Monday November 16th

Today Dan came over & loaded, mostly without my help, a bunch of stuff to go to the dump. It was scary, but I told him to go ahead and just throw in whatever he felt should go. Scary because what is garbage to him is often good stuff to me. When the trailer was full, I drove us to the dump & Dan unloaded it. He insisted he didn't need my help & I should just stay in the truck where it was warm. I said "You just don't want me to see what you're throwing away" and he just grinned. I know he was afraid I'd see something I wanted to keep. It usually costs me about $3 to empty that trailer... this time $6.25, so I am wondering what was in it... and not complaining.

So, what was I doing while Dan was working? I was taking care of some important business for the Centre, follow up to the Board meeting yesterday. I also was thinking about what to give a speech on...

Last night (Sunday), I found out that tomorrow night (Tuesday) I am on the schedule of our Toastmaster club to be Table Topics Master (have to come up with questions to give to others for them to give 1 1/2 to 2 minute impromptu speeches on). I am also down to give a speech. I knew, though had forgotten, about the Table Topics, but had not known about the speech... there must be a glitch in the scheduler as I just gave a speech last Tuesday and we don't usually do them 2 weeks in a row. So, this evening I wrote a speech. Now to practice it, make sure it's the right length of time (6-8 minutes) and get comfortable/good at delivering it. It's Project 2 in the Storytelling manual... Objectives: *to learn the elements of a good story; *to create and tell an original story based on a personal experience. I'm going to pick out some of my photos & take them in to get printed tomorrow so I can pass them around while giving the speech.

Tuggy called today and said he's gone over my motorcycle and make a few adjustments/repairs to it and gave me my last chance to be sure I want to convert it to a 3 wheeler. I could ride it as a 2 wheeler without doing much of anything else to it as it can be lowered enough for me to reach the ground flat foot... just needs to have keys made for it as the friend I bought it from lost the keys to ignition & gas tank. It would save me as much as $1500 if I don't convert it. However, with my disabilities I think I would be better able to ride a 3 wheeler, I think the powers that be, that pay my disability pension, would be less likely to hassle me if I was riding a 3 wheeler as it is more conducive to a person with disabilities... also the family would have less of a leg to stand on when giving me a rough time about it. On top of that, I would not be able to take Reba with me on a 2 wheeler, and can on 3 wheels. I told Dan about this choice and he said with my Fibromyalgia it's better to be on the trike if I get hit with a bout of it while driving. He's many times seen me and the pain I am often in... in fact, he's about the only person that really ever has seen the worst of it... he's really the only person that comes to visit very often and I don't go out much when the pain is bad. With deteriorating discs & arthritis in the back, I think the trike would be better, and with a back rest for me too. Oh ya, more likely car drivers will see a trike than a bike, so somewhat safer in that way too.

A long time friend from when I worked at the glass plant, Dave, phoned today to see how I'm doing. I hear from him every so often.

I know I did some other 'stuff' today too, just don't really remember what at this moment, lol.



I am grateful to Dan for all the work he did for me today
I am grateful to Dan for all the times he's come & helped me with heavy jobs he knows I can't do on my own
I am grateful Tuggy is making sure he's doing just what I want done, and what is going to be best for me and safest too.
I am grateful to have friends in my life from many years ago
I am grateful to have someone I can trust to build my trike. Tuggy has built 15 or 20 before this, so knows what he's doing.
I am grateful I got the business for the Centre taken care of today
I am grateful to have my speech written
I am grateful, knowing the right questions for Table Topics will come to me in plenty of time