Well, I'm on crutches AGAIN! Arrrrggghh! I was doing so well, getting back to driving again, walking around with only a slight limp and Saturday I don't know what happened but I suddenly had excruciating heel pain when I put weight on the foot and tried shoe inserts, the gel kind and the cushion kind...then put them both together and that doesn't help either. It's so frustrating because I've been doing everything I am supposed to be doing, bought new $100 shoes, and have been careful when climbing stairs and careful not to twist the ankle, etc. So I don't know what happened.
I had an appointment with the foot surgeon for June 8th but called to move it up to tomorrow. I hope that it isn't anything bad. If I end up back in a walking boot oh well, but if I end up back in a cast and wheel chair I think I will go absolutely insane!
This past week we accomplished a lot of stuff, or I should give Jon most of the credit since he worked a lot harder than I did. Got my shower fixed that has been broken since January when a pipe broke and water leaked all in the downstairs kitchen area. It was so nice to be able to shower in my own bathroom again instead of using the main bathroom where the guys shower. :P My bathroom is all pink, white, light gray and frilly. Their's is black, white, and gray and geometric...and the tub gets hairy on the bottom (which I have to end up cleaning anyway).
He got the handles on the cabinets in the downstairs kitchen, fixed the sofa, mowed the lawn front and back and weed-whacked, helped Jason and Whitney get the workout room cleaned up so they could set up their exercise equipment, put in new smoke and carbon monoxide detectors on both levels, and managed to get some more window quotes. (Talking about windows with sales people makes me glaze over with boredom.) Now that things are orderly we can start finishing projects around here that need to get done, finally...hopefully.
When you have lived in a house for more than 20 years, things start falling apart. Everything that had 15-20 year warranties, in particular are in need of replacing. Like I was saying in an earlier post, we need a new roof, fence, windows, garage door just to name the big things.
The windows are actually urgently needed. Several of them are rotting. We had wood windows put in when we built the house since that is all the company would offer at that time. We would have put vinyl in if we had had the choice.
Well, now they all need replacing and so Jon has been getting quotes and estimates and most places want to come to your house before they tell you anything. Jon has the measurements, just give us a quick price so we can compare who is going to be the best deal. Nope...they say they have to come out. But when we have them come out, and we don't buy, they get pissy. The guy we had here the day before yesterday was getting sort of snotty about us "having him come out" when it was his company's rules for him to come here. Jon wouldn't let him pull that crap and told him that he could have saved gas and time to just tell him what the windows would cost over the phone for the sizes we need.
The quote we got from this guy was $20,000+ for replacement windows...we were thinking more in the ballpark of no more than $10,000 for all the windows in our house, including the big ones and patio doors. He has priced them online individually and installing them himself should be around that price. So, basically, it's double to have them installed.
Tonight another dude is coming over from Pella. It's going to be the same damn thing. They are going to come and look, it's going to be too stinkin high and they are going to get put out because they didn't make an instant sale. We were in their store already a few days ago and he gave us a price for one window in the showroom but said he really had to come out to give us an official price. I am like Gene Simmon's girlfriend, Shannon, I HATE people coming into my house who I don't know. And especially when I know we aren't going to buy anything from them. I told Jon to cancel but he wants to let the guy come and waste his time and argue with him.
Yep, my computer bit the dust a few days ago and had to go buy a whole new one this time. I didn't get as upset being without my computer for a few days like I have in the past. My only irritation is that I was working on a project for the company I work for online and only had a couple days left to make some money. Now the project is over and done and who knows when the next one will be.
The motherboard was burned up, the processor was shot and the hard drive appears to have some sort of virus on it. I don't know if I will be able to retrieve anything on it or not.
What kind of dull lives do people have to be living in order to take up so much time and brainpower to hack into someone's computer and cause havoc and not even be able to witness the ire of the person it has happened to? There can't be any personal sadistic joy in it, there can't be any obscene happiness in seeing someone frustrated and angry by the grief that the hacker has caused them. But if these nerds would use the same brainpower to do something positive, they could be making loads of money for their efforts and be doing something productive for society.
