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 |  Fibro fog, pain, writing sandwiched in between. Quotes. Sermon notes. Encouragement. |
A Texas Sunrise  A friend, William Taylor, took this picture. He visits Surfside Beach with his dogs almost every morning, watching the sun rise while the dogs prance about at the water's edge. This is only about ten miles from where I lived in Lake Jackson, Texas. Sadly, I only visited this beach about four times in the six years I lived nearby. Each day is a challenge. A challenge to get by without thinking about the fibromyalgia pains. A challenge to stay awake when chronic fatigure wants to take over. And a challenge to navigate through fibro fog. I haven't been writing as much as in the past. For years, I wrote at least 500 words a day. Now, I'm lucky if I write 500 words in month. Sigh. For more information about what my day (or life) is all about with fibromyalgia, chronic fatigue, chronic pains, IBS, depression and everything else thrown in, check this out:
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When I sat down to write a few words (Yeah, like that's every gonna happen! Me? Write a few words???) , my fingers started typing and out came that last entry. Sometimes that is the way things work. Rather than putting off writing the other things I had in mind (since my fibro fog could certainly kick in  ), here goes.If you're wondering what kind of money you should charge for your writing, should the opportunity arise and someone asks about your rates, go to Salary.com. Put your zipcode and the job title (it can be anything...not just writing) in the boxes and it will give you a salary range for that job in your area of the US. Here's a link: http://swz.salary.com/salarywizard/layoutscripts/swzl_newsearchexp.asp There's also a place where you can find out what Mom's are worth in your area. (Or Dad's!) I was very conservative about the amount of time I can work at cleaning and doing laundry and such, but it still said that I'm worth about $38,000 a year. Not didn't that make me feel great! Okay, I'm done. Later gators. |
| When I logged on today, my devotional from Jason Mitchener was waiting in my inbox. I've written about him before. He's confined to a wheelchair and breathes with the help of a machine, but he has a ministry - devotionals that he tries to send out daily, if his health allows. He could be angry about his situation. Instead he allows God to use him in mighty ways. And he's full of God's love and joy. I admire that. And...I have to admit that the messages I receive are usually just what I need to hear on any particular day. Today his devotional was titled, "Love is a verb." I've used that title myself.  As you might remember, at the beginning of the month I spouted off about Valentine's Day. I do think that far too many men (and women, most likely) spend their days without showing much love at all to spouses and family members. Then they buy a box of candy or a bouquet of flowers and present it to their loved one(s) expecting that all will be well and forgiven for the next year. I'm one who would much rather have a few clues throughout the year that there is love in the house. Anyway, back to Jason's devotional. He used 1 John 3:18 as his reference: "My little children, let us not love in word, neither in tongue; but in deed and in truth." That's what I'm talking about. Of course, Jason mentioned how God showed love to us in a huge way by sending His Son to die for us on the cross. And he mentioned that Christ loved us so much that He showed it in a huge way by dying on that cross for us. Wow. When I became a parent, I started to realize - in a mini-version, I know - the love that God has for us. No parent wants thier children to be hurt, and we'll usually do anything to make sure they are not. But it was even more recently that I realized what real love Dad and Son both showed. One year, just before Good Friday, I read the words of a medical doctor about what would have happened to Jesus that day and I was brought to tears. I had never really considered the pain He would have felt. Then, the only time I ever went to the movies alone was in Michigan when I was living with my elderly parents. I saw The Passion of the Christ. The movie theater was packed like I had never seen before. And since I had forgotten to bring along a few tissues, I stopped in a dollar store before going to the theater. Many of those around me had forgotten their tissues, so I passed my box down the aisle. By the end of the movie, the tissue box was almost empty. Yeppers. That's real love. It makes showing love to the world seem like a pretty simple task. We may have to come out of our comfort zones to do that, but we don't have to suffer physically. I guess that's how I would like to see us use Valentine's Day. It should not be meant as an easy way for us to make up for the fact that we ignore our loved ones all year long and suddenly have a way to make up for that. Rather, it should be a way that we can hug the world around us.  So...today, I'm hugging my fellow WDC members. Oh yeah...and here is some candy  and here are some flowers  ...just in case I have not shown enough love...or need to make up for neglecting you. |
| It looks like I've almost missed creating a meaningful blog entry today. The clock is ticking and it's almost midnight. What a day it has been - weatherwise. Golly gee whiz. We've had sleet, then rain, then things got really icy - including our porch and sidewalk and finally it snowed on top of everything. The tree in our front yard was so pretty this afternoon. I have a purrrrty picture of a tree that was in my parent's yard in Michigan, with snow lacing the branches. Today, the tree in our yard was just as awesome, but it had crystal clear ice hanging from the branches. Just beautiful. Hubby drove my son to work this evening. I have never driven in icy conditions and really don't know why I should start now. As hubby was warming up the car - after having had to get a layer of ice off the windows and mirrors - my son said, "Well, with both of your fellows going out in this stuff, aren't you afraid we'll get killed?" It had crossed my mind that I would have rather had the kid call off work. But he wasn't feeling well last night and called off, so he really couldn't do that tonight. Thankfully, he has a ride home in the morning. The weather dudes are telling us that on top of the ice and snow and ice that we'll be getting even more snow. Maybe another inch or three. As my mom and grandma used to say, "Lovely weather, isn't it, dear?" Right. Just a few weeks ago some of the local folks were complaining that we weren't having any winter weather. Hope they're happy now. |
