Devastation

My heartfelt concern and thoughts are going out to the residents of Oklahoma tonight. The devastating tornado destroyed so much property and worse of all, lives. Please remember these families as they try to piece their lives back together.

Back?????

First of all I want to say thank you, thank you, thank you to everyone who commented on my last post. What wonderfully caring people all of you are. It made me feel so loved and cared for and even a little teary eyed. My bloggy friends are the best and all of you are so supportive. I'm trying to get back into the swing of blogging slowly. I've really missed being on here. I have been keeping up with your blogs though not commenting very much. I will do better. I just needed time to shake these feelings.

As some of you commented, I do think I was dealing with some depression. It gets really hard to deal with day to day pain that never really goes away. It might lessen on some days but it's still there. I've had to slow down on crocheting because of my right hand. It is swollen most of the time and the fingers just don't want to hold that hook and turn to pick up the thread. Ah well, I'm still plugging along and take lots of breaks. Sometimes I think the breaks outweigh the production.

I did manage to get so photos of some of the trees and flowers in my yard last month.

My pretty pink dogwood.

Red and yellow tulips. (I think these need to be dug up and separated and replanted somewhere else) 

The irises sending their green leaves up. Soon.

Petunias in the pots at the mail box.

And finally, the willow oak starting to green up.

I went out today and took some more photos around the yard. The above photos were made in April. The ones below today, May 17.

White Irises with yellow centers. I had forgotten I had these. 

The petunias are growing.

One lone purple iris getting ready to bloom.

My sweet, treasured magnolia tree loaded with blooms. This tree was an anniversary gift one year and I love it.

And then there is the damage to my poor Magnolia. We have new neighbors next door and the kids (a girl and a boy) have been stripping leaves and breaking branches to "play" with. I almost cried when I found this on Wednesday. I saw them outside yesterday and asked them to please not pull the leaves and break the branches on my tree. I told them it was very special to me and I didn't want to see anything happen to it. They were very polite and said okay and I thanked them, but you better believe I'm keeping a close eye on them.

A bloom getting ready. I call my Magnolia "Maggie May" (yes, I'm a Rod Stewart fan) and she has the biggest, whitest blooms that smell heavenly.

Yes, I know it's a weed but look at the sunshiny yellow.

The Willow Oaks are filling in very nicely. Lots and lots of lovely shade.

Life moves on. Doctors' appointments like crazy this month.  I've had 3 appointments already and one more to go. Whew! Thank goodness for insurance. So far everything has been fine and I hope it stays that way. The last appointment is with the rheumatologist and she and I will be talking about the pain and the depression. 

On to brighter news. My grandchildren!!! Oh how wonderful to be a grandmother. Sweet Ella has finished her first year of preschool. It's so hard to imagine she is old enough for preschool. At 4-1/2, she is such a little lady. Lilly, our little Minnie Mouse loving ball of fire, is 2-1/2 and so full of energy. When we Skype, she yells, "Grammy, watch this" and takes off to who knows where and then laughs and laughs. Elijah, the baby of the family at 1, is such a sweetheart. He looks so much like his Dad (my son) that I get teary eyed each time I see him. 

And then, there is James. Sweet Baby James who was 3 months old on the 9th of May. My goodness where is the time going? He is such an adorably, happy baby. He's discovered his feet and Abby sent me a picture of him with his toes in his mouth. Love it!

I am so proud and happy to be a grandmother of 4. Life is so much better with grandkids around. :)

Okay, I've rambled enough for today. I hope my blogging mojo is back and I will be posting more often. Thank you for listening to my ramblings and my whining. It feels good to have all of you to support me. I love you guys!

Thanks for stopping by. I hope you have a wonderful day wherever you might be.

Hugs,

Sharon

Just so you know, I'm still around. I've been having some personal issues and dealing with some things.  It is nothing serious, just a state of mind that I'm working through. I'm also having to deal with a contrary desk top computer, the same one that had to go to the computer hospital in February. It seems determined to drive me out of my ever-lovin' mind and it's doing a far more successful job than I care to admit.

I've been having some pain issues which is nothing new but it's starting to wear me down and that's working on my mind and making me feel hopeless. I'm not someone who lets things get to her. I usually am a happy person and can almost always see the bright side of things but this is starting to become a tiresome life. I don't have any energy and can't seem to wrap my head around getting things done. I sleep waaayyyy too much but don't want to get up. I have 4 doctor's appointments over the next couple of weeks and I'm sure I will be talking to at least one of them about the energy thing. The pain is something that is what it is. Some days worse, other days better but all in all, the pain is there all the time. RA is a suckky disease! I get angry at my body because it won't or can't do something I really want to do and then I feel bad, because really, my body didn't do this to me on purpose.

