August 21, 2014

Being a Good Sport

August 21, 2014

Most of you have seen the videos going around on Facebook or even on the news, of people having a bucket of ice water poured over their heads.  It is all being done to raise money for medical research for ALS, also know as Lou Gehrig's disease.  This is a disease that attacks the nerve cells and leads to paralysis with the life expectancy being 3-5 years.  I lost an aunt to this condition.  They have raised almost 42 million dollars!

In this Bucket of Ice Water Challenge, the person participating challenges others that they name to take the challenge, or to donate to the ALS research.  My sister, Janet is in town and had been challenged by her 4 year old grandson to take part.  At supper tonight, she recruited my husband to pour the ice water over her head while Mom and I took videos of the event.  I must say, I don't know when my husband has looked happier!  You can see the video on my Facebook page.  If laughter is the best medicine, we should all be very healthy.  My sister was laughing the hardest.  Fun memories we created this evening!

As for the rest of the day, when I got to the office, I took care of some bookkeeping items and then packed up a couple of birthday gifts to get to the post office.  I went around noon and mailed those and to my delight, found out I was earlier sending them than I thought.  They should arrive in time!  Next I got my lunch and after eating, I decided to sew for a while.  Ron was working on locks for a customer so I tried to help with other customers as much as possible. 

My only hearing problems at the office today were when I was trying to talk to customers and Ron would have to use a machine behind me.  Then the customer's comments would be lost in the noise from the machine.

After work, we met my mom and my sister, Janet, for supper and I did fairly well at supper but had to have Mom repeat several things.  We had a nice time visiting.  When we go to Jason's Deli, Ron fixes a bowl of ice cream for Mom with chocolate syrup.  Lately he has perfected the presentation of that delicacy. Here is Mom with her ice cream.

My sister fixed her own and went for the cone. 

After supper we came home and did the ice bucket challenge.  It was a very good day!

Oh, my allergic reaction is better.  The interior of my mouth is still red - almost divided down the middle - one side red and one side pale pink.  I have a small blood spot on my lower lip and had a couple of hives on that side of my face today, but nothing major.  I am hoping by tomorrow it will all be back to normal.

August 20, 2014

An Allergic Reaction

August 20, 2014

Allergies have bothered me for most of my life.  I was an asthmatic as a child - not severe.  Then as I got older, I began having allergic reactions to several medications and foods.  Doctors have told me to notify them if I have a reaction to a medication.  One time a doctor was going over my list and after questioning me, he told me most of mine were "a sensitivity" to the drug, not an allergic reaction.  So I asked if it was OK to take those drugs then.  He quickly said, "NO!  They could be dangerous."  So if a sensitivity is different than an allergic reaction (and I understand the different way in which the body reacts), is a sensitivity not a sign of an allergic reaction. 

What I am trying to say is, I have only had one severe allergic reaction and that was to shrimp. One drug reaction cost me $1,000 in tests to see if I had leukemia (I did not). It turned out to be a reaction to a very common medication.  With that one, blood vessels in my legs were breaking.  With other medications, I have had hives, severe abdominal problems, and assorted other rashes.  To me that shows an allergic reaction.  The reason I bring this up is that yesterday I returned to the dentist who had put a new cap on my tooth about 10 days ago.  He suggested for the problem that I had yesterday - sensitivity to cold and hot from that tooth and the one in front of it - that I use a prescription medicated tooth paste called PreviDent 5000.  I was to particularity put a small amount on the surface of the tooth in front of the one with the new cap, and he then said I could use it on all of my teeth to strengthen them.

The prescription is a topical fluoride toothpaste.  It strengthens tooth enamel.  One of the last things the dentist said as I left his office yesterday was, "there is nothing in it that will hurt you.  Just use it as I told you."  Last night I put a TINY bit of it on my finger and rubbed it on the outside edge of the offending tooth.  By morning there was a tender spot on the cheek beside that tooth.  I really didn't think much about it and by lunch time that area had gotten larger.  I looked in a mirror and the inside of the cheek was fiery red.  The area continued to spread, so I went to the dentist's office and waited a bit until he got back from lunch.  His assistant met him before he came into the examining room, and told him I thought I was having an allergic reaction to the toothpaste.  He told her he didn't believe that.  He came in and looked and pondered and then told me I was having an allergic reaction to the toothpaste.  He asked if I used as directed; had I spit it out?  I told him I used just a TINY bit - less than a drop and spit afterwards, but there really was almost nothing there.  I asked if he was glad I hadn't used it on all my teeth as he suggested.  He was. We have become friends over the many (35) years I have gone to him. 