| Days ago, the weather folks started talking about this winter storm heading our way - to the mid-west. Right now, I guess it's a low pressure system over Texas. Frankly, I love my friends in Texas but I wish they would keep that ol' low pressure system or maybe send it off to the Gulf. Instead it's heading for us'ns. But different TV and radio stations have different thoughts about what's about to happen. Even the weather fella and his own computer model are differing (bickering?) now. The computer thinks the way the system will hit means only rain and sleet for Cincinnati. The human part of the equation says, "Nope. We're getting snow and ice and sleet and rain." I wish the guy and his computer wouldn't fuss. But I also wish - hope - pray - they're both wrong. I hope we have some warm and light drizzle of rain. Why not? Remember...Punxsutawney Phil said that Spring would arrive early this year? So, let's have it already! I do feel sorry for the folks out in Colorado and those in up-state New York. Getting six feet of snow is just unfathomable. I don't like the snow, but I do like that word - unfathomable. Incomprehensible - that's what you call getting that much snow in such a short time! In the news, I saw men on their roofs shoveling and sweeping snow from the roofs to the ground. That much snow can wreck havoc on rooftops and the ceilings underneath. Wreck havoc? Using those two words together seems, well, redundant, doesn't it? But, hey, I remember us using that very phrase growing up in Pittsburgh and it has stuck with me. I know, I know that they both have to do with destruction, devastation and damage. But that's the way we talked. (The dictionary suggests, "work havoc.") I have not retained many of the Pittsburgh phrases with which I grew up, but that's one. Also... gum bands - for rubber bands cucky - yucky doohickey - something whose name you can't remember and nebby - nosey. For more Pittsburghese see: "Please? Oh Pah-leeeeeze!"  Supposedly, in about 30 minutes we should be seeing some kind of precipitation around here. Unless you switch the TV station and listen to that guy say it should start in about 90 minutes. Maybe it won't start at all. And that would be a blessing. Later gators. |
| I forgot... Budroe   gave this to me. Wasn't that sweet? Also, I used to write a bunch at PearlSoup.com. Then things got rather ugly over there - writers sending each other really nasty emails and giving bad ratings and posting strange public comments. So I came here and...well, sometimes I guess that stuff happens here too come to think of it. Once in a while, I still post writings at that other site (and some others as well). Imagine my surprise at seeing my face on the front page today...with my latest writing chosen as "Pearl of the Day." You'll have to get there before the day changes, I guess. Or check the archive link. http://www.pearlsoup.com/index.cfm I have posted this item here as well. "Acts of Love" |
| For some reason, I was thinking about my grandma early this morning, and I remembered the "swear words" she taught me as a child. Yes, this is the same grandma who taught me about "Time, Talent, Treasure" and about whom I wrote "Grandma's Was a Simple Faith" . "Grandma cussed?" you ask, astonished. Yes, she did, but in her way. Sometimes when something didn't go quite right, we would hear the simple word, "Sugar," from the kitchen. Often times when something a bit more serious transpired, she mumbled, "Well, hallelujah Hattie!" I think she had an aunt named Hattie, but I'm not really sure where her cussing phrase originated. And on really "bad" occasions, Grandma raised her voice and said, "Sugar on two sticks!" There were more cuss words and phrases that Grandma taught us in the ten years we were blessed to have her living with us. But those were the only ones I could recall early this morning. I did recall something that came out of my mouth when my son was about thirteen. I'm not sure what happened that day. I really don't remember. But I remember being angry enough to cuss and the words that came from my mouth were, "Phooey fizz farts!" My son just started at me, frozen in time and space, with his mouth agape. "Gross, Mom," he said. Then he proceeded to laugh and laugh and laugh. You know how infectious laughing is and, of course, I joined in. I guess that's why I don't remember why I was so angry. But I remember the words I spouted. They were rather gross.************* I was feeling under the weather this morning and hubby went to church without me. I think the cold and gloom is getting to my muscles and joints and to my brain. Actually, I was hurting all over, and had a horrible headache to boot. I told hubby I would be quite content to just hunker down and hibernate for the rest of the winter, thank you. I'm cold indoors and outdoors. Just can't seem to get warm anymore. Add to that the horrible headache I had this morning, and trips to the smallest room in the house, and I just was not able to get to church. I did, however, watch a TV preacher - Joel Osteen. Okay, okay. I know some folks don't like him, think he's New Agey, think he makes way too much money, etc., etc., etc. But believe you me, there are worse TV preachers. Joel's message is usually a simple one, one every one of us can understand. Although he does sometimes use some weird Texas phraseology, but having lived in Texas for a number of years, I'm used to that. You know...as folks around the country are making fun of Bubba W., lots of Texans are scratching their heads and saying, "What?" But that's another topic for another day. (Don't y'all get on me about that. All y'all know it's true. There are some fine word and phrase combinations peculiar to Texas. I think they're meant to be code words and phrases to weed out yankees or Texas wannabes.) Anyway...I was talking about the church service. Joel spoke about one of my soapbox topics - spending time with God first thing in the morning. But his laid back way of saying things...I wish I could give you his words...just make the whole thing make perfect sense. He suggested that folks get up a bit earlier than usual so they could start their days with God, in prayer and in His word. Makes sense to me. I know I always function better that way. We eat breakfast first thing in the morning because we need the fuel for our physical bodies. Why in the world don't we realize we need our spiritual fuel first thing as well? As a kid, I was blessed to live next door to a dear lady who taught me what "pray without ceasing" is all about. She taught me to pray for family members as you fold their clean laundry, as you clean the toilet, and as you stir soup in the kitchen. Smart lady, she was. Lots of folks wait until the end of the day to talk with Dad - and to complain about how the day went. Imagine how different things might have been if Dad was included from the very beginning. As Joel Osteen said this morning, "folks are leaving home without their Living Water." ******************** I should stop at the grocery store tomorrow morning after I pick up Derek from work. We're expecting quite a winter storm in the entire mid-west. How the weather band approaches our area still is up in the air, but whether we get just snow, just rain or snow, rain and sleet mixed together, they're expecting it to be inches and inches of precipitation. Lovely. So I guess I better hit the store first thing tomorrow to stock up on a few things. But I would rather hibernate. |
