Living Today-Looking Ahead

This past week saw painting completed in the bathroom and touch up in the bedroom. Chris is doing a bit of touch up on the bathroom ceiling and is starting to paint the small closet in the office this morning. I have decided to paint a small cabinet white before I put it back in the bathroom. So I'll tackle that task this morning when he finishes in that room.

Next, I'll finish up the work in the office, either this afternoon or tomorrow. When I get off here, I need to move some stuff for better access. Only one more area to work on in my current radar.

Change of subject - For quite awhile, my left big toe has been quite painful. I started noticing a deformity (bunion) forming even before I retired 5 years ago, But lately it has become painful, making walking hard and wearing anything but Burks, impossible. I asked my podiatrist about options a couple years ago, and was told that surgery to correct it is effective. The problem is that I would need to be non-weight bearing (again) for 6 weeks. Up-side to this is that winter is on the horizon, so would need to be inside anyway. Doing it now (probably late January or early February) would mean I would be in better shape for our trip next spring. I will have time now to prep (put my house in order, fix meals and freeze them, take care of other DR appointments, etc) beforehand. Chris comes every Friday and can do minor housework and laundry. I have my wheelchair so I can get around and do some things. Of course we will be stuck at home for the duration. But I can make arrangements for Gleaners to deliver once a week and I'm sure others will be willing to "shop" occasionally for perishable items that aren't available through Gleaners.

I do not look forward to being down for the third time in almost as many years, but sometimes ya gotta do, what ya gotta do. The option of not taking care of this problem would eventually mean neither Richard or I would be mobile. That is not acceptable.

Progress

Monday was Richard's 72nd birthday. Our son Rick and his family came down from Washington over the weekend to help celebrate the occasion. While here, Rick and his crew surprised us by painting our bedroom a soft, warm brown. That color draws from the curtains, the oak furniture, and the throw rugs and pops against the white trim.

They moved all the heavy furniture away from the walls, dismantled a shelving unit, painted, and then moved the furniture back into place. What a blessing. That furniture has not been moved in about 5 years ( I just can't do it any more). The cobwebs and accumulation of debris that had fallen behind it was impressive. But now it is clean. This week I am going through cloths, nick knacks, medications, etc. and discarding a lot of "stuff" before putting what I will keep back in place. I also need to have my grandson Chris help me reassemble the shelving for my antique toy collection. The toys will be cleaned and placed back on the shelf only after the shelves are painted.

I will also have Chis paint the upper 2 feet of the bathroom. It will be the same shade of brown.
Earlier this month, Chris and I painted the living room. It hadn't been painted in about 16 years, when we moved back from Washington. That room is a soft, almost apple green that brings out the green in the carpet and contrasts well with the dark blue furniture.

My job next week will be to complete the work in the bathroom and do some repairs in the entry way in preparation for painting in there. I haven't quite decided what color this area will be. There is also a small area in my office that has never been painted. It consists of two short walls that make up a closet. I may use a shade of lighter green on it to highlight the green in the wall paper elsewhere in the room. Well before Halloween, our house, at least the part we actually live in, should be looking good. The rest of it will take a bit more time.

grrr

Tomorrow has arrived and it's the 13th, not Friday, but the 13th none the less. Oh why did I get out of bed this morning? OK, it isn't really that bad. Most everything is working out in the end. But the process is leaving me with indigestion.

The day started out with both Richard and I full of anticipation for his motorized wheel chair being delivered. Then the enemy jumped in and started stirring everything up. He just loves doing that.

• The husband of the lady I had arranged to stay with an older lady called to say she was ill. This was the 3rd one to cancel and today is when she was needed. No one else I called before I left for bible study was available and no one at bible study could fill in. When I got home I made a couple more calls and finally found someone willing and able to stay with our elderly lady so her daughter could attend a care givers support group meeting.

• The man with Richard's chair was already here when I got home. But the chair is not as anticipated. It is wider and does not recline at all. I called the VA to complain. They grudgingly said they would check into it. In the mean time the guy here tried to adjust the seat without any success. He also had problems adjusting nearly everything else. He even had to borrow some of our tools, because what he needed was not in his case. Just before he left, he got a call back from the VA, saying he should leave the chair and the VA will discuss how they can "fix"the reclining problem.
  