The area has continued to spread a little.  It is on the inside of that area up on the roof of my mouth and toward the back.  I asked about taking Benadryl and he agreed that was probably the best choice.  I took one as soon as I left his office and will take another one soon.  He was still shaking his head as I left saying he had never seen a reaction to it.  He told me about not believing the assistant when she told him.  He said to call if I needed him.  I told him there was no doubt that I would do that.  The area feels raw, almost like a burn.  I won't be surprised if it peels in the next day or two.  It is relatively minor.  I will be fine.  I won't use the $25 stuff again.  It was just a reminder as one of my doctors told me years ago, "You can be allergic to anything."  I don't recall what it was but I told him I thought I was allergic to some food, oh yes, I remember, it was iceberg lettuce.  I asked how anyone could be allergic to lettuce.  He told me, "You can be allergic to anything." 

My day started out strangely.  Ron had talked to me yesterday about taking my car in for new tires.  He said either of us could do it.  I suggested he do it.  I got up around 7:00 this morning and looked all over the house for him and couldn't find him.  His car was still here.  Then I thought to look for mine in the garage and it was not there.  He had gone to get the tires.  I texted to ask if that meant I needed to open the shop.  He didn't see the text so I got ready to go and finally called him.  He said he thought they would be finished by time to open up but they were still working so I should go on and open.  He arrived about 9:00.

I took care of some cleaning chores first - emptied trashcans, etc.  Then did paperwork and filing.  After lunch was the trip to the dentist.  From there I did some shopping before returning to the office, but the Benadryl was working on me and making me sleepy.  I was so tired.  At closing time I came home, had a snack, and fell asleep in the recliner until about 7:45 when I got up and fixed supper for us.  It has been a very lazy evening. 

Several customers today asked about my Cochlear Implant.  Two of them were doctors.  The implants are rare enough that many doctors have not seen them or talked to someone in person who has had the surgery and they are very curious.  It was a good day of interacting with customers.  I waited on several early in the day and then when I got back from shopping.  One customer/friend asked me to pray for him about something and I consider it such a privilege to pray for others when they ask.  I will be eager to hear God's answer to those prayers.  I enjoy being able to carry on conversations with this particular young man.  He always brightens my day.

I did a little sewing at the office in the late afternoon, but didn't get very far before I got too sleepy.  Maybe tomorrow.

August 19, 2014

A Nice Busy Day

August 19, 2014

Today was busy compared to yesterday.  I didn't get to my office before I went to my appointment at the dentist's office.  I thought I had cracked a tooth, but the dentist says he thinks it is not cracked and will be alright in a few more days.  There was still swelling for the previous work and maybe a little piece of the glue that holds the new crown in place was aggravating the gum.  He had a few suggestions.  I am beginning to feel like I need an extra hour in my day for all the little things that need medical attention.  There is a scrub for my eyelids due to a condition that has flared up a couple of times, a facial scrub for a skin condition on my face (that brought on the eye condition), and on and on.  So many things that weren't needed a year or two ago now need to be a part of my daily routine.  Ron and I used to joke that we could be out the door 15 minutes after we woke up.  Not any more!

When I did get to the office, Ron took my car to the repair place to have the muffler replaced.  Did I mention that as I took my mom home Sunday evening, the car started sounding like a loud motorcycle?   Tomorrow it gets some new tires.  All these trips upstate have taken a toll on my poor 21 year old car.  But, it runs fine and we just keep taking care of it.  I hope to have it several more years.

Ron seemed to have a steady stream of customers who needed to talk to him about special items, so I did not help a lot with customers except during times that he was out of the office which was not too often today.  I spent time paying bills in the morning and then after lunch, I started to work again on my scrap quilt squares.  This time I was working on the smaller blocks in the same style as the ones in yesterday's blog.  I now have 9 of the smaller ones finished.

In the late afternoon, Ron went to get my car and I was swamped with customers.  We laugh about how the customers seem to know when one of us leaves!  When he got back I was still working on three of the customers.  After we closed, I took him to get his car which he had left when he picked up mine.