| Yippee! My computer is back to behaving and it only cost $33 to make it behave. That's a blessing. And it's great the Incurable Romantic and I don't have to share his computer anymore. I'm sure he's pleased too. If you have not discovered Angela's Niece needs Praye 's "Invalid Item" , be sure to check it out. I'm sure she was looking for some more romantic posts than she has received. But, as TexansBeatTheMiamiDolphinsBy3 can attest, sometimes our contests take on lives of their own. Personally, I think it great that people are thinking more of the world than of themselves.A few days ago - well, back on post #55, I think - I wrote about Valentine's Day. This morning, a few lines of poetry insisted that I write them about this topic:
My son is quite the romantic. He really enjoys holidays, but he's also good about giving the rest of the year as well. A gift from him on a special occasion is something to cherish because he really takes the recipient's likes and dislikes into consideration. He also makes many of his best gifts and spends hours and hours making them. And...it isn't just on holidays that he gives, but year round. I like to think that I had something to do with that. But I'm sure that my mother can take some of the credit for his giving habits. When he was a toddler, mom watched him a bunch and she was always making some kind of gift or writing a poem about an event that took place. Funny thing, though. Derek asked me - when he was probably in kindergarten - why his grandmother didn't make special gifts for family members. She was forever making special gifts for people she didn't even know. Friends of friends, or the kids of people with whom she worked. A few years later, Derek asked if my mom wasn't making things for the recognition and not for the pleasure of giving. He had specifically asked Mom to make something for him that she never did make. And that bothered him. It also bothered him when met people in the grocery store or in gift store where she worked who raved about what a wonderful mother I had and how blessed I was. He thought she was so busy making the world see how special she was that she didn't have time to be a special mom or grandmother...at home. My son. Sadly, he was always able to see and feel beyond his years. |
| What a day. Again. Had the car out for the first time since it snowed so much. My son had to dig out behind my tires. The roads may be clear, but it's been cold enough to keep the six inches of snow in the driveway and yard. And there were icicles hanging from my bumper to the ground. ************** Had a gasto doc appointment scheduled today, just as a follow up to see if the changed meds (from a month ago) were working better on my digestive system. It's hard to tell, though, since I had the virus and bronchitis, antibiotics and super-duper cough syrup. Doc was poking around my abdomin, as usual. It's usually my left side that is tender. Back in July, a CT scan and MRI showed that I had some inflammation, but they insisted that if I ate properly and took my meds that would go away. Today when the doc poked on my right side, I thought I would go through the roof. Talk about pain. So...more blood was drawn today and I'll have another CT scan. Doc says the burping I do after every meal and in between can be from all kinds of digestive problems or from any of the meds I take. Wonderful. Guess it could be worse. It could be another kind of gas. Either way, though, eating with anyone besides hubby is a bit embarrassing. A bit? Who am I kidding? Even Tiff looks at me as if I'm some kind of piggy. ********** Oh yeah, the subject line says my computer is back. It is! Yippee!!! And our repair geek is priceless. Truly. I guess my virus scan did isolate the trojan it found. But after being infected my computer needed a defrag desparately. I guess that's why it still seemed like something was running in the background. The framgments were all over the place and if I had too many things going at once it was having to grab them from everywhere. (Can you tell I'm a real technical person??) Anyway, our computer fella charged us for only 30 minutes. Less than $35. Isn't he great??? Got the computer hooked up and my mouse wouldn't work. Now I have a brandy new optical mouse. Cool beans. Bye for now... |
| Just how does a week rush by so quickly??? Hubby is trying to get the house refinanced and today the appraiser came to see the house. He assured me that our house is not full of clutter. I guess he sees all kinds of homes. He told me about one he saw just last week where he had to climb over toys and junk just to get in the front door...and that was the neatest part of the house. Okay, we're not that bad.As I tried to get just a bit of cleaning down before the appriaser arrived, the kitty drove me absolutely nuts. She really thought we were having a ball...as she tried to play with the bits of dirt that I swept into a pile. And she wanted to play with the mop and climb into the bathtub when I wiped it down. Grrr. She had lots of fun, but I'm exhausted! I probably did just a bit too much this morning. The bitter cold wrecks havoc on the joints and pains. Lately my ears have really been bugging me again. It's not the first time... The outsides of my ears feel as if they've been frotsbitten, even though I've been inside the comfy house (Well, as comfy as it can be with it being so cold outside. Our kitchen and living room are chilly.) The first time I experienced this, I was still in Michigan and my doctor informed me that having ears that feel as if they've been frostbitten is sometimes one of the first signs of arthritis. They did all kinds of tests and determined that I didn't have arthritis. I also had burning hands and the Michigan docs said that was also an early sign of arthritis. Turned out that my hands burned because I was about to get a rash on my hands and feet. So...I guess I'll have to ask my Ohio doc about the ear thing. Maybe she'll have another answer. Meanwhile, it's doggone uncomfortable. It really was hard getting to sleep last night. My buddy TexansBeatTheMiamiDolphinsBy3 mentioned me in her last blog entry.
