Mom Called

I just got off the phone with Mom. She phones fairly frequently to see how I'm doing. I know she would like to be able to come down to help me, but she;s 87 and not in the best of health. Though she still is able to drive her car round the small town where she lives and to a couple neighboring small towns, she is no longer able to make the drive down here. Though part of me 'wants my mommy', I know that overall it's better she can't come here. She would be devastated to see how messy my home currently is. I've been trying to over come the problem & get things back under control, then ended up in the crash, broken wrist, and barely able to feed myself nevermind do lots of cleaning & heavy work.

The next few months will be filled with things like doctor appointments, orthopedic surgeon appointments, more x-rays, physio therapy & chiropractor treatments, lawyer, insurance company, etc, etc, etc. I'm glad I don't need eczema treatments. At least that's one less thing I need to do.

Supplementing

Since I have arthritis in several joints in my body, now have a shattered wrist that I want to heal well & quickly, and just overall want to be as healthy as possible, I have been taking different supplements... some to reduce the cholesterol levels, some to reduce inflammation... and now I am thinking about getting some for joint health & see if there is something to speed the healing of bones. I guess I could benefit by reading some supplement reviews. I love the way we can access so much knowledge & information through our computers.

My Friend G

My very dear friend, G came over to visit me this evening. It's always nice to spend time with G. I told him that Tuggy said the windshield G gave me for my trike helped save me during the crash, that I hit it & was slowed by the flex before I hit the car. Oh.... you don't know about the crash? A woman in a car hit me while I was riding my trike.... but I digress. So, G is a big man with a big heart. He goes to the pool frequently to exercise. I don't know if G would take the best diet pills, but as far as I'm concerned he doesn't have to. I treasure him just as he is, and as a great friend. Whilr G was here, he washed a bunch of dishes for me I did some organizing in my kitchen. Since I have a shattered left wrist & a sore right hand/wrist, even the simple things like this are a challenge.

TOPS

If you follow my blog, you know that I am a member of TOPS, working at Taking Off Pounds Sensibly. Every week, we meet to weigh in and have a meeting, then most of us go for lunch together. It is a great support group, and most of us have become friends. I enjoy going to the weekly meeting. Part of the meeting is a "program" where one of the members shares information with the others. Some of the past programs that come to my mind include: natural diuretics, Jicama, Stevia... way too many to mention. All very interesting information and often with samples to eat. For the next 2 months or so, I will not be weighing in due to having a cast on my left arm, and yet I will still attend the meetings and lunches as well as other social time with my wonderful TOPS friends.

Halloween

There is a long time yet before Halloween, over a moth, and yet many people are already preparing for that one evening. I've seen ads on Freecycle & on Cheapcycle, asking for kids costumes. I've also seen some store ads for Halloween related items. I used to love getting dressed up & going out to the nightclubs or to peoples homes for Halloween parties. It is the one night each year when you can be someone other than who you are the rest of the year. It can be a lot of fun. I haven't dressed up or gone out for Halloween in many years.... hmmmm, maybe it's time. What could I go out as with a cast on my arm?? Maybe wrap me in tensor bandages & go as a mummy?

My Day - Sept. 8

Today I did my volunteer work at the local food bank. This took the entire morning, as always. We get bread/buns/donuts/cookies/etc. in by the large bag and large Tupperware bins. We had a lot of them today. We take plastic bags and portion the above into the bags, then these are placed out front for people to take home. After that is done, the bins have to be washed in preparation for the following day. Today there was also popcorn & frozen chicken strips to be portioned. I finished the day by taking bags off the roll and opening them in preparation for the people working tomorrow to fill. It's hard to explain this, but it is a simple step that makes the job easier.

I went to the walk-in clinic and saw a Dr. about my right shoulder as it's been giving me a lot of pain for several months now. I kept thinking it would get better on its own, then went to the chiropractor and now, on the chiropractor's advice, I decided to get an x-ray done. The Dr. said the same thing as the chiropractor, that there could be calcification in the shoulder and the x-rays would show if it does. It takes 2 weeks to get into my regular Dr. and I made an appointment with him last week so will get in next Tuesday. By then he should have the results to the x-rays and be able to tell me. The pain runs from my spine to my elbow and sometimes as far down as my wrist... not fun, keeps me awake a lot as it always seems to get worse when I'm laying down.

I had a good visit with Joyce over tea at Tim Horton's, then went to the laundromat where Wendy was doing her laundry and sat in her car visiting for ages.

In 4 months, I will be old enough to get the Seniors Discount in some places, haha. To me this is a joke as I still feel like a kid.

Friends

I've so often heard the saying "diamonds are a girl's best friend", and of course, this would even apply more if they were certified diamonds. However, dog is man's best friend. Hmmmm. As much as I like sparkly diamonds I would take a dog any day. I so miss my Reba. She was such a special dog and yes, this girl's best friend. I must tell you about my 'other best friend'.

D is a really wonderful guy who has been wanting to work on my trike and in the last couple days did exactly that. He welded not only the 2 places where the 'professional welder' had done recently and had broken again, but he also took the back wheels off to get to other areas where Ron had not gotten to and welded there too. He really went the extra mile to add more metal and more welds to insure that this braking problem will not soon return. Also, he did a much neater, nicer looking welding job. I wish he'd been able to do all the welding on my trike right from day one, though I had not yet met him back then.

