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Let’s Not do That Again

12 Dec

I took Blazer up to get his nails trimmed last night, and it was not a rousing success, to put it mildly.

We got him in March, 2008, and he has never had his nails done. We tried it here at home once and he actually bit The Squire (first and only time) so we just let it go. I did ask at the vet’s one time when we boarded him, but they got things confused and gave him a bath instead. Or maybe they did try to cut his nails and decided a bath was safer. Who knows?

Anyway, the technician got one back paw done with “minimal” trouble, but ended up having to put a muzzle on him before she finished the second hind leg. He thrashed around dreadfully while she tried to do his front feet. Got one done, but when she started the other foot, he pulled away so suddenly – and forcefully – that he rammed her head and she bit her lip.

As soon as she removed the muzzle, he jumped down and laid in front of her to have his belly rubbed. “No hard feelings, lady, but keepa ya hands offa ma feet.”

Crazy animal.

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Good News and Bad News

8 Dec

The good news is that I have felt better for the last three weeks than I can ever remember. Oh, I still have trouble with my thumb, and always will, I’m afraid, but other than that, both physically and emotionally, I can not remember feeling this healthy for the last twenty years or so. A few tweaks of my meds, and a shot in the back, and I am ready to party.

The bad news is that The Squire is having major trouble with his feet. He was in dreadful pain yesterday, and this morning I called his podiatrist, and the doctor had him come in right away.

The bones in his right foot are collapsing.

He has Charcot-Marie-Tooth syndrome (CMT), which is a degenerative nerve condition. As the nerves die, the muscles atrophy, and if it hits when you are young, the bones “warp” as the muscles pull away. (If it “kicks in” when you are an adult, the pain can be so severe that the patients {usually men} opt to have their foot amputated, so in that sense we are quite fortunate.) The condition is osteoclastic – it leeches the calcium from the bones – and this is what is causing his foot to simply “melt”. He has already lost the bones in several toes, and now it seems to have begun working on this foot.

The doctor says a new pair of shoes, built to support the foot and force it into position, rather than rolling to the outside as it is now, will help “for a while”. Ultimately, the doctor suggests surgery to fuse what bones there are.

Everything that has ever been done to his feet has made the problem worse, rather than better, so he has already ruled out surgery on one level, but he is looking to get a second opinion.

And through it all, he is the sweetest, most even-tempered person I know.

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Christmas is a’Comin’

7 Dec

We have had an Open House on the third Sunday in Advent almost every year since we got married (one year the place was still a demolition area following a hurricane) and I am currently in the throes of baking cookies. Most of the “goodies” are store-bought, but my cookies have to be homemade. Two batches this afternoon, and I’ll try to get at least one more done tomorrow. Eldest daughter makes the world’s best chocolate chip and oatmeal cookies, and she has offered to take care of that for us. We have friends who are on a gluten free diet, some are vegetarians, and some will eat anything, so there’s a lot of special stuff going on in my kitchen. Everything but kosher, but since I don’t eat meat, we could probably pass muster on that, too. (I even found GF Matzo at Wegman’s!)

Thursday, BFF and I went to IKEA for breakfast, and then just wandered around for a while. That place is fantastic for just putzing around, even if you don’t actually buy anything. I did purchase a HUGE, soft, squishy, floppy elephant for our Virginia great-grandson, and then we went off to Barnes & Noble looking for The Saggy-Baggy Elephant to put in the box along with it. Not in stock, but I can pick it up at the store one day this week.

I also purchased a nice, sturdy walk-off rug to put in the dining room. We figured with two responsible adults and no kids we could safely put down pale blue carpets. Ha! I go barefoot most of the time. The Squire has to keep his shoes on, but he’s good about wiping his feet both before he comes in and in the kitchen. I think the four-footed members of the household bring in the lion’s share of the dirt. The carpets always look as if they are in need of a good scrubbing.

Well, if you say so...

Well, if you say so…

We had a Christmas Bazaar yesterday at church, and I found three “elephant” books on the children’s table (all brand new Scholastic books), Dumbo, and two Winnie the Pooh books, so grandson will have lots to read his young’un.  I need to get this in the mail – after the party, please! – and The Squire found a carton in the recycling at church this morning that he swore was big enough. Well, getting that silly elephant into that box was a trick worthy of Maru, the Japanese “box cat”.  Add four books and two small gifts, and the blasted box may explode!

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Just When You Think You know it All…

1 Dec

The Squire and I stopped at the grocery store on the way home from the Y this morning, and a Country-type song came over the speaker system.  My husband began to dance around the cart.

“What brought that on?”

“Clogging.”

“So I see.”

“Before my feet started to go bad, I was part of a clogging group in elementary school.”

Fifty years, and he still surprises me.

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Another Birthday

29 Nov

The Squire celebrated his mumble-mumblety birthday today very quietly at home. Since yesterday was our anniversary, we did it up last night, and planned to take it easy today. It didn’t work out exactly as planned.