Budroe also mentioned me in his blog.
Bud won the grand prize and trophy in the contest that TexansBeatTheMiamiDolphinsBy3 and MarysTears co-hosted.
I got an email about a conference being held at various cities around the country for baby-boomer women. They called them Boomer Women and "booming women." The email said that Boomer Women are the most powerful demographic in our country. Well...we are a-plenty. That's why they call us Boomers. But I guess some of the most influential, dynamic and rich women were born between 1946 and 1964. Hmmm.The list of boomer gals includes: Oprah, Martha Stewart, Diane Sawyer, Katie Couric (have you seen her lately? Seems like she keeps getting younger looking...), Billie Jean King, Cher, Dolly Parton, Tina Turner, Meryl Streep, Diane Keaton, Condoleeza Rice. Yes, I know that Hillary is in the group too, but I was trying to ignore that... Billy Graham's daughters Ruth and Anne fall into the boomer category. I guess there is quite a bit of influence with boomer women. Later gators, Kenz |
| As I just skimmed through Reader's Digest today, a letter to the editor caught my attention. It was in response to an article about nursing homes. The letter writer stated that there are video cameras in childcare centers and even in pet centers. Then she asked, "Why not in nursing homes?" That's an excellent idea. I wonder why it is not being done, especially since there are so many complaints about the care in nursing homes and assisted living centers. My ex's mother was treated horribly in nursing homes. In one, they refused to help her to the bathroom. Instead, they put her in a diaper, then refused to change her for hours. We moved her to a home that had a church affiliation, thinking that would be better. Know what they did? They refused to let her have any fluids except at meal time. After two lousy nursing home experiences, we took her back home and arranged for nurses, home health aids and companions for when we could not be with her. Soon we had social services knocking on our door. We were under investigation for elderly abuse...having been turned in for snatching Elinor our of the church affiliated nursing home. Can you imagine??? Fortunately, after just a few days of observing our family and the nursing care Elinor received, the case was dropped. ********* Diabetes (II), weight loss, and elevated blood pressure are issues that hubby faces. He sort of relies on me to do research on them, just as I do for my/our fibromyalgia and chronic pains. (Yes, that bugs me just a bit. I figure if you have an illness or disease or physical problem you should be interested enough in your health to do your own research. )Anyway, as I was reading about blood pressure problems today, I discovered this: You can lower your blood pressure by reducing belly fat. Why? Because the fat that is stored there feeds kidneys, liver and other organs. Supposedly, the belly fat pushes on the kidneys which respond by asking the heart to raise the blood pressure to drive the blood through. So? It's important to watch sugar and salt and exercise - especially exercises that will help get rid of the belly fat. ********* A joke: Why should you never marry a tennis player? Because love means nothing to them. ********* The weather folks were not exactly right about yesterday's weather. Their predictions were that the snow would start about noon and go through about midnight, with the end result being between 6 and 8 inches. Instead, the snow started at noon and came down faster than they precicted. It stopped snowing around 9 p.m., but depending upon which part of the Tri-State area (OH, KY, IN) one was in, there was between 4 and 8 inches on the ground. There were problems on the freeways all around us until late last night and early this morning. But by the time hubby went to work, the major roads had been cleared. It's still cold, but we're not expecting any more white stuff for most of the week. Yippee! ********* A letter I wrote to the editor appeared in Writer's Weekly. http://www.writersweekly.com/letters_to_the_editor/003881_02072007.html Yes, it's a true story. ********* Guess that's it for now. Later gators. Another note: Today's Oprah show featured a couple whose home was a complete disaster with clutter. The expert (I'm not sure who he was) said that when people live with clutter, they stop seeing it and it becomes "normal." They compared it to a person who gains weight and cannot see it until the person sees a picture of him/herself. Perhaps that's our problem. Clutter in our household has become the norm. |
| ...that you're really not supposed to put a second entry in on the same day. Oh well. I think I forgot to say anything about the movie we saw at church on Friday night. We watched Facing the Giants. Tiff was with us for part of the weekend. She was not thrilled about seeing this movie. But our pastor had said it was the best movie he has EVER seen. We signed up to see it, and since Tiff was with us, she got to go too. At the beginning, she thought the movie was a bit boring. But at the end, she said it was the best move she had ever seen too. (Of course, she's only ten and hasn't seen as many as our pastor.)Hubby and I loved the movie too. We're certainly going to have to add the DVD to our collection. The reviews on IMDB.com are almost exactly evenly matched. Sadly. Christians appear to love it and everyone else doesn't. I love that it was made by a church and that they only spent $150,000 to make it...and that was for computer stuff. The church members were pretty good actors, I think.And that's why I had to add an entry now. While I was remembering. Before the fibro fog set in again. *************** Just as the weather folks predicted, the snow started about noon, and it's been coming down ever since. Hubby's work let out early and he was on the road just after 2:15 or 2:30. His trip home is about 30 miles. The first time I checked in with him, it had taken him an hour to go 7 miles. The next time we talked, he had gone another 7 miles or so in the same amount of time. He figured the way things were going his normal rush hour trip of an hour to an hour and a half would be about double that. (Just heard from him and he'll be here in probably 15 minutes...so his prediction of taking 3 hours to get home was pretty good.) And the snow keeps coming. We don't live on a main road and I haven't seen a snow plow yet. I wonder if he'll be able to get down our street once he gets close. I doubt that my son will be going to work tonight. I'm surely not going to drive him at 10 pm if things keep up this way. |