One of the challenges that my hearing creates is noises in my car.  If I hear a new noise (maybe an engine problem) I can't trust what I think I am hearing since many sounds don't sound the way I remember them.  I remind Ron to drive my car every week or so in case there is a noise I am not hearing or one I am hearing but don't realize is serious.  Tonight I told him he needs to drive my car tomorrow because I still hear a noise that sounds a lot like the muffler noise.

Maybe I have not mentioned this in a long time, but besides the music I hear in my head, I also hear noises that aren't there.  (I AM NOT CRAZY!)  My brain supplies sounds it expects to hear in certain places and situations.  When I think my husband may be taking a bath, as I walk toward the bathroom, I hear the water running.  90% of the time, it is not running.  When I go into the garage, I often hear the washer and dryer going when they are not on.  So it is possible the noise I heard on the way home really isn't even there, my brain just expected to hear it when I was driving home.  My life is interesting to say the least.

Once I got home this evening, I spent about 30 minutes working in the yard.  Most of that time was watering plants and that grass I transplanted Sunday afternoon.  I filled the ponds and birdbaths, as well as filling the bird feeders.  It has been brutally hot here for the last week or so and the plants in the yard are struggling.  Things are drying out so quickly.

This is the Green Jay that I saw Sunday and he was back today.  I know it is the same one because his colors are not quite the usual.  The blue on his head is duller than most. 

 I hope it is just because he is young.

While I was in the yard, that young Green Jay I had photographed this weekend showed up and went to the smallest fountain in the yard and hopped around on it trying to figure out how best to get a drink.  As I said, this is a juvenile bird and not the brightest one I have seen.  I never see his parents with him.  Anyway, he saw me but continued to hop around on the fountain and then on the ground to look for food.  I was only about 5 feet away from him.  My camera was in the house since I was working.  Sure could have gotten some great photos if it had been with me!  It was a treat to stand there and watch him.

After supper, I started on another style of scrap quilt blocks.  I have some leftover fabrics from some baby quilts I made a couple of years ago - Dr. Seuss (Cat in the Hat, etc.) prints and Peanuts prints (Charlie Brown).  I really love the prints and hate to waste any of the leftover fabrics, so I am playing with those scraps.  The quilt may end up having a wider variety of fabrics in it. 

August 18, 2014

Uneventful Day

August 18, 2014

 An uneventful, boring, dull day is not all bad.  Over the last year and a half, I have had more than my share of event filled days!  Today was very slow at the office.  I guess since all the teachers and some students, went back to school, they were all busy.  Last week many parents were having keys made for their children who will be going home to empty houses.  Teachers were having classroom keys made and a few were looking for locks for their lockers.

Ron had a job mid-morning today, so I went in a little earlier than I had been so that he could leave for the job.  His hip is hurting him so he did not want to go out on any other jobs for the day.  I paid bills for the office and did some filing.  Then I started sewing.  I continue to work on the scrap squares in my current project.  I now have 16 blocks in one size and 3 in another size.  The 16 will be enough for a baby quilt and I may start putting it together this week.

Around 2:00 this afternoon the winds picked up and both shop doors started blowing open.  The ceiling tiles were doing a dance and the electronic chimes on the door kept ringing constantly.  I checked the weather and it seems the winds got up to about 53 mph.  We had a couple of very brief showers, but no measurable rain.

Since it was slow, I left the office a few minutes early.  I got some spaghetti sauce out of the freezer and made spaghetti for supper while I simmered some chicken breasts for a couple of meals for the next couple of days. 

When I got home the winds were still high so I did not try to work in the yard.  Our mimosa trees have  very brittle branches and often in high winds we lose some of the branches.  I did not think it was worth it to be working in the yard. 

After supper I started more sewing.  I was able to talk to our daughter-in-law in New Mexico.  Our son in Dallas had called during the day at work, but I had trouble understanding him so I had Ron talk to him.  I guess the biggest hearing challenge for me today was during the afternoon when I went to the dentist's office to see if I could get an appointment soon.  I think I have a cracked tooth in front of the one they capped about 10 days ago.  I got an appointment for tomorrow morning.  I asked the male clerk what time and I thought he said 7:15.  I questioned him again and heard the same thing.  I said that was fine with me but would he repeat it again.  It was 10:15.  They don't sound alike, but that sure sounded like 7:15 to me!

