Throwback Thursday - July 4th and 5th

This week I'm going to look at what happened on this day, July 5, and the day before July 4th in my blog history. These have been two very memorable days in my life. Last year on July 4th, my dad went to the hospital to see my mom who had been in the hospital for the past few days. She had been very sick but mentally fine. That morning, July 4th, changed everything. From that point on we only had brief glimpses of who my mom used to be. I can remember one day when she seemed particularly clear and I tried to hurry and talk to her about everything, knowing it could be my last real conversation with her. It was.

In July of 2015, I was enjoying tiny baby Cosy and looking forward to Oliver's arrival. This year the highlight of the month will almost surely be Oliver's birthday party on the 21st. It will be Cosy's first ever visit to Oliver's house and her longest road trip. I'm so excited to be there for his party this year. Last year my mom was so unwell that it was impossible for me to travel that far away. Instead I gave him a little party at my house for the family up here. It will be nice to go to his party (and also to not have to give  a party!) this year.

The post summarizing my 4th of July in 2014, didn't go up until a few days later. Cody and Marquee and their friends had come up for a visit. They had a nice swim in the lake and we did fireworks and sparklers and it was just a nice time with friends and family and friends that feel like family.

On the 4th of July and 5th of July in 2013, we were growing mushrooms in our front yard. It was a very wet Summer, our first full Summer up here. The basement flooded frequently. My level of frustration was pretty high but at the same time... life was much easier since I had recently stopped working.

On these days in 2012, I was at Grandma's house in Hayesville, North Carolina, staying with her until it was time to move her to Assisted Living. She went through a lot of emotions that week and it was... rough. The whole process went much more quickly that I had thought it would but I feel proud that I was able to spend those days with her at the end of her time of independence and help her say goodbye to the people and places that were so important to her. It was hard.

Probably the hardest 5th of July I ever faced was the one in 2011. I was at work and I received a call from Austin letting me know that the house was on fire. Our little duplex had been struck by lightning and caught fire. The next two weeks were hard... some of the hardest days I had ever lived through at that point but in the end, we were ok. A lot of special treasures survived the fire. We survived the fire. The cats survived. I had renters insurance (it's so important! If you're renting you really NEED it!) that paid to pack up all our stuff, clean it, salvage what was salvageable and move it to our new apartment. I felt very, very blessed throughout that whole process. It was not easy but having renters insurance made it bearable. The fire is covered in blog posts that you can access by clicking here and here.

Looking back at 2010, I was talking about losing weight and what was different for me in that weight loss effort than previously. You can read my posts here and here and here is a fabulous recipe for this really yummy frittata. Now I need to make a frittata this week!

AND... the oldest blog post I have for this day is from 2009 when I had just had my wisdom teeth removed. It's short and sweet but if you'd like to read it (and your fabulous comments!) you can click here. 

Hope your 4th of July was amazing and I'd love to hear how you spent it this year... and what was your most memorable 4th of July?

Reasons To Love Newman - I Mean, Monday

Sometimes do you feel like greeting Monday like they used to greet Newman on Seinfeld? Hello... Monday. You sorry worthless miserable day. (she says while still in her pajamas and in bed). For me... any day can feel like Monday because my view only changes when I'm down at Marvin's for our "weekend" which ends up being Wednesday and Thursday. Friday is his Monday and it's usually his longest day although they really worked him like a dog yesterday... something like 12 hours. I hear from him the least amount on Monday because he's working at the radio station and he can't like... just chat with me randomly throughout the day like he does on Saturday and Sunday.

But this blog is about me... so let's talk about my hatred for Monday. I only hate Monday in the context that I hate feeling how I feel today which has nothing to do with Monday and everything to do with pushing myself too hard and having a body that doesn't cooperate. I could feel as much contempt for any day I wake up feeling this way and it does happen on days besides Monday. However... this blog originated from the viewpoint of a working girl and no matter what's happening in your life, there are reasons to hate AND LOVE any day of the week... but I just happen to have focused on Reasons To Love Monday and so that is what we're going to do today... and I'm sorry it took me two long paragraphs to get to that point.