Anyway, like I said I had to go buy all new computer hardware and hubby spent a whole day getting everything working again. Then I have been having to reinstall all of my programs and try to find all my links and bookmarks again. What a hassle and colossal waste of time!
But I LOVE my new computer now, it's so much faster and got a new video card too so things look so much brighter and more storage space, too. So something good came out of it, but we weren't really wanting to spend the money on this right now when we have a houseful of windows we need to get.
Speaking of windows, read my latest rant about that in my next post.
Forecast for tonight: Windy with thunderstorms, especially this evening. Low 49F. Winds SSW at 20 to 30 mph. Additional rainfall possibly over one inch. Locally heavy rainfall possible.
I have tried to watch this film so many times, so many people think it's the greatest. I tried once again this evening to watch it and just can't. My rear end starts hurting, I get figgety, my eyes get tired, and I am just falling asleep to the dull, droning soundtrack (if you want to call it a soundtrack).
I realized though that one of the stars of this is the same dude who played Charlotte's first husband, Trey MacDougal in Sex and the City! Kyle MacLachlan played the young Paul Atreides in Dune in 1984. I thought he looked familiar, like I had seen him somewhere before.
Anyway, all this traipsing around a sandy planet full of giant worms in search of magical spice is a bit much for me.
For all you young un's, this is a turntable in this video. LOL! And this is the first album I ever owned, as I wrote about in my previous post. Gary Lewis and the Playboys. Brings back cool memories. My parents were very cool to us. And at ages nearly 72 and 81 they are still rock and roll fans! They went to a Styx concert last year, believe it or not! Rock on Mom and Dad!
And maybe I am a bit nostalgic the past couple of days because my Grandfather's birthday is today and he would have been 98 years old. Yikes! He sadly passed away in 1977 at the age of 67.
My mom and dad bought me a portable record player back in 1968 and with it a few 45 records and an album which I will post about later. But here is American Breed...Bend Me Shape Me! (I'm nostaltic lately. )
Today was a very nice Mother's Day. Jeff and Whitney took me, Jon and Jason all out for breakfast at Lumes which has the best breakfast food in the Chicagoland area. I ordered the Florentine Benedict which is pretty much like the Veggie Benedict pictured to the left. Poached eggs with spinach and bacon with a Hollandaise sauce on an English muffin served with home made hashbrown potatoes, and a peach half. Deeeelicious! I also had to cups of decaf with French vanilla creamer.
The restaurant was very busy and we thought we were going to have to wait forever, but fortunately for us, who they called depended on how big of a table or booth opened up and they called us after only about a ten minute wait. When we sat down the bus boys brought water and the poor kid dropped a glass and where did it dump? On Jon's side of the u-shaped booth seat and went all under his butt drenching his pants. But, he didn't get mad, didn't get up...just sat there after wiping up what he could.
We had a real nice time sitting and talking all together for a change. Usually everyone is so busy with work and other things that some days we barely see each other even though we are all under one roof.
Later in the day we went to my mom's place and had Popeye's chicken and then desserts later. My brother and sis-in-law came over and their older son and his girlfriend. It was our first time meeting Meghan and she is a very sweet girl. Mom always buys me and my sister and sis-in-laws presents on Mother's Day even though we are the daughters. Mom gave me a set of Dove body wash, lotion, soap and deodorant and it came with a little scrubbie puff. I love this new fresh Dove cucumber stuff...and I like all their scents. Thanks Mom!
I got Mom a pot of Hens and Chicks. If you don't know what they are, here is a picture:
When I bought the Hens and Chicks plant for my mom, I also bought myself a yellow dahlia plant for the deck. I am still gradually trying to fill my pots with flowers. Five done, fifteen more to go.
While the bronchitis was subsiding, I got this enormous cold sore on my upper lip and another one on the roof of my mouth behind my teeth (from the Lupus...one of those things that go with the disease when stress or illness strikes, and in my case I have had to deal with too much of both recently.)
I could feel it coming on, that tingly feeling that you get when it first starts. I had some old ointment in my purse that has always worked, but guess it finally expired because it didn't stop it this time. (Expired in 02 so maybe that's why.) So, during the rest of that evening and all during the night it continued to get bigger and bigger till it looked like a Botox injection gone bad.