When I tied Blazer out this morning, there was a deer in the field and he took off running. Somehow, he managed to catch the rope on my license place and ripped it off the front of the car, flinging it across the yard. Great start to the morning!

After he got that taken care of, The Squire headed over to church to work on the printer network – one more time. The laptop the treasurer uses is running Windows XP, the rector uses something else, and the secretary is using a third system. Every once in a while, the printer just ups and throws a hissy fit, and while The Squire is no longer the Property Warden, he is still in charge of keeping the computers up and running – and trying to maintain his sanity at the same time. He came home to chicken soup, courtesy of the Thanksgiving Dinner, and then we began to work on our Christmas cards.

We have an Open House every year on the third Sunday in Advent, so our cards need to go out fairly early. I purchase cards from House-Mouse Designs, and we print our invitation on the inside. This year, we have a new printer, and I honestly thought The Squire was going to tear out what little hair he still has left.  That printer gave him fits. It wouldn’t allow for a custom size paper, printed double-sided on two cards (no, we didn’t tell it to do that) and then suddenly decided not to work at all. I didn’t know if I should stick around and “help”, or just try to keep out of his hair.

All is well, and we will address the cards tomorrow.

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Happy Anniversary

28 Nov

our weddingThe Squire and I have been married forty years, as of today. Actually, including the fact that we knew each other for nine years before we got married, we’re closing in on fifty years.

And we’ve both loved every minute of it!

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Happy Thanksgiving!

27 Nov

This has been quite a week.

Monday, I went to the doctor and convinced her that iron supplements are NOT the answer to my problems. The mail is still moving down south, so to speak, and that’s only on half the dosage she prescribed.  Yes, I’m still anemic. Yes, I still resemble a light bulb in a wig, and No, iron isn’t going to help.  Now we’re going to try Vitamin D – 2,000 units a day. Go away and leave me alone.

Eldest Daughter had invited BFF and me to go to the Amish markets in Shrewsbury on Tuesday, just to get out of the house for a while. Local Granddaughter and her baby girl were going along, and I don’t get a chance to see them very often, so I was looking forward to the trip. BFF had a doctor’s appointment at 10:00, so we were to meet at Eldest Daughter’s house at 10:30 or so.

The Squire always gets up earlier than I do, and he popped into the bedroom to ask what time I had to be in Forest Hill. I mumbled an answer and he said he was going over to church and left the room; I rolled over and looked at the clock, and it was almost 9! I hit the floor at a dead run, as it takes about a half an hour to get up the road. Getting dressed takes longer than it should, as I am still essentially one-handed, but I managed to make myself presentable, if not beautiful, and left the house at 9:45.  Just as I got into the car, I remembered I needed to return something I had borrowed from Eldest Daughter, and had to go back inside. Couldn’t find it. After much frantic searching I located it – in my purse, where I had put it so I wouldn’t forget it.

Now I was really running at a dead clip. There is a large tree about halfway up the hill which sticks out into the drive and you have to go around it, or hit it. I was in such a rush that I over-steered and managed to throw myself across the drive and propelled my car over the wall that goes along that side. I called BFF and told her to go on to Eldest Daughter’s without me. Fortunately, her doctor’s appointment had just ended and she offered to come get me. I called The Squire at church, told him what had happened, and left my AAA card on the counter for him.  What with one thing and another we managed to get away from Forest Hill a little after 11:00.

He did not, by the way, have too much to say about this stunt, because he has backed into that tree himself – twice. Once in each direction.  Tail lights are expensive to replace.

I get so tickled at all of the “rules” Local Granddaughter tells me you should or shouldn’t do with new babies.  Don’t put them in snowsuits, because the suits don’t compress enough to buckle the child securely into the car seat.  Don’t do this, you must do that. Yeesh. Of course, today’s truth is tomorrow’s lie, and vice versa, and it’s her baby, so I just do as she says. When her mom and the Middle Daughter were babies, I got conflicting advice from everybody, which made me very insecure, so I just nod and let her do it her way.

We really had a good time in Shrewsbury.  I don’t think any of us spend much money. I splurged on an ice cream cone and a dish of rice pudding with raisins (Hey, I’m a cheap date.) but I was actually looking for a roasting chicken, as Thanksgiving dinner would be only The Squire, my brother-in-law and myself, so I didn’t want a turkey. All the market had was parts, so I ended up at the local super market after all.

Both The Squire and I worked very hard around the house yesterday, playing pick-up-and-put-away, doing laundry, getting veggies and such prepped for today, and then went to the Ecumenical Thanksgiving service in the evening.  As a result, I was on my feet far too long. Last night, my back decided to give me a fit, and I was tossing and turning like a rowboat in a storm. I finally came downstairs and took a heavy duty pain pill, and whipped up a batch of bread while I waited for it to kick in. What with one thing and another, it was after 2 AM before I managed to get to sleep.