1. I think it's possibly not quite as hot as it has been around here. If you're suffering from the awful heatwave we've been having and you hate heat as much as I do... I'm so sorry! Hang in there! We're about to check off the 4th of July and then it's just a few more weeks of baking until Labor Day and we'll be well on our way to reasonable weather before you know it. Not wishing my life away... just wishing this heat away. I'm so tired of sticking to every surface I sit down on.

2. The best Reason To Love Monday for me today is that I have literally barely moved all day. The house has been blissfully quiet and what noise there was, I have drowned it out with my window a/c unit. I've stayed curled up like the Princess and the Pea on a stack of pillows and cushy blankets and I've just allowed my body to heal from the abuse it suffered over the weekend and from getting my sleep cycles and medicine cycles out of sync. Cosy is doing so great with going potty but when she announces "I have to teetee" I have about thirty seconds to get her to the ONLY POTTY she will use in our house which is on the top floor. It has the little ring insert so she doesn't fall in and it's the only potty she trusts. Twice on Saturday I had to take off running from outside and carry her (not so tiny) dripping wet swimsuit covered body up the stairs to the upstairs potty and get that wet swimsuit peeled off of her before she peed herself. Not good for my back.

3. This may take me a second to figure out how to make it a Reason To Love but... I got a call from the nurse at my doctor's office today. She was really angry at ME for saying my prescription didn't get called in on Friday when she specifically talked to the pharmacist at Walmart herself. I don't fill prescriptions at Walmart. Never have, never will. It's not in my file... and believe me, they ask me every single time I go in to see that doctor, "where do you get your prescriptions filled?" Rite Aid in Cleveland.  I didn't mention Walmart in any of the times I talked to her on Friday and... beyond that... I provided her with the phone number to MY PHARMACY about twelve times in the course of our conversations on Friday. I was really upset about the way things were handled on Friday and I'm still, honestly, not happy with what happened but it really made me want to curse and throw things when she said it was my fault for telling her to call it in to Walmart. I GAVE HER THE PHONE NUMBER TO THE CORRECT PHARMACY. She never would admit her fault and it's a touchy thing dealing with a pain doctor. They can drop you for any reason and once one doctor's office drops you, it's very difficult to find another who will prescribe pain meds for you. SO my Reason To Love Monday today is that I kept my cool on the phone with that lunatic who appears to have lost touch with reality and seems to forget that my insurance is helping to pay her salary.

Moving on.

4. I love Monday this week because on Friday I did a big food shop (previously mentioned) and prepared lots of good, healthy, fresh food that I have been able to enjoy all weekend and still have plenty for the next couple of days. Trying to figure out what to eat is never easy for me because ... tired ... pain ... no appetite... etc... so having food ready to eat already... it's like living at the Buffet! It makes me excited about putting together other healthy meals and eating fresh, whole food which is what I really prefer anyways!

5. That didn't stop me from sending money so that Austin can bring me home some fries from Creekside Deli because they literally have the best fries in all of White County. I know that's a bold statement but I'm prepared to stand behind it. Best fries in White County - Creekside Deli. Tell them Heather sent you.

6. On this day a year ago we had to take my mom to the hospital via ambulance and it was scary and sad and all those things. Two days later she was completely altered mentally and we never really got "her" back. I miss her so much. Last year this day was really hard and this year it's not and that's a great Reason to Love this day and any day you're not making life changing health decisions for someone you love.

7. I bought new shampoo and conditioner to try this week and I'm going to try it tomorrow. I'm really looking forward to it. It's almost the time of year where I need to just give up on flat ironing my hair because it just really doesn't last long because the humidity makes a mess out of me. Marvin likes my hair, "big" but for me it's such a fine line between "big" and "messy"... we'll just see. But at least when I don't flat iron it, it smells better. The flat iron makes it really stink.