Another thing he wanted to do was the brake peddle system. Tug hadn't been able to figure it out to give me good back brakes, but D changed where one rod was and walla, I had back brakes. This was not good enough for D, he still wanted to do better. Today he did a lot of work redesigning the system and moving the peddle to a different position. Welding, cutting, bending, bolting over & over until he had it as good as he could get it with the equipment he had to work with. D has a full machine shop where he lives but doesn't have much for tools here, so he rented the welder, bought a grinder & used some of the few tools I own. All in all, he's done a great job and I have really good braking power now. I can lock up my back wheels and skid the tires if I want/need to and also still have a good front brake.

Yes, D is a very good friend. A girl couldn't ask for better. It's too bad that some of life's 'stuff' makes it that we can not be more than good friends... or maybe it's a good thing. In my experience, friends last longer than lovers. Maybe I should be grateful we can 'only be friends'. I have for some time now been happy as a single woman and did not want to change that. Knowing D has to some degree made me think that maybe a relationship wouldn't be such a bad thing after all. We have so much in common, love doing the same things, and laugh together a lot. If only I could find a man like D who is free to be with me.

Dinner

This evening when D was here welding on my trike, I wanted to cook some dinner for us and thought that buffalo smokies would be a nice treat. I thought I'd hook up the bar-b-q which I was given last fall and haven't used yet. I managed to find the tank of propane I have here, and dug it out. We got busy working and by the time it was time to cook, I figured it was too much work to hook up the tank to the bar-b-q and light it up for a couple little smokies. I took 2 slices of pizza out of the freezer & put them into the microwave, followed by 2 smokies. I thought later that I also have an electric grill I could have used, though smokies are already cooked so just need to be heated up. It was a very simple meal, yet rather yummy, washed down with ice cold Club Soda. I have 1 more smokie left and just thinking about it I want to go eat it... and know I have to take my Turmeric/Bromalain pills, natural anti-inflammatory that I am hoping will help with my shoulder. It has to be taken on an empty stomach so I must 'be good' and wait until tomorrow to eat that yummy treat.

Lush

Yesterday Joyce & I went to Kelowna and shopped at the Lush store in their big mall. I got some new shampoo & conditioner as well as a small container of face mask. Part of me says I shouldn't have spent the money with my truck needing repairs, yet I do still need some things. The shampoo & conditioner will last a very long time. They are solid blocks, you use very little of the product, and they are very good quality, mostly natural products. I saw so many things that I want to get for Christmas gifts and birthday gifts for friends & family. If you are getting married you could get your brides maids and even groomsmen gifts at Lush as they even have products that could be used by men... though I guess most men would appreciate something from another store, haha. I just hope that by Christmas I have money to spend there so I can get many of the people on my list gifts of love from Lush.

My Truck Needs Fixing

Doing colon cleanses, or colon cleanser reviews may not be a lot of fun.... and neither is finding out that you have major truck problems. Today a mechanic had a look at my truck to see exactly what work it needs and I am not happy.

Both sides of the front end need:
- upper & lower ball joints
- radius arm bearings
- brake hoses
and of course, the labor to do all of this... $1000 just for the labor!!! The cost of the parts will be in the neighborhood of $7-800, maybe even more. So I am looking at very nearly $2000 to have this done. I know there are a couple other things that need doing too though can wait until later. I have about $200 to put towards this work, and don't know where I will get the remainder needed.

D thinks I should get a new vehicle, that it's too high a chance that once I do the above repairs to my truck it will then need something more... then more... then more. I am not sure though that anything else I could bye would be in any better shape... high risk that the 'new' vehicle would also have lots of expensive problems that need fixing. Yet there is also the chance that the 'new' vehicle could be a great one. I have had 'cheap' cars turn out to be great and not so cheap ones be garbage-on-wheels. I just don't know what to do. I live just over 8k out of the nearest town.... just over 8k from the nearest city bus system. I need to have a safe & dependable vehicle on the road. For now, I have my trike, and I am most grateful for warm, sunny days and wonder just how many of those warm, sunny days are left. The insurance runs out on my trike Oct. 18 and I suspect by then I will be wanting to have a car/truck to drive for the winter months.

Driving Me CRAZY

I am SOOOO glad to finally be here. I have been having some real challenges with my computer and the internet. Some days ago, my wireless connector thingy quit working. Yesterday Dan brought me a cord so I can plug my computer into the Linksys and be back online. tonight it has taken me 2 1/2 hours to finally get here. The internet connection I have so so impossibly slow it's driving me crazy!!! The web pages I needed just refused to load properly.

It has been a bit of a crazy day... neither good nor bad... very up and down. I had so much company it was incredible, more people stopped by today than usually do in weeks. D came by to look at my trike and figure out what he could do on it to fix where the welds had broken again. Tuggy came by with his nephew Vic so Vic could have a look at my truck and give me an idea what work it needs doing and how much it will cost. D came back. Len came up from below my place. Graig came for tea and to talk about moving his bus, could he park it on my place. We walked down below and had a look, planned where it could be parked and what work needs to be done to achieve that. D came back with a welder and some steel strips. Graig & I showed him what would be needed, D put in his opinions, and he agreed to do the work for which I will pay him later as I can. After Graig left, D welded my trike back together.

Sooo... what did Vic say was wrong with my truck?? Well, it needs almost everything other than a convex mirror. I will tell you more about it in my next post.