I have not been very productive on the crafty front and photos seem out of my reach at the moment. I let my camera battery die and missed some great opportunities. The battery is charged now but I have very little interest in taking photos. In fact, I have very little interest in doing much of anything. I did work on Jordan's blanket tonight after cleaning up several bags of yarn and organizing it a bit. By organizing, I mean I took it out of the plastic bags from Hobby Lobby and Wal-Mart and put it in a tote bag. But hey, it's off the table and not staring at me. As I said, I did work on Jordan's blanket tonight. I'm trying to do a certain number of rows each time I sit down with it and was going along very well until the yarn got all snarled up. I don't roll my yarn into balls. I just work with it from the skein either with the inside pull or the outside end. Everything was going well and then suddenly, I had two ends coming out of the inside and tangling with each other. I stopped, straightened it out and went back to crocheting but the two ends kept getting tangled and making it hard to get anything done. I finally gave up, pulled up a long loop and cut the yarn so I could tie on later. Then I proceeded to detangle that stupid skein for the next 2 hours. It's rolled into two balls now (I had to cut the yarn again because of another awful snarl) and I will be back to crocheting tomorrow. That is unless I beat up the desk top computer and hurt my hands.

I have to make adjustments so that I can do the non-profits I help out. I will be loading some software on my lap top (something I vowed I wasn't going to do as this is my play and blogging computer) and trying to muddle along until the desk top is repaired. It's going back to the computer hospital and I certainly hope it is repairable. I can't afford to buy a new one right now. But we shall see. Sometimes, you just have to bite the bullet.

Well, this turned out to be longer than I meant. It really feels good to talk to you, my bloggy friends. I do want to say that I thank you for your comments and your emails. They have meant a lot to me this past week and I fell so lucky to have all of you in my life. Maybe it's the rain, maybe it's the pain but something will give sooner or later and I will be back to my normal goofy self. The older I get, the less I like interruptions to my day to day life. I need to learn to be like a duck! Gotta let it roll off my back. :)  Right, Abby???

Take care friends and I promise that soon I will have a good post with lots and lots of photos and crafty stuff. Thank you again for being a part of my life.

Hugs,
Sharon

Missing in action.....or not

Sorry, so sorry, my sweet blogging friends. I didn't realize it had been so long since my last post. It's been busy around here leading up to the last weekend of April. I was trying very hard to get everything done so that I could have a nice visit with Sweet Baby James. I did get to go and had a wonderful visit but the trip tired me out so much, I haven't been worth 2 cents since I got back.

I'm not doing well traveling right now and it's taken me 2 days of sleep and rest to even be able to get up and move around. I promise pictures and a good post about the visit and some crafty stuff I'm working on.

I hope life is going well for all of you. Be back soon with a nice post.....I hope.

Hugs,
Sharon

Ooops

I forgot to tell you about the wonderful giveaway over at Kashmere Kisses. Just click on the link and jump over and see what is going on over there. Be sure to read the post so you will know what to do.  Shari use to have "Lauren's Closet" but had to close that blog down due to some problems. She started a new blog called Kashmere Kisses and it is wonderful.

Head over and see what's going on. Oh, and be sure to follow.

Hugs,
Sharon

Could it be?????

I'm almost afraid to post this. We had some wonderfully sunny, warm days last week with highs near 80 F and this week is starting out the same.  I'm so glad to see that bright yellow ball in the sky.

Life goes on here on The Front Porch. Day to day, hour by hour sometimes. I never know how I'm going to feel when I get up, so I just put my feet on the floor and listen to my body tell me what it wants to. We have arguments lots of days. I don't like this business of being achy and stiff and not wanting to move. Most days I win but the past couple of weeks, the body has had the upper hand.

A week ago Friday, I was out running errands, doing my usual Friday trip about town and decided to stop and fill the truck with gas. I drive a Chevrolet Silverado with an extended cab, big ole thing. (I drive this truck because I have trouble getting in an out of a sedan or smaller vehicle.) I'm still learning how to park it in those ever-loving small parking spaces at the grocery store and Hobby Lobby. I invariably wind up either taking two places or hanging the back end out in the lane. But I digress. I paid for my gas and stepped into the truck on the running boards the Hubs installed for me. These running boards have raised ridges BUT they are the same smooth plastic as the boards themselves. Well, long story short (as if I could accomplish that), my left foot slipped off the running board and I fell into the truck; not out of, into. I sat down hard on the edge of the seat and hurt my tush, twisting my back in the process. I was holding the steering wheel and door handle which kept my upper body in one position and my feet and hips went in another direction. I also pulled my arms and hands and banged my ankle on the truck. I was chair bound all weekend. Now I have these neat little strips on the raised ridges that are gritty and keep my feet where I put them. And the truck got washed also since the running boards had to be clean and dry before the strips could be put on. Big Alice is now pretty and white and shiny....until the pollen starts collecting on her.

I started a new project because I wanted some instant gratification. The Jordan blanket is slow going and I am feeling like I'm not accomplishing anything. Since I was confined to my chair due to my fall, I decided to start a bath pouf I had seen  here. I like the idea of a reusable bath pouf instead of buying the plastics ones and tossing them. These are made of cotton yarn and can be washed and re-used. I've made two so far and started on a third one. (Photos will follow however, the prettiest one, so far, was given to my Mom.)  Really easy and I think they can be made in a couple of hours. It takes me longer to do because I have to keep stopping and letting my wrist and shoulder rest. It took me around 4 or 5 hours altogether but probably not more than 3 of actually crocheting time.

