An Ending and A New Beginning

First of all since Monday is Memorial day here in the states, I want to salute all our brave men and women who have and still are serving our country, protecting us from harm, and willing to put their lives on the line each and every day so that I can live without constant fear.

The times, they are a-changin'. Big changes to my day to day life. I have been a bookkeeper with my own business for over 25 years. A few years ago when I started having health issues, I closed my business. However, I did continue to do some books pro bono because I wanted to keep busy and I have always loved working with numbers. This past week, one of the companies decided that they needed to go with someone who was licensed and insured. They have been a long standing customer; but I was beginning to realize that I needed to give this up as it is at least a weekly operation for me and sometimes a daily one. So when I was told on Thursday, I welcomed the decision. I actually know the young lady who will be taking over and she is a great girl, very talented and smart and I totally wish her well. The transition will take a few weeks but the feeling of relief and lightness on Friday was amazing. As I drove home from dropping off the records, I feel so free. I even shouted out loud, "I'm free" while in the truck and then I giggled! Maybe the freedom went a little bit to my head but it felt so wonderful to know that I don't have to do this anymore.

I thought a part of me would be sad but I haven't felt any sadness at all. I have packed up the rest of the filing and other things that need to go to the new accountant this weekend and there has been a smile on my face the whole time. I looked around today and thought that now I can settle and get some more crocheting and cross stitching done because I won't have to worry about the phone ringing and someone saying they needed something RIGHT NOW!

Along with the new freedom I'm feeling, The Hubs and I are clearing up "stuff" and paring down what we have. We are trying for a leaner, more simple home life without a bunch of "things" around. I am solely using my laptop now (with external hard drives so I don't lose anything should it decide to croak on me) so when we got the desktop back from the repair shop, I told him it was his. Now that I don't need a regular desk anymore, I want to move it out and move in the cross stitch cabinet we designed and he had built for me along with a glider rocker so that I have a quiet little place to cross stitch and crochet and so all my crafty things will be together in one place. I'm excited and hoping that this will happen. I just have to figure out where the desk will go (into another bedroom, possibly?) and decide what I am and am not going to keep of the things in the drawers. I have watched and read with HUGE envy all the bloggers who have a room all their own for their yarn, fabric, books and other things they need to do their craft. Now maybe I will be able to have a little corner for myself.

And one more thing, the depression and pain that has bothered me for the past few (or several) weeks has relented. Of course, my rheumatologist put me on prednisone for a week last Monday and I'm sure that has a lot to do with it. But that stress that went along with doing these books is now gone and I feel relaxed. I truly feel that I was meant to be a "lady of leisure" if only for my health and my sanity.  :)

Thank you all for all your kindness and concern over the past few posts. I have read each and every comment and they have made me smile and have given me a warm feeling. I truly love each of you and consider each of you a dear friend even though we are miles and continents away from each other. This bloggy world is a special place.

Thank you for stopping by. I hope each of you have a wonderful day tomorrow and that life treats you well.

Hugs,
Grammy Sharon

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