  



• I have asked several times via e-mail if I can deliver some meals to a family in our church who recently lost a family member in another town. I have not gotten an OK and I am not the kind of person who is presumptuous. I understand that the same request has been made by another church member. Neither of us has received an answer. I have provided information and assurance at the request of this same grieving family. But since the death was somewhere else, I don't even know when this family is going to be at home. Maybe I am being too sensitive, but it just didn't set right when that other church member said I should just take food and not ask first. I didn't need that sort of remark, especially not today. I will re-think my attitude. This person is probably frustrated too.

• I still haven't heard anything from the guy who is supposed to take the lead for the Crisis Support class I am co-teaching starting tomorrow night. He is out of town. Oh well, if I have to step in tomorrow I will. I don't have the study disc, but I do have notes, a teacher's guide, and books. Meanwhile I invited several ladies at the bible study who are in crisis to join the class.

I'd say today is a prime example of how we humans deal or don't deal with crisis and that if we will allow him, God will take control and work things out.

Tomorrow, Tomorrow

First thing this morning, we got a call from the equipment company who will be delivering Richard's power wheel chair - Tomorrow afternoon. Yeah! It is finally happening. None too soon either. Richard's legs are fast losing all feeling (except pain) due to progressive neuropathy, as part of the process of diabetes. He also has chronic gout in his feet and difficulty with balance due to abdominal surgery that destroyed his core muscles. 1, 2, 3 strikes and he's out. He really needs that chair. The VA wouldn't give him one 5 years ago, but they did come through this time. PTL for this provision.

Today I move furniture back in place after having painted the living room last week, eliminating one small piece, to better accommodate the movement of Richard's new vehicle. This is exciting. Hopefully no more falls that are such a struggle to get up from. PTL and hallelujah.

This & That

Boy is it hot. Not as hot nor as humid as it has been for so long in most of the country, but hot for here, at least. I don't do well in the heat. How on earth did I survive 19 years in Phoenix? When it is hot I lose all my energy, not that there is much of that commodity anymore. The heat quite literally gives me a headache. It must be the barometric pressure. I just can't seem to function. Where is our Oregon rain?

We called the VA on Tuesday, only to be told that Richard's power wheelchair order had been canceled on August 25. Long story short, because our vehicle will not accommodate a lift, the VA canceled the order for it. But the tech misunderstood and canceled both the lift and the chair. OOPS! We protested, the tech said she would check with her supervisor and call us back. She did, and actually praising God when the call came. Seems the chair manufacturer had not received the cancellation order and the chair had been delivered to the VA in Roseburg that same afternoon. Richard will get it some time next week. At least that is the plan. PTL. Now we need to figure out a way of hauling the chair around. I'm thinking a very small trailer, but we need dimensions before we can even start looking.

Chris and I have been painting in the living room for a couple weeks now. He painted the 2 feet of wall and trim around the ceiling and I painted the walls up as far as I could reach. I'm not supposed to climb on ladders any more. We both worked on the lower woodwork. Next week we will start working on the entryway. Then there is the bathroom and the master bedroom to do. It has been about 10 years since most of the inside of the house was painted. Much over due. I will post some photos when we get done (probably a month or six weeks from now).

On Thursday afternoon, when I went out to the car, I noticed cracked glass - the windshield was broken. It must have happened Wednesday night, because it was OK the afternoon prior. So the car has an appointment on Richard's birthday for a lot of cosmetic work where adjacent paint was deeply scratched as well as a new windshield. PTL for good insurance. Please pray this claim doesn't raise our premium.

I have been tracking my ancestors for several months. This process has been both frustrating and rewarding. Frustrating because some key people seem to appear out of nowhere and clue after clue have fallen short as to when and where they arrived on America's shores and who their parents were has petered out before those questions could be answered. Rewarding, because I have discovered so many awesome connections and incredible stories that accompany them.

The most frustrating of all, is the fact that I have not been able to find information on Richard's family beyond what I already had from his mom. BUT TODAY, I stumbled on a possible lead. Seems in order to file for social security you have to fill out a form that includes parental names, and to submit proof of age in the form of records (birth certificate, church records, etc). Under the Freedom of Information Act, the government is required to disclose this info. I need to submit a written request, enclose a check for $27.00, and wait several weeks/months, but "Papa, I may ID your mom & dad after all". Also, a couple weeks ago, I went on line and located an anthropological Spanish professor at the University of Arizona who was willing to translate my mother-in-law's grandmother's hand written journal (it is written in an obsolete Spanish dialect). We may get somewhere with that side of the family after all.

Enough "This & That" for now. Have a good week.