I have been watching a robin build a nest in one of our trees. It's been really easy to see her progress because the trees are not leafing out as yet. She is sitting on the nest now but all I can see are her tail feathers. Do the daddy robins sit on the nest also or do they go get food for mama? I took a picture but I'm not sure you can see her up there.

We have lots of robins, doves and cardinals, a titmouse or two, some carolina wrens, and woodpeckers making use of the bird feeder. I love sitting in the swing and watching them. They don't seem to mind me being there and just fly around and squabble and eat.

Yesterday afternoon, we made a trip to Wal-Mart to look at some things. Usually Wal-Mart is a trip for specifics but this was a wander around and look kind of visit. The Hubs found a rounded top plastic box and asked if it was a sewing thing. I looked at it and thought maybe it was a plastic line feeding box for maybe fishing line. But we dropped a skein of yarn in it and popped out one of the plastic buttons in a hole and voila! a yarn feeding box. This one was missing the latch so we trotted back to fishing supplies and found one that was complete. I now have my small skein of yarn for my bath poufs nestled in the box and it is working very well. When I get going and find my camera *disgusted face* I'll make a pic to show you.

A no photo post because of the current situation with my camera. I know it's here somewhere but it didn't make it back into my purse the last time I used it so I'll have to look for it. I have a dumb phone and the photos on it are not the best.

I hope everyone has a great week. Enjoy the Spring weather or Autumn is you are "way down south".

Thank you for stopping by.

Hugs,
Sharon

Ramblings

Hello everyone. I can't seem to get in a rhythm of posting on a regular schedule. My brain doesn't work that way.

I'm slowly but steadily working on Jordan's blanket. It doesn't seem to be getting wider though. I'm having trouble with my right hand and crocheting is limited to around an hour at a time with long breaks in between. It's frustrating but it is what it is. I'm slowly learning to pace myself and do what I can, then rest. Having RA has been a learning experience and one I've not enjoyed. I have always been one who works steadily until a certain job is finished, then procrastinate until I started the next one. Now, in order to get anything done, I have to plan my work schedule and also plan rest times in between. Annoying to say the least.

I'm also having to deal with testing my blood gloucose levels every day. My levels are running between the mid 90's and very low 100's so things are working out. The medication the doctor gave me scares the heck out of me so I don't plan on letting this get out of control. If there's one thing that will make me watch out, it is the fact that the medication can cause (in rare cases, so the pamphlet says) lactic acidosis which can be fatal. The symptoms are enough to make me watch what I eat and keep that level under control. This morning my level was 93! A great reading for me. On Saturday morning it was 131 but I know what caused that. I went a little crazy on Friday and had a couple of Cokes and some candy. Sugar rush! I paid for it and that won't be happening again. I haven't had a Coke since and no candy, ice cream, cake, cookies, etc. I'm eating fruit and veggies, drinking OJ and water and tea. Do I miss the Coca-Colas??? Oh my, yes. But the choice is an easy one to make. I want to be around to see my grandkids grow up. I know there is no guarantee for that but at least, I don't need to do things to cause an early demise. (pretty morbid, huh?)

The weather here is COLD! I want warmth and sunshine and blue skies and flowers blooming. NOT wind, snow, rain and grey skies. I have to keep reminding myself that Spring is coming or rather it's already here but just not showing herself fully. I so wish she would come out of hiding. I promise to play nice if she will.

I finished a great book on my Kindle last week. "Guilt by Degrees" by Marcia Clark. She was one of the prosecutors in the O. J. Simpson trial and I have to say, she is a great writer. I loved the book and it kept me guessing to the end. It centers on a female district attorney and a female detective and the murder of a homeless man. The plot ties back to an old murder case also. She has more and I will have to read them also. I'm now reading "15 Seconds" by Andrew Gross, another favorite author. This one is about a man who gets framed for killing a cop. I'm really enjoying it.

I'm also reading "The Paris Wife" by Paula McLain. It's the story of Ernest Heminway and his first marriage to Hadley Richardson. It centers on their time in Paris and how Hadley copes with the demands and intensity of life with Ernest. He wrote "The Sun Also Rises" during this time and his friendships with Getrude Stein, Ezra Pound and F. Scott Fitzgerald have a major influence on that book. It is an interesting read written in the voice of Hadley.

Do you do that? Do you read more than one book at a time? I have been known to read as many as 3 when my kids were in middle school and high school. I always had a book in the car for those times when I had to sit and wait on band practice or band trips to be over and I usually had two going in the house. My life was so much busier then than now. How did I ever manage?

Happy Easter to all of you. I hope you have a lovely weekend. I also hope that Spring comes soon to those of us in the Northern Hemisphere with warm sunshine, bright blue skies and gentle breezes. For those of you in the Southern Hemisphere, I hope your Autumn is a lovely one with delightful days.

Thank you for stopping by.

Hugs,
Sharon