual warming of the Pacific equatorial waters. This warming influences the weather on the West coast of North America - including more rain in Southern California (thus the mudslides), more warm rain in my area (thus the need for umbrellas or hoods but so far no flooding), and less snow in the mountains (thus more headaches for the Olympics Committee). There have been plans made in British Columbia to line some ski slopes with hay bales then top them off with trucked in snow. Who could have predicted this when the bid was put in? For the last few years we have been having record snow levels in the mountains. It would have been perfect for the Olympic skiing and sledding events...

I am glad I didn't sell a bunch of those pizzas that we made last Thursday. The veggie one we ate had a slightly better cardboard crust than last year's, but it wasn't great. However, football fans might not have noticed too much if they were rooting for the underdogs. Yay , the New Orleans Saints won! I love it when the underdogs win. No, I did not watch the whole game. I watched very little of the game, but I did watch The Who at halftime, feeling very old. Was those old men really Pete Townshend? Roger Daltry? What? ... Next year, whatever geriatric rock band they sign will probably perform the show while sitting on their rolling walkers! Wouldn't that be a hoot! After all, they are just playing to their demographic: Aging baby boomers who can afford tickets to the game. I just finished paying most of my bills, and there's more left over than I expected. When that happens it makes me go Hmmmm . Perhaps I had better recheck my calculations - make sure I'm not ...

I didn't do a damned thing today. Not a thing. Reading blogs doesn't count, does it? Well, does it? So, we didn't get out for that walk today, but judging by the dampness of the cat fur around here, it wasn't as nice as expected. The weather reports are more accurate for the Seattle area, I think, and even though they report on all of western Washington - well, all of the state, I think the emphasis is on Seattle. I just checked the report from WeatherPulse on my computer; Last night it said Sunday was to be sunny and tonight it predicts partly cloudy. So, maybe a walk tomorrow, maybe not. We do have to go buy dog food, so you never know where that will lead. I am squeaking in just under the wire tonight. Saturday Night Live is on with a band that is lame-o. Either that, or I am just getting old. The crowd seems to like it. Whatever. Sometimes SNL really makes me laugh, but other times - well, not so much. Like tonight. Oh, last night I did make a cat toy, but I use...

It was in the high 50s and partly sunny today, and I slept through it. After being on track Tuesday and Thursday to be on time for various things, what do I do? I manage to not get sleepy and stay up until 7 AM. So then I wonder why I haven't really even noticed that this has been the warmest weather on record since the start of the year. I sleep right through all the nice weather. Tonight I think I am going to (start to) make a cat toy! I will use the toe of an old sock, fill it with catnip laced fiberfill and stitch it closed then stuff it into a crocheted ball. AND then I will attach a few chicken feathers that DH found in his old fly tying stash because we have discovered by the enormous popularity of the toy my kitties got from JC , that feathers are very popular. They are enticed by the catnip and brought to nirvana by the fight with the feathers. We call that toy the mouse-bird; I'll call this new one the bird-ball. BTW, I learned to crochet by watching YouTube tutorial...

No, I didn't call out for pizza, (did that last week), I helped make 160 pizza or so. It is one of my sorority's fundraisers that we do each year on the Thursday before SuperBowl Sunday, and this year I didn't get stuck measuring cheese all damned evening. I mixed it up a bit, counting pepperoni slices, Canadian bacon slices, cups of sausage or sliced ' shrooms , and bags of various sliced veggies that usually top a pizza. The time went pretty quickly - I was there from quarter to two until 8:30 PM. I got home in time for Grey's Anatomy. Yes, we had pizza for dinner when I got home, and yes the crust still is shitty. The cheese is much better than in years past, but the crust is crap. We tried two kinds, and this one wasn't the 'oven-rising' one. Hopefully the other one I bought will be - because it's mine, all mine .... because it has meat on it, and DH doesn't eat meat, and I will, because that's just the way I roll. So that's about a...

I was reminded today by Herrad that I forgot to pick up an award over at Access Denied . I did pick it up, Sweetie. It's right over there -------> I said in my post that my cath change was today, but I was writing at 2 AM, so what I really meant was later yesterday. It seems there has been a staff shake-up in the office, and old rules are being enforced more diligently. For instance, the new nurse (a guy) can't work with a woman unless there is another woman in the exam room. When I asked if it would be okay if my husband just sat in, he said yes he could, but they still needed an "impartial" woman as a witness should anything untoward happen. So, enter the new office scheduler to witness me sitting there partially disrobed. Clearly she was uncomfortable. I really didn't care one way or another. I did have to drop my drawers; I didn't have to spread my legs, you know? Just let the new guy do his job (he was very proficient BTW), and leave the scheduler ou...

Oops, that wasn't supposed to publish - I hadn't written anything yet! Sooo , that Groundhog had better not see his shadow today, because even though we in the Pacific Northwest have just had the warmest January EVER, I still am not find of Winter. Though we haven't had any snow to speak of here, it has been wetter than normal. I don't know what I'm complaining about because I never go out in it - so it shouldn't affect me. Right? All I can say is that I'd rather look out the window at snow falling, or sun shining. That's all. It's not like I really have a 'room with a view', you know? I just noticed yesterday, late, that all of a sudden I have a slew, or gaggle, or flock, or whatever you call followers who have recently found and joined my blog. I thought, Whoa! What is this? But then I remembered that I have been clicking on links, and checking out people who were offering a giveaway, and if I liked what I saw, I posted a comment. I was hea...

I just want to get started with my NaBloPoMo for February, 2010. I couldn't manage to do it last month, and February is shorter, so it seems so much easier. I know you know what I mean. So, first an update of my friend who got hit by a car on Jan 12. After spending, I think, two weeks in Harborview in Seattle, she has been transferred to a rehabilitation center in Lynnwood which is close to one of her sisters. I had the opportunity to visit her last Friday by getting a ride with her brother who also lives in Tacoma, not far from me. It was great to see her. She was sitting up in a wheelchair and having lunch. Even though she has a nine inch scar that runs from ear to ear and across the top of her brow, it was not the first thing that I noticed. The first thing I noticed was her smile, and that made my heart glad. She had had a busy morning of PT with her legs, and was feeling it. There are no casts, just bandages, so the severity of her injuries are not immediately apparent. St...