8. Austin had to miss work today on doctor's orders because of his staph infection but he's hoping to work tomorrow. I'm going to probably get Cosy tomorrow and let her hang out with me anyways. She gave her mama a hard time today but she's been really sweet for me. I do end up going up and down the stairs a gazillion times when she's here but she will also just sit forever and watch these weird toy opening / playing with toys videos on YouTube. Some of them are sort of educational - they teach colors and shapes and stuff. She's absolutely hooked on them. As long as she's still like that and not up and down the stairs all day, I can handle her. I enjoy her ALL of the time, no matter how tired I am or how bad I hurt but I have to be realistic about my limitations and it's not fair to Marvin for me to go down there already exhausted.

8 1/2 I ordered her a new pack of undies yesterday and they come tomorrow and there are so many little cute undies in it! She comes over in a pullup and I send her back in undies and they somehow never find their way back to my house so although I have probably bought three dozen pairs of little panties in the past year, I have zero left. Stocking up feels nice. And I'm glad we need to. And I'm glad I'm not buying diapers or pullups.

9. Reason to Love Monday number nine - tomorrow is DATE NIGHT! I have no idea what we're doing but Marvin isn't playing ball tomorrow night (he's taking the Summer off and maybe... a little longer) and he isn't working Wednesday night because of the 4th and so we're going to have lots of time together this week! As usual, I don't care if we stay in bed and watch tv for 48 hours straight as long as he feeds me once or twice a day. I sleep best at his house, I am most relaxed at his house and I miss him!

10. Anyone watching Big Brother this year? I was feeling a bit stressed because my favorite player is on the block this week but *spoiler alert* there's a thing that might save her and I'm really, really excited about it because it's too soon for her to go.

AND I guess that will have to do for this week. I hope you have a great week. It's a weird work week because some people are off all week and some are just off on Wednesday but... whatever you're doing, I hope it's a good week for you and that you're safe and cool and finding lots of Reasons to Love every day that comes your way! Love and hugs!

The 4th of July

Today it rained and the mushroom grew.

And two other mushrooms came to stand alongside of Myrtle in the little forest of our front yard.

I haven't yet named these two but I feel like the old fella on the right isn't long for this world. His umbrella seems to have slipped. The one on the left, however, is in a really secretive, barely visible spot so she may grow large and prosper. It's still raining so, I guess, they'll continue to grow. I'm not ever sure of what combination of soil, water and fertilizer are required for anything to grow and I know even less about mushrooms but for me... my little mushrooms are indications of something of wonder in an environment that otherwise, doesn't change much. The view is gorgeous but it doesn't change much. The mushrooms... they change... and they do it in the midst of unpleasant circumstances. Surely there's some lovely story we can draw from this.

Like I said. It's raining. We didn't do cook-out fare... I made a (really nice) chicken stir-fry with peppers and asparagus and mushrooms over jasmine rice and it turned out well. My Aunt Linda is spending the night at the ole Gant B&B and although we still are limited in the entertainment that we offer, at least we improved on the most recent meal we offered to guests (frozen pizza).  Pop will be home (here) tomorrow night and on Saturday my mom will be heading back to Riverdale with him to catch up on Doctor appointments and work at Vacation Bible School. It will be just me and Austin - or maybe just me - who knows - for the next two weeks. Austin came by today briefly and was in good spirits. This just means that he's disassociating himself from the unpleasantness and will work on a way to bring the subject up again and try to make things happen his way.

As I've frequently mentioned, for me, rain = pain and therefore this day has been uncomfortable but not the worst I've ever had - I did manage to make coffee, empty the dishwasher, load the dishwasher, prepare a meal- I mean, I'm not exactly shooting fireworks off from the dock (as some of our lake neighbors are. in the rain) but I'm getting by ok. I'm functioning. It's sort of like... I've accepted certain things that will not work for me in this season of life (working, sitting for any length of time, for the most part anything social that requires sitting for a long time) but it's real important to me to do what I can do.

Enough about me... check out this little sweetheart:

 it was cool enough to open the windows and little kitty was appreciating the fresh rain cooled air.

Little Trouble Kitty wants to know why I'm in the top floor bedroom with my camera with the light on. We never turn the lights on up there! His head is cocked to the side - we call that "question head".












At any rate... it's been a very quiet, peaceful 4th and I'm grateful for that. Hope yours was everything you hoped.

Love and hugs.