August 17. 2014

Another Super Sunday

August 17, 2014

 Our son with his youngest daughter in the pool.

Today again, our Sunday School class was filled with friends and some visitors, all there to study God's Word together.  One lady in the class often urges Ron (my husband and the class teacher) to hurry up and get to the lesson because she is so eager to hear from the scriptures.  We have a great group!

The worship service was wonderful as they recognized the group of young people who had served as summer interns, mostly working with the youth minister, but also in other areas.  Then there was a report on the group that recently went to Chiapas, in southern Mexico to spend a week working at a Children's Home.  Our two oldest grandsons were in that group.

Next the pastor asked if there were some who would like to share what the Lord had done for them recently.  It took a couple of minutes to get started, but once it did, the testimonies went on and on.  After the first two, our oldest grandson got a microphone and hurried around the auditorium to give it to each speaker.  I was able to hear them through my hook up on the Cochlear sound processor  and the small transistor radio that the church uses for the hearing impaired.  There were many great things shared and the pastor ended up folding up his prepared sermon to use another time.

For me, I think it is important for us to hear how God is working in the lives of others.  For one thing, it helps us to know that person better.  For another thing, there are times for most of us when we don't seem to feel God is answering our prayers and as we listen to the testimonies of others, we see that God is working and maybe He is telling us to "wait".  Not all prayers are answered instantly.  Many years ago our church used to have testimony services more often and we would see all that was being done in the lives of our fellow church members.  I remember one particular Sunday I was in the choir and we were singing some song about how good God is.  As I looked around the room from the choir loft, I saw person after person who had over the years shared great things God had done in their lives and I was very touched by it and so grateful that I had been able to know so many of their stories.

Last Sunday's sermon reminded us, in part, to tell our children and the next generations what God has done for us.  We were also encouraged to take our children with us when we go to minister to others so that they are a part of it and learn how to reach out to others.  I recall one weekend our two oldest granddaughters stayed with us and we bought some plants, pots, and potting soil.  We prepared the pots with the new plants and went out to deliver them to some widows in our church.  We need to do those things with our children and grandchildren.

For lunch, Ron and I picked up burgers and came home to eat.  Ron was having a lot of pain in his hip and he took a nap.  I dozed off for a while after taking a few bird photos.  In yesterday's blog I mentioned that the young sparrows were all over the bird baths, bathing and drinking.  I later heard that the heat index yesterday was over 110.  No wonder they were needing the drinks and baths - to cool off!  Today a flock of small black birds arrived while we were eating lunch (not sure what they were).  There must have been at least 20 of them.  They joined the sparrows for lunch.

I worked in the yard for a few minutes filling ponds and watering plants.  I planted a bunch of the grass I had pulled out of the flowerbeds that I had enlarged.  I don't know if any of the transplanted grass will survive, but it is worth a try.  I have one area that needs it badly.

Ron and I were to be at South Padre Island at 5:00 for a birthday party for our granddaughter (the one we celebrated with at IHOP a few days ago).  We were just about to leave when I got a text that they were delayed a little so we waited a bit to leave.  I must say this was a wonderful party!  They have access to a beautiful, large pool at the island in a gated community.  It turned out that for all but the first few minutes, we had the pool all to ourselves.

Me with the birthday girl. 

It was not a large group.  Well, let me restate that.  There were only about 3 or 4 families involved, but that was over 30 people.  Our son's family of 9 (plus 2 cousins) topped the list, another family of 7 with 4 guests were there, a family of 5 from our church, 3 grand parents, and one great grandparent... and maybe a couple of other guests.

Me with our youngest granddaughter.

Besides the pool, there were tennis courts, basketball court, wading pool, bathrooms, and a concession stand (not open).  A lovely setting.  I did not plan to swim since I was expecting other people to be using the pool and I would be deaf in the pool without my sound processor, but since it was all people who know me well, I wish I had gone prepared to swim.

 The birthday girl had the pool all to herself about sunset for a while.

I met the guests with the family of 7 and they were a missionary family from California.  They told my mom that they had been praying from me when I lost my hearing.  I had never heard of them or met them until today.  This side of Heaven, I will never know how many people have prayed for me over this last year and a half.  Thank you to all those who have been a part of my progress by praying for me.