| I say that a bunch. "I don't do winter." But it wasn't until this morning's COLD that I started to really remember why. When I think about how I hate snow and cold, I usually have this memory of being about three or four. Mom stuffed me into a snowsuit and sent me outdoors to play. She was convinced that kids needed sunshine even in winter. I shivered on the porch and cried and she finally let me back inside, and I sat on the radiator trying to get warm. Yes, that's the memory that always surfaces when I think about my disdain for winter.When hubby and I both have to leave the house in the morning - he to go on to work and me to pick up my son from work - he scrapes the frost, snow or ice from my car's windows while his car heats up. Today was no different, but he forgot to scrape the front passenger window. I started my car, then got out to scrape the window. I had wisely layered my clothing. In fact, I put my clothes on over my fleece pajamas. I also wore hat and gloves. I only had to scrape one window, then sit inside the car as it warmed up. But when I got back into the car, I was breathless.That's when I remembered why I really hate winter cold and snow. It's that bitter cold and wind that does me in. Suddenly I remembered being an elementary kid and having to walk in the bitter cold and wind, being bundled up with a woolen scarf around my neck and my hood pulled tight. Only my eyes showed through. The walk to the bus stop was almost a mile, and by the time I got there I thought I would die. Being in the bitter cold took my breath away. I remembered the driveway of my childhood home. It was sloped, really sloped, and made of bricks or stone. Bricks, I think. Can you imagine how slippery that driveway would be just being wet? One winter we got about two feet of snow and with the wind gusts, there were mounds of snow against our house that were probably four foot tall! I must have been about eight years old. That would have made my brother Bill four and my sister Carol two years old. That's how I picture us the winter of the big snow. I think our driveway was still made of brick back then, but I'm not sure. It might have been paved with concrete. But that doesn't really matter. The memory surfaced because I remember being breathless that day as well. My father could not get to work that day, at least not early in the morning. He and mother both had to work on shoveling the driveway, but to do that we all had to be outside with them. Hmmm. My grandmother used our house as her home base, but traveled to visit her other five children throughout the year. She must have been visiting at that time. Mom, Dad and I had normal sized snow shovels. Bill and Carol had smaller kiddie shovels. And as a family, we set to work shoveling snow. Dad started at the end of the driveway near the street; the rest of us were near the house. I remember being really short of breath a bunch that day and having to stop and rest quite frequently. It must have been the bitter cold and wind that caused that, just like it did today. We're expecting snow this afternoon. Supposedly, the snow should start in mid-afternoon and by rush hour the snow may reach three to five inches. Of course, the meteorologists have not had a very good track record this year about predictions. It may begin snowing earlier. We may only have a snow dusting. It may begin snowing later in the evening. But...having seen the radar picture the meteorologists are viewing, I do think they're right about getting some snow. It appears that it's already dumping the white stuff in Illinois and Indiana and heading this way. Oh boy. I really don't do winter... |
| Time passes and another Monday has arrived. Hubby and I only watched a bit of the Superbowl now and then in between watching other shows. We didn't see any of the commercials. It amazes me that they showed pieces of those commercials on the news shows all morning. When did commercials become news??? There's quite a bit of talk about women and heart health problems lately. That's why Feb. 2 was Wear Red Day - for a reminder about how many women die from heart attacks and have heart problems now. Back in 2003, I had some heart pains and ended up in the hospital. I had a heart catheterization and was doped up and ready for angioplasty when my cardiologist discovered that my problem was actually spastic veins and arteries. They blamed my fibromyalgia for that. With fibro any muscles - including organ muscles - can and do spasm. That's when I learned how important it is to have specialists, as well as the regular docs, who understand fibromyalgia. While I thought I had heart problems, though, I did a bunch of studying and discovered that women experience different signs of heart attack than men. The "experts" have known this for a while, but it's only been in the last few years that they decided to share the information. Figures, doesn't it? It's no wonder women have died from heart attacks...when they didn't know the symptoms they experienced might be heart problems. With heart problems, in addition to chest pains, women also experience: Shortness of breath Naseau or vomiting Profuse sweating or cold sweats Dizziness Neck, shoulder, upper back, jaw or abdominal pain Extreme fatigue For years, doctors and women patients didn't consider testing the heart when these problems arose. After all, many of them could be from menopause. For years, if a woman arrived at the hospital having chest pains, she was not whisked away for tests of her heart, especially if she was also having some of the above symptoms as well. Now the medical community, and hopefully women themselves, are beginning to understand that the importance of testing a women's heart when she's having chest pains. ********* As I've said before, our pastor and our small groups are focusing on evangelism with the study, Just Walk Across the Room. On Sunday, our pastor asked each one of us to write out our story in just 100 words, including information about ourselves before and after we really met God. Boy, am I going to have trouble with that. It's not that I don't have a story (or two or seven!) to tell. But if you've read anything of mine - including this entry , you know that I have trouble being that concise. It is a good idea to have a story like that prepared, though, so that it's easier to share. Of course, the pastor wants our stories by Wednesday... ********** Hubby is dropping off my computer at our repair guru tonight after work. Hopefully the fixin' won't be long or costly. Until next time. God's blessings, Kenzie |