In the morning I dragged myself over to the Walgreen's and got a little, teeny, tiny tube of Abreva. Probably a micro-ounce of this stuff for $17.99! So 20 bucks + with tax. I used it only a few times and not only has it stopped the cold sore in its tracks, but actually began reversing it right away. I highly recommend this stuff. It's well worth the money.
While we were out Saturday buying flowers, I decided to get a cherry tomato plant to grow and see just how many tomatoes it produces, and if it survives and does well and gives us enough little tomatoes for salads all summer, then will get more of these "patio plants" next summer to grow on the deck.
I bought some geranium plants, marigolds, and some tiny white and blue flowers to use as border in my big pots and put the marigolds and geraniums together. I am just buying enough plants each week that I am able to plant at one time. Eventually, I will get all my pots and planters filled.
Our home improvement list keeps growing and growing. Now the yucca plants seem to have died and so have to dig up the dead crap and roots. The three big bushes at the front of the garage still have to come out and I think it would be so much easier to just pay someone, just part with the money and get it over with for crying out loud. They are turning into monsters, and very horribly ugly ones, at that! There is just too much to keep up with anymore and more and more keeps piling up.
I think we need a condo, but he won't budge on that idea.
Well, the bug finally caught me. I've managed to escape germs and viruses despite numerous trips to the hospital and doctors' offices over the past year but now that I am getting back to walking well on my own and getting stronger physically, I catch a cold which turns into bronchitis! On top of that my asthma keeps trying to act up and have been having to use my inhaler, which I don't like using because it gives me the jitters. I've never taken illicit drugs, but from what I have read I think that Albuterol inhalers could have the same effect as speed.
This all started on Friday when I felt that little soreness in the back of my throat on one side and behind my nose and into my ear. I was trying to ignore it, but then by late evening I knew it was going to turn into something bigger. Saturday, my nose was running and I felt feverish. Jon and I went to Lowes to get some flowers and other things. Then on the way home we stopped at Walgreen's and I got some Cold-eze lozenges and some Zicam swabs, determined to stop this in its tracks. While those products seemed to get me through the intolerable scratchy throat phase faster, the germs just marched right on down to my chest and Saturday night I was miserable. Sunday was bad, and finally yesterday I phoned my doctor to see if she could get me in. And guess what? She was at a medical convention and won't be back until next week! Arrrggghhh! AND the person she had covering for her was a doctor I absolutely do not trust and refuse to go to. So, I resorted to Immediate Care.
I tried to search on the insurance site to see which Immediate and Urgent Care places were on our plan, but their website was down. So Jon called the insurance company from work and they did find some clinics in our area and emailed them to me. I wasn't thrilled about going to Joliet to go to a doctor, but this turned out to be a fairly nice clinic and nice doctors who seem to know what they are doing. The kind Indian doctor who took care of me pronounced that I have bronchitis and need to be on an antibiotic. So, I started Zithromycin yesterday and starting to feel better already. The fever is down and I managed to sleep six hours straight through last night.
The doctor said if I am no better in a week to come back and they will give me something else, but this seems to be doing the trick already so probably won't need it.
An ugly side-effect is a big ol' cold sore that is forming on my lip under my nose and across my upper lip!!! It happens every time I get sick or stressed!
I love to write, read, paint, draw, take photos, listen to music, travel, and stargaze. If I could live my life over again I would be an astronomer.
“Sometimes I think we're alone in the universe, and sometimes I think we're not. In either case the idea is quite staggering.
Arthur C. Clarke
Well, I'm on crutches AGAIN! Arrrrggghh! I was doing so well, getting back to driving again, walking around with only a slight limp and Saturday I don't know what happened but I suddenly had excruciating heel pain when I put weight on the foot and tried shoe inserts, the gel kind and the cushion kind...then put them both together and that doesn't help either. It's so frustrating because I've been doing everything I am supposed to be doing, bought new $100 shoes, and have been careful when climbing stairs and careful not to twist the ankle, etc. So I don't know what happened. 