Just after sunset we headed home, bringing my mom back to town with us (she had ridden out to the island with our son's family).  We dropped Ron off at home and I took her home and then stopped for milk and bread before coming home.  I talked to our son in New Mexico for a while and caught up on their activities.  It was a very good day!

Coming across the causeway the traffic stacked up a little as we headed into Port Isabel.

August 16, 2014

Hours and Hours of Yard Work

August 16, 2014

My housekeeper was here before 7:30 this morning.  I told her I was going to have a quick breakfast and then go work in the yard.  A little over 3 hours later, I stopped.  The flowerbed I enlarged last night got a redo today.  Overnight I decided that it needed to be deeper than it already was so I added more so that now it is 12 inches deeper than when I started.  This is an L shaped flowerbed running under the windows to my sewing room.  I had only done the short side last night.

The above photo is after I got the first section enlarged this morning.  Next I moved to the area around the large elephant birdbath and weeded and did some trimming on some ivy and some other pot plants.  I also re-potted some ivy that I had pulled up as I was weeding.

I stopped to take some photos of the assorted blooming plants before returning to the second section of the L shaped flowerbed.

I got back to enlarging the flowerbed, this time working on the long side of the L shaped bed, and again added 12 inches to the depth of the bed.  The hibiscus plants were leaning so far over the former border, that it was too hard to mow along the edge of the bed.

Around 11:00 I finished the flowerbed and put all my tools away and then watered the bed very well.  I am pleased with the way it turned out. 

While working in the yard, I did not wear the sound processor.  The audiologist tells me it is ok to wear it when I am getting hot and sweaty, but this morning the sweat was just dripping off my face and head and I didn't think that was the best thing for the sound processor.

It was close to 2:00 before Ron got home and he spent all afternoon working in the yard.  He needed to trim the oak tree and remove some bottle brush plants that have just died of old age I guess.  I went back out about 4:00 and worked for 2 1/2 hours and was hot as a fire cracker.  It was terrible outside this afternoon.  I trimmed some palm trees and weeded around them.  I hauled a little of the clippings to the brush pile but let Ron do most of it.

Off and on during the day, I took breaks and did some reading.  While I was reading the birds were active in the back yard and I enjoyed watching the sparrows at the bird bath and the juvenile Green Jay that kept coming to the feeders and posing for some photos.  The blue Budgie was around all day.

You will notice that the colors are paler on this young Green Jay.  He is also less skittish than the older birds.  he did keep flying into the windows and the house.  I hope is isn't too stupid!

Other than those things, I have done very little today.  I did not leave the house except to work in the yard.  I need to go to the grocery store, but did not get that done.

The young sparrows played at the birdbath all afternoon, taking baths and getting drinks.  They are so much fun to watch.  They are so curious.

It may be hard to get out of bed in the morning!  I think I am going to be sore.

August 15, 2014

A Busy Friday Afternoon

August 15, 2014

Often Ron and I discuss the fact that Friday afternoons at the office are very slow and maybe we should just close at noon on Fridays.  This afternoon he was out on jobs and I was swamped!  But we also laugh about how if just one of us is there it gets very busy and if we are both there, it seems slow. 

My day started with the usual morning stuff and then about 20-30 minutes in the yard doing a few little chores.  The little blue Budgie was back.  I think it is a female, but I tend to refer to it as a male - I guess because it is blue.  It seems to be recovering from the injuries I noticed last weekend. 

I stopped to get some pastries at a Mexican bakery on my way to the office, thinking our grandson would be there, but it turned out he didn't come since they have out of town company for about the next week.  Once at the office, I took care of some bookkeeping chores and made up a bank deposit.  Just before noon I took the deposit to the bank and once I got back and had my lunch, Ron left on jobs for most of the rest of the day.

Lately we have been having problems with our mail delivery.  We close at 5:15 and two days last week, the mail did not come at all.  On the next day, it arrived about 5:25 and Ron just happened to still be there working.  This week, the mail had been coming about 5:00 or later.  Today it came about 4:30 and there were several checks, so I made up another deposit and hurried to the bank at 5:00 to deposit them.  It is so frustrating to get mail that late in the day at a business and then that means the outgoing mail is being picked up very late. 