| I spent a bunch of time on the phone with Gateway this afternoon. The techie finally said my only option was to wipe everything out and start all over again loading re-loading Windows. I told him that would have to wait, since I'd need to visit safe-mode and copy a bunch of things onto CD's or floppies first. I'm like everyone else. I don't back-up stuff as often as I should. Anyway, having the computer repair geek fix everything will only be about $60 and I'll know it's fixed. I had a bunch of stuff I wanted to share today about our pastor's sermon. But with computer problems and the fact that my small group meeting has been moved from 7 p.m. to 4 p.m., that will have to wait until tomorrow. Wanna guess why the time for our small group changed??? Of course! Football!!! That reminds me. Did you see - either on the news or Nightline last night - that churches are not allowed to show Super Bowl games on big screens for their members? Nor are they allowed to even use the word Super Bowl in their church bulletins or newsletters? And that the NFL was really serious about this and coming down on churches? Personally, I'm going to send a letter to the NFL first thing next week. How stupid of them. I know lots of folks who might not watch that game at home alone, but they would at church with a group of friends. So...if they didn't watch at home, they would never see those pricey commercials. Stupid, stupid, stupid. Maybe I should write to the companies who are advertising on that game too. Hmmm. Meanwhile...the "rules" actually say that you cannot show "that game" on a screen larger than 55 inches for a group of people. Considering how big some folks personal TV's are now, I wonder if the NFL is going to get mad at folks having those SB game parties in their homes too. I have to get ready for my small group meeting now. I'll be back tomorrow. |
| A few days ago when I did a virus scan, I discovered a trojan on my computer. Now it just isn't acting right. I noticed that while I was online about 9:30 this morning and again at 7 tonight the computer was really sluggish. Maybe I watch too many crime shows, but it "felt" like someone else was using my computer too. I started searching to see what files, if any, were altered today. Oddly enough, there was a lot of activity in updating/altering files at about 9:38 this morning and again at 7:14 tonight. One of the places where there was activity was on Outlook Express, which I haven't even used in 3 years. I guess I'll be calling my handy-dandy computer repair geek on Monday to see what he can find. Too bad the one computer we ordered wasn't even set up as able to connect a monitor and neither had any back-up CD's with them. My son is going to buy one from us and the other - the one that has no monitor connection - is going back. Someday I'll get a new or reconditioned computer. Meanwhile, as frustrated as I get sometimes with my Gateway, I have had it since 1999 and it has been really reliable until the last year or so. So I can't really be that upset. I do have lifetime phone support with Gateway. Maybe I should check with them tonight. Maybe I will. Oh yeah. In case you're wondering, I'm using hubby's computer. He and his daughter are bowling. They often go bowling on the weeks that she's here. It's something they've both enjoyed, although today she said "it's kinda getting boring." Of course, she thinks lots of things are boring. I don't remember thinking so many things were boring when I was ten. I thought the world was an awesome place... Still do! Although waaaaaaaaaay different than the dark ages of my youth. And sometimes scary even. |
| I woke this morning just as Punxsutawney Phil was making his annual prediction. Unfortunaely, I missed the hoop-la on television and had to resort to checking Yahoo for the news. I complained in one of my entries that when I have tried to see the AP movies of news items on Yahoo, I have been able to see the commercials but not the news clips. I fixed that this morning. It seems that there's a place for choosing your interenet connection. Supposedly, Yahoo had detected my setting as dial-up instead of DSL. Once I changed that, I was able to see Punxsutawney Phil's news clip. He thinks we'll have an early spring? I just hope his predictions are better than the weather persons. When I searched, I could find Phil's predictions since they started keeping records, but no comparisons with what actually happened to the weather. Hmmm.Also in the news clips this morning was something that must have shown on Good Morning America. Some developer in Big Sky, Montana is building the world's most expensive home - $155 million! It has 12 bedrooms, 20 bathrooms, 53,000 sq. ft. of living space and a 20 car garage. I think they said it will be twice the size of Trump's house. Why? Can you imagine how many people could be fed and housed for $155 million??? I also stumbled upon some sites that show different holidays and celebrations. February is Black History Month. That's a good thing. For so long, we didn't know anything about some of the great people who helped make our country what it is, because their skin was not white. Some other February facts: Today - February 2 is also Kiwifruit Day and Wear Red Day. It is also the day that the bottle cap was first patented, but I couldn't find the year that happened. If I were a more organized person, I would just use each of these other facts on the appropriate day. But I'm not, and fibro fog would probably make me forget. February 3 is Artist Day. February 5 is Chocolate Fondue Day and Weatherperson's Day. February 7 is Wave All Your Fingers At Your Neighbor Day. I wonder where that started...and why? February 8 is Laugh and Get Rich