Feel Like Complaining

My Husband's heart cath went very well. I especially enjoyed seeing him doped up :) His arteries were clean and no heart disease was found, and no stent was necessary. So again, back to the PA tomorrow to see what, or if another step is even necessary. They might want to look at the heart's electrical system to find out where it is mis-firing. Interesting stuff. After we left the hospital, we went out for lunch and then home for a much needed nap. Overall we were pretty happy with the outcome of the day. Cool! Ever since my Mom spent time in the hospital and then a rehab center a full year ago she has been appealing to her insurance company to pay for her rehab stay. She had to pay for it herself to be admitted because Group Health denied it before she even got there. She didn't want the hassle of an appeal but I basically did all of the work writing the letter. It was denied once because of a date mix up, so we tried again. She wanted to quit then but with the insistence...

My Husband got a call from his Cardiologist with the results of his Holter Monitor. He said Hubby had 522 occurrences of extra beats during that 48 hours. He HIGHLY suggested that he does not wait until summer to have a heart catheterization done. Last week we went to the heart institute to talk to a PA and to schedule the procedure. We got a lot more information from the PA (as usual) who fully explained what is going on. Hubby has Ventricular Tachycardia, which means the lower half of the heart has episodes of rapid beating often in the hundreds at a time. This is life threatening. At anytime, it could go into fibrillation, which can cause instant death ( I looked that part up myself). OK, he got our attention. Tomorrow we will head back to the heart institute at the freaking hour of 5:30 am, so he can have the catheterization done. More than likely it will just be a diagnostic test to find out why this is happening. If it's a simple fix and a stent will work, that will take ...

Instead of agonizing and stressing over whether or not to go to my 40th class reunion in June, I have decided not to. I am leaving the .1% open just in case my mind and all other elements align in the universe. I grew up in a small town only 75 miles away from where I live now. There were only 50 in our graduating class. Many of them still live there and have remained friends. Even some that live in my city stay friends with the core group. I have done neither. I had hoped that taking my childhood friend Barb to Alaska would rekindle some old friendships but it hasn't. I am FB friends with many, but still there is no connection or conversation. I feel more connected to my non-hometown FB friends and you blogger friends. My reasoning for not going is simple. I don't know these people...and they don't know me. I am uncomfortable with small talk, trying to chat about things we never did together. Maybe we shared a glue bottle in the first grade or a beer at a kegger in hig...

We have been pondering vacation plans for the summer. First it was no vacation, then it was separate vacations, now possibly a shorter closer trip. Why so many plan changes? Because of a certain furry family member who can't stay home, even with a sitter. We've been blessed the last two years to have a neighbor woman take care of our yard and Nellie. She would visit several times a day to walk, feed, and let her out. Because of more medicine to take, and often wanting out during the night, we've decided that option will not do anymore. First we just weren't going to go anywhere and at this point I could deal with that. Then we were going to travel close and kind of play tag team; first The Kid and I would go, then Hubby would meet us and I would go home and they could have a few days of fun. But then Hubby thought if we went to Leavenworth she could go with us. Somebody would just stay with her in the cabin and we would take turns doing things.......so basically it ...

On Saturday my daughter and I went to an estate sale; it was My Lady's sale. I only got to work one day helping her daughter clean the house. I gave her the number of a woman who runs estate sales and I guess they took it from there. I was disappointed, wanting to make a little more money. When she finally got around to paying me (she forgot), she told me about the sale. I told her I would like to buy the vacuum cleaner before hand. It's an older machine but is self-propelled and since I'm an older machine myself, thought it would come in handy. We had it serviced so it's now like new. There was not really much else I wanted, but we went anyway just to look around. I didn't think it would bother me as much as it did. For 10 years I had been in every inch of that house; I had seen almost every single item. And there it was, her whole life layed out on tables, counters, beds, and couches for everyone to paw through and dicker over. A freezer being hauled out of ...

I've had numbness and tingling in my right hand for many years, probably due to waitressing and the few falls I'v had. But lately I've had pain in my forearm and elbow. I looked up bursitis and Hell No, that looks absolutely horrible so I know it's not that. Dr. Kden has diagnosed herself with Tennis Elbow. The symptoms fit me to a T. The burning is intense. Maybe you think I'm working out too vigorously at the gym? You would be wrong. I developed this injury because of my habitual coloring. Now isn't that just sad? Nothing glamorous or dangerous. It's caused by a very passive activity which is supposed to be calming and meditative. I started researching the injuries or aggravation of current problems (neck, back, shoulders, arms, and hands) due to coloring, and indeed found it to be quite common. Will it stop us? Not likely. I bought a brace and have taken some time off but I'm sure I will soon be back to it. This picture kind of sums it up. Since...

The reason I wanted my Mom to have copies of old recipes is so she could decorate a bottle or jar. Since she can't paint or work on large projects anymore she has taken to decorating bottles and jars. She will take any type; tall, short, wide and curvy, and do things you would not expect. She uses paint, twine, napkins, decoupage, old jewelry, fabric, socks and silk flowers. She's given away several but is still cranking them out. I can't wait to see what she does with my Grandma's old recipes. She decorates this tray in her kitchen several times a year and this is her rendition of the Hoh Rain Forest with trees, rocks, the Hoh River and Mick Dodge with his pan of gold.