It was nice to have BIL here today. He is a really great guy, and I know he is lonely in that house. He is getting ready to move into a continuing care community – the same one my parents were in – and is trying to parcel out things to the kids and grandkids, trying to decide what to take and what to keep, making difficult decisions about disposing of things, and he really needed a break.  I think he is well suited to living at Charlestown, as there are lots of activities and it is close to where he currently lives so he can keep in touch with old friends. And he won’t be missing my sister everywhere he looks.

I really enjoyed the chance to fix a real meal and set a fine table. When I first retired from Blue Cross, The Squire was still working, and I had a nice meal ready for him every night – the sterling, the good dishes, the whole nine yards. Now, with both of us home, we are on such wacky schedules that we can’t seem to get organized enough to have a decent meal.

That’s my story and I’m sticking to it.

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A Few Surprises

20 Nov

The Squire and I went to a meeting last night, and came home about 10 PM. As our headlights swung around the bend in the drive, we startled a great blue who was sleeping in the middle of our back yard. Hard to tell which of us was the most surprised, to tell the truth. The poor bird started to fly away, got tangled in the clothes line, fell back to the ground and stalked off into the dark with as much dignity as he could manage.

Blazer likes to chew on his dish. A rawhide bone apparently has nothing on the delicate taste of a well-seasoned plastic bowl. Consequently, the dish resembles a small green colander. This is absolutely something I must remember when I pour milk over his morning kibble.  As a result of this minor flood, I staggered over to our local metropolis to purchase a new, sturdier, bowl and pick up some wrapping paper, so I can get a running start on the Christmas gifts, and then to the grocery for a few items Aldi’s doesn’t carry.

In the store, I ran into my girlfriend Karen, who came here from a northern European country. I don’t know if they are as enamored with ATMs there as much as we are in America, but she simply has no use for them.  She had gone into the bank to deposit a check, and there was not a single teller at any of the windows, so she marched up to the manager and asked him (rather forcefully, if I know her as well as I think I do) to take care of this for her. He allowed as how he didn’t know how to handle a deposit, and she would have to use the machine in the lobby.

“You’re the manager here?”

“Yes.”

“Well, suppose you tell me how you can be a supervisor when you don’t even know what it is your people do.”

And she stomped out.

I hope there were a dozen other people in the building at the time. I really do!

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Booor-ing!

19 Nov

Well, Friday I did something I have never done before in the nearly thirty years I have been a temp. I forgot an assignment. The site boss called here at 8:30, just as I was coming downstairs from bed, asking where I was. While The Squire fixed me an on-the-go breakfast, I got dressed in the first thing that fell out of the closet. I made it to work by 10:00.

Sunday night, I was so keyed up about getting to work on time that it seemed as if I barely slept so by the time I got home Monday evening I was ready to drop. Tuesday was just the way it was supposed to be; I slept well, had time for a decent breakfast and got to work with a few minutes to spare.

I have been the “permanent temp” switchboard at this medical supply manufacturer for about six or seven years, and I really like it. Nice, nice people – the cafeteria always has something interesting for vegetarians – but it’s a big place and it takes a while to figure out what calls go where, so they call me in, rather than try to train somebody else. They did want me for a week while I was in my cast, but since I couldn’t drive, they had the security guards take over the job. They take the board when I’m on breaks or at lunch, but they really can’t spare them for a whole day, never mind an entire week.

The only problem with working switchboards is that you can’t make the phone ring. Of course, sometimes you can’t make it stop, either, but mostly I sit there and get paid for reading a book.  Talking about boring! I can go through an entire though an entire mystery in a day, with time left over. The IT Department removed all the games from everyone’s computer, so I can’t even play Free Cell or Solitaire.

Someday, they’re going to have to wake me up so I can go home!

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Progress

16 Nov

OK, it doesn’t sound like much, but today I managed to touch my thumb to the tip of my pinky.

During coffee hour after church this morning, I was showing my hand to a lady in the congregation who had this same thumb surgery a year ago, pointing out some of my aches and pains and asking it they were normal. I have absolutely no grip between my thumb and my forefinger; I couldn’t even pull a number at the deli counter Friday night, and she said it had taken her about six months. In the meantime, she said I should try picking up pennies with my right hand.

The Squire and Fr. M were there, and I was demonstrating how far I could reach with my thumb. The index finger and middle finger are no problem, but my ring finger is tricky, and my pinky is just about impossible. I held up my hand and they were about a quarter inch apart. With a mighty effort, I managed to make them meet, and the pain almost brought tears to my eyes.  Fr. M reached across the table and took my hand in both of his. “Can you do that again?” I managed, but it wasn’t easy.

“I can see the tendons in your arm and feel the tension in the entire hand. You need to get a cortisone shot and some PT on this thing.”

So tomorrow I shall call my doctor and tell him my rector says I need physical therapy. Actually, Fr. M is an EMT, so it’s perfectly reasonable, and The Squire has been hounding me about it, too.

But I did manage to get my fingers together! Ta, dah!

 

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