Day. I can't wait for that one. February 9 is the day that the Beatles first appeared on the Ed Sullivan Show. What year was that??? February 11 is National Shut-In Visitation Day. February 12 is the real birthday of Abe Lincoln. February 21 is Ash Wednesday, the beginning of the Lenten Season in the Christian faith. Many attend church that day and their preist or pastor will place the sign of the cross on their forehead in ashes. I looked at some of the words spoken at these services. From: http://www.explorefaith.org/faq/ash_wed.html Remember, you are nothing but dust, and to dust you will return. Remember, you are nothing but dust: Precious dust, molded and formed in the womb by a loving God, precious, precious and beloved are you. Remember, you are nothing but dust, and to dust shall you return: Unique and precious, you are created for eternity. Remember, you are nothing but dust: And that makes you free — free from human ambition — free from prideful denial — free from fear — free; free at last! Remember, dust you are, and as dust you are loved and free. The Lenten Season is such an important one in the life of a Christian. For many, it is a time when they give up something. For others, it is a time of fasting and prayer. If we are, as a pastor friend of mine always said, "Easter people," then the time leading up to Easter should be one that we use to get closer to God. It's been only in recent years that we - Christians - have really focused on the horrible pain that Jesus suffered for our sins. This is all so serious. And yet, hmmmm. If I know my hubby, that part about Ash Wednesday and dust is going to remind him of a joke that I received from an online friend - one who forwards a gazillion of things every day. I can't read them all, but I did read this one and I passed it on to my hubby. A visiting minister spoke eloquently during the offertory prayer. "Dear Lord" he began, with arms extended toward heaven and a rapturous look on his upturned face. "Without you we are but dust. . " He would have continued but at that moment, a very obedient daughter (who was listening!) leaned over to her mother and asked quite loudly in her shrill little girl voice, "Mom, what is butt dust?" Now, I really need to get some work done around this house. It has been snowing, then not snowing, then snowing again. Thankfully, the roads are still clear, probably due to the fact that they were "pre-treated" with salt that the local news media informed us is really bad for our car's paint and metal. Yeah winter. Oh yeah...I forgot...February 22 is George Washington's real birthday. Th-th-that's all folks.  |
| It does seem that the year is progressing without me. Ahhh February. Tomorrow the Ground Hog will see his shadow and we'll be in for another eight weeks of winter. Well, duh. That's what the calendar says, and usually what that nasty ol' ground hog says as well. Why would this year be any different??? Two of our special presidents had birthdays in February. When I was a kid, we celebrated them separately. Now we lump all Presidents together and celebrate one Presidents' Day. Somehow that just doesn't seem right. And then we have that day that is set aside for love - Valentine's Day. I tend to think of Valentine's Day as my mother always did about Mother's Day. First, it's a great day for all the card and candy manufacturers and for florists. Secondly, if you can't love me the rest of the year, what makes you think that loving me on one day is sufficient? It must be how God feels about how some folks celebrate Christmas and Easter and ignore Him the rest of the year.Back in the dinosaur days when I was a kid, Valentine's Day was another day to single out popular and unpopular kids. Or artiscit ones and not so artistic ones. We always decorated a very special box - usually a shoe box - where our secret valentines would be placed. It was like having our own mailbox for that one "special" day. Those who had artistic talents or who could take their shoe boxes home to have parents or older siblings help them decorate their Valentine's Box always won the prizes for the prettiest, biggest, and most original boxes. Those who were not artistic or whose parents were not likely to help, or those whose outside resources were lacking, ended up decorating their boxes at school with whatever resources were given. Their boxes often looked pitiful along side those marvelous creations that won the prizes. Our Valentine's boxes were placed somewhere where kids could put their cards in them without being seen, if they so chose. On the day of our party, we opened our boxes and discovered how many or how few cards we received. I usually receivd enough cards that I would not be embarrassed, but not as many as the more popular kids. I also usually found tucked inside a few fancy cards, which might or might not be signed. Usually those cards were from my "secret admirer(s)." Back then, we could not admit to liking anyone of the opposite sex until we reached junior high, and even then we might pretend otherwise. I always felt sorry for the kids that were "odd" or not at all popular. Sometimes there was a campaign to make sure some kid got no cards at all, but I would not participate in such an activity. Even if I didn't sign my card (for fear of being teased), I always made sure everyone received a few Valentines. By the time my baby sister (13 years younger than me) got to school, things were starting to be a bit more "politically correct." Rather than giving only some kids Valentine's cards, they were urged and encouraged to give something to everyone. Instead of anyone being embarrassed at receiving no cards at all, they would receive the generic cards from everyone. Special cards were made or purchased for special friends. When my dad came home on Valentine's Day, he always had a huge heart-shaped box of candy for my mom and smaller boxes for each of his kids. I don't remember that my mother ever got my dad or us kids anything for that day. Mom always helped us decorate our Valentine's boxes and helped us make or purchase just the right Valentines. But beyond that, I don't think she participated by buying or making anything for my dad or for us. Funny. I never thought about that before today. Perhaps she thought about the day as I do, although she never articulated it. Perhaps she also thought that Valentine's Day was a great day for florists and card and candy companies. Hmmm. |