During the afternoon while Ron was out I had my hands full with customers.  They were lined up several deep a couple of times.  One man brought his two sons with him and they were all over the place.  They had to get their hands on everything and see how it worked.  They were not bad kids, just active.  They were noisy and kept drowning out the father's voice so that I could not hear him.  I finally asked one of them to go play somewhere else so I could hear his dad.  There are just some sounds that the sound processor picks up better than others.  That happened to me several times this afternoon.

The first time it happened today, a lady came in and asked if I spoke Spanish.  I told her, "No."  She continued to talk in Spanish.  Another customer came in and she asked him if he spoke Spanish.  He told her, "No."  She continued talking to him, loudly, for probably 15 minutes.  He said a few Spanish words to her.  I was understanding enough of what she said to know we did not do the type of work she was wanting.  She did not like the word, "No" and kept on and kept on.  I gave her phone numbers of 2 other locksmiths in town who do the kind of work she wanted and who speak Spanish.  She wanted us to do the work.

She was so loud that she would drown out any other conversation I would be trying to have with other customers.  Later in the afternoon she returned and did the same thing.  I have no idea what the root of the problem was and neither did the man she talked to for 20 minutes the second time (a different man).  It just gets so frustrating when a conversation I am not involved in drowns out one I am trying to have.  I can use the remote for the Cochlear Sound Processor and bring down the area that I am focused on and that can help, but I don't find it practical to be changing it between customers I am waiting on. 

Remote for first Sound Processor

The remote for the first Sound Processor I got, had a neck cord attached to it and they suggested wearing it all the time.  I don't find that practical.  I already wear an alarm button on a cord around my neck.  The remote is a little large and heavy and bangs around as I move around.  The remotes for the newer Cochlear Sound Processors are smaller and more light weight, but don't have any way to attach them to a neck cord.  Anyway, by late in the afternoon I had a splitting headache and I think it was mostly noise related.

Remote for the second Sound Processor

During the morning, shortly after I had arrived, Ron was waiting on a customer and on the TV monitor in my office I could see a second person out front so I went to offer help to the second one.  It turned out they were together, but the second one was the assistant high school band director when I was in the high school band 50+ years ago.  This was Art Guajardo.  He is an extremely talented man musically and I found today that his mind was as sharp as a tack.  The other man mentioned a few former band members and Mr. Guajardo would remember the maiden names of the girls, the instruments different band members played, where different students went to college,  the music we had played in a particular year, and many details.  The other man was younger, but Mr. Guajardo kept correcting him on details.  I enjoyed the visit and we talked about my hearing loss.  The other man was very interested in the fact that music doesn't sound right to me.

The afternoon customers must have all had a rough week because they were all hard to help.  One man had been in and I told him I needed a particular measurement for the lock he was ordering.  I wrote down on a piece of paper that the measurement would be either 2 3/8" or 2 3/4" and that those were close together, so to please be careful in his measurements.  He took the paper and came back later delighted with himself as he explained to me it was 2 5/8".  I told him that wasn't one of the choices.  He looked surprised and thought a minute and said he guessed it had to be 2 3/4" then.  That was just the way the rest of the afternoon went. I did find some time to sew this afternoon between customers.  I continue to work on the 11 blocks that I started yesterday and I made a lot of progress.

We went to supper with our friends as we do most Friday evenings and tried a new seating arrangement.  The lady sat across from me as suggested by the audiologist.  The sound processor picked up her husband very well, but I asked her to repeat many things.  Oh, well....

When I got home, I spent about 45 minutes working in the yard.  Ron had watered the back yard very well and it was just right for pulling weeds and grass that was in the flower beds.  I got a couple of flower beds weeded and then moved the bricks outlining one of the beds to make the bed a little deeper.  The hibiscus plants in that bed were over hanging the border.  It was unbelievably hot as I worked in the yard at about 7:30 this evening!  In some parts of the yard I could get a nice breeze, but not where I was working, so I was drenched with sweat by the time I gave up and came in for a nice cool bath.   The flower bed looks better with the bricks moved.  Now I need to do the other one tomorrow.  I also hope to put in a new flower bed tomorrow. 

I read for a while this evening and relaxed after a long and busy day.  It is so nice that I am at the end of the work week and will have tomorrow off!