| Yes, I missed making an entry yesterday. Just about the time that I was planning on coming here and writing...something...my computer started acting up. It froze and then would only boot up to safe mode. I did the scan disk and defrag operations late last night, then a complete virus check this morning. Sure enough there was a trojan on my computer. Hopefully all is well now. Jim and I both have older computers that run Windows98SE. That is becoming a problem, especially for me. My computer doesn't have a decent sized hard drive and it's rather slow. We ordered two reconditioned computers and they finally came yesterday. Instead of the Windows2000 they were supposed to have, it appears that they have WindowsXP. But CD's were not provided. And one of the computers doesn't even have a "normal" connection place for a monitor. Looks like we'll be sending them back. Grrr. ******* Every once in a while a few white flakes fall from the sky now, but we haven't had any "snow dusting" or worse. Thank goodness. It surely is cold, though. When Jim went to his small group last night, he and the fellows all agreed that it seemed colder than it had been in the morning. Apparently it was. Although the temperature was supposed to be about 20, the windchill factor was about 3. This morning the real temperature was probably in the teens. This is why I reeeeaaaaaallllllllllyyyyyyyyy dislike winter.******* My son's new girlfriend picked him up from work this morning, so I didn't have to brave the cold. I actually slept in - until about 8:30 when the kitten decided I should be up. That's when I ran the virus scan on my computer. And, honestly, I haven't done much else, haven't watched TV, haven't had the energy to do any cleaning. And yet here it is 11:30. I have no idea where the time goes sometimes.I really should do some laundry and at least clean the kitchen and bathroom. I remember my mom and grandma telling me that if those rooms were clean, people could excuse the mess in the rest of your house. ******** In case you missed it or don't subscribe to the Romance/Love Newsletter, I was the guest editor this week: http://www.writing.com/main/newsletters/action/archives/id/1514 |
| Yesterday, the snow did not continue throughout the day. Thankfully. There were a few times during the day that it snowed, but this time those weather guys and gals were correct in calling it a snow dusting. The temperatures have also dropped. I just heard on the local news that it's just 15 degrees with a windchill factor of 6. Brrr. I drive a '92 Chevy Cavalier with just over 100,000 miles on it. It was my dad's car. Twice he gave me his cars when he bought new ones. Because of that, I haven't had a car payment since 1983. Before he died, he gave his last car to one of my nieces. Bless his heart. He was concerned that I wouldn't understand, but I did. And this ol' car has been running just fine. Problem is now that the a/c needs fixin'. Not very comfortable in the summer. And the heater just doesn't want to heat very much. That's not a big problem when the outside temperature is 30 or 40, but when it gets down as low as it is now, it's downright cold in the car! Our pastor continued his sermon series to go along with our small group studies - Just Walk Across the Room. It's a good study about evengelism. Sunday's lesson was about developing friendships. During our small group, the DVD presentation talked about a friendship the book's/study's author developed over a period of eight years before the man came to know Christ. I guess that should help us all be more patient... Some of the notes I made at the side of my sermon notes page stand out more than the "real" notes. Like... God didn't send Jesus just so we could have Christmas, but becaue people were lost. Or... Those who criticized Christ's ministry prized rigid rules over love. That's a problem for many even today. Especially in our churches. How or whether we should do certain things becomes such an issue. It's no wonder that folks just aren't interested in Christianity when there is so much fussing and fighting amongst denominations. I got to do the advice column in the People's Choice Newsletter for February. That was fun.
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| I skipped entering anything yesterday. I've already been reminded of that by a few friends and inquisitioned by a few others. Funny. For a while, my entries were rather sporatic. Then when I had a daily thing going, missing one day got folks' attention. I spent much of yesterday sleeping. Tired and with an upset tummy. The first antibiotic had to be replaced, but even the second one makes me a bit ill. I guess that's my sensitivity to drugs and chemicals showing again. Anyway, I didn't fight my body when it just wanted to sleep. I feel like I could sleep right now, and probably will do the nap thing after church today. I picked up my son from work this morning around 7 a.m. He asked me to stop at Kroger's and Walgreen's, which I did. We've only been home for a short while - long enough for me to get logged on here and to check my email. Outside my kitchen window, the one I love because it's right beside my computer, the weather has had a big change. (And the ones the cats love because it's a big bay window where they can sit and watch the world.) It was not snowing when I picked up my son, nor when we got back to the house. But it is snowing now - LOTS! In fact, if it keeps up like this, we could have 2 inches by the time we're supposed to be leaving for church. It's pretty, I do have to admit that. The flakes are the big, fluffy ones. And our kitty - who is young enough that she's not familiar with snow - is watching it come down and actually trying to reach out and touch it through the window. Cute. I wonder if I should wake hubby and suggest that we attend the earlier service. Maybe I should turn on the TV and see what the weather people think is going to happen today. If I recall correctly, they told us on the news last night that we were in for another snow dusting. Maybe we should request a definition of snow dusting... |
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