October 2014 – thereisnosanityclause

Rough hours

When you are accustomed to sleeping from 9:30 PM to 5:00 AM, and you get up a few times during the night, you are used to operating through the day on a set amount of hours.

Today, I got up earlier than usual, worked a little overtime,and then participated in a marketing study that was done at 9:30PM.I tried not to be over caffeinated during the day, but I do confess that I knew I’d have to be responsive around people at an hour when I’d normally be asleep, well, I anticipated being awake and not embarrassing myself.

I actually am going in to work tomorrow, as they are having a Red Cross bloodmobile and I am scheduled to make a donation of blood.Our friends, Juls and Tim, are due down to spend the weekend with us.I am praying that we all can hang out together and, dogs included, just relax,

Here’s hoping that your Friday finds you anticipating the weekend and your weekend is enjoyable.

Loosen up the knots

I had really rough back pain this week, and then when the orthopedic physician said about arthritis working in the equation, well, the pain in the head worrying about it was almost matching the pain in my lower back.

I forgot one thing. Flip fitness class.

Fortunately my instructor is always looking for feedback and ways that participants in the class feel that they can get more out of it, or benefit from it.I made it a point to let Jackie know about my back and we worked more core and stretches.It was insane, because I started the class feeling lousy, and left pretty well loosened up. Movement may start out as painful, but when you get things moving, it’s incredible how different you feel.

The funniest thing was we had some good laughs in class tonight, and my buddies and I laughed so hard there were tears coming out of our eyes,Fortunately Jackie is a good sport, because as much as we tried to stop laughing, we couldn’t….after all, laughter is the best medicine!

You need to come out and try this Flip Fitness Class. Message me and I’ll give you the vitals. Young, old, you move and you feel good!

Keep it clean!

I came home from work tonight to find out our Zush got her bandage off. Jim let me know, and as Dr./Nurse Mom, it’s my job to clean her up. I washed the area and cleaned it up, put Neosporin on it and tried self stick adhesive bandage over non stick gauze.**fingers crossed**

Kasia is keeping her sister on her toes, as it’s Halloween week, Kasia doesn’t care for kids.They probably teased or hurt her when she was younger, but kids are running up and down the street looking at Halloween decorations. Zush is just being a puppy: the pain-killer makes her feel that good. In the meantime, Kasia is ready to pull me into the street to get away from kids.

In the grand scheme of things, keep the prayers coming.They are appreciated by all of us.Trust us, we are sending them back up for you!

Cozy

My girls are always happy to see me.Their happiness lifts my heart.

With Zush and I both under the weather,we call it an early evening, and I reach over and rub her head.Of course,her sister, Kasia is always a half beat away.We chat and their heads sufficiently rubbed,the blinds are drawn and I pull the afghan up over me.It is nice to feel the warmth of the girls, as they lay on the floor right by me.It is as if they know I know we aren’t feeling better, and we girls gather together to group on feeling better.

This is on definition of cozy I will always hold close in my heart.

Typing with one eye open.

They say that there is often sympathetic pain when a family member is suffering.

Zush has her issue with the cyst on her rear left leg. Me? My lower spine is knotted up tighter than a Philadelphia soft pretzel. I had been sleeping off and on since four o’clock this afternoon .My brother-in-law and Jim’s nephew Tom were over and I was completely oblivious to it,

Now I am up and having a little rice pudding for dinner, typing the post, and then a shower and bed, only to be up at three to head back up to the city.It truly will be sweet once the two of us are back on all our wheels again.

Here’s hoping your night is good, your week is better and the weekend comes really quickly!

Fur Mom’s Love

When we last left our heroine, Zush, she was bleeding from a ruptured cyst located in her back left paw. When we cleaned up her blood from her leg,it just looked soggy, as though she got wet swimming in the bay.

I brought her into our new vet down here at Undisclosed. As a fur mom, it is always comforting to have a diagnosis confirmed. The new vet had said that we could have it off in Philadelphia. I said no, I’d like it done here.It is possible to monitor her and keep her leg clean and tape it up and once we are established here, I could book her date and this way she’d be home with me.

I think Kasia knows something is up with her sister and is just a wee bit kinder to her.I am sure that Zush would be feeling better with that cyst off. I just have to work some prayers that my girl will have no problem with her anesthesia.

Hold a good thought for her, ok? Thanks.

More stuff

Looking at Zusher’s rear paw tonight. She has a large benign growth on it and it really hadn’t been slowing her down.

All of a sudden, something made me look at it tonight and it was like it got irritated or rubbed or she was getting at it.The fur around the area is bloody.

Going to try to get in to out new vet tomorrow morning to see what they can do to make her comfortable,

Hold prayers and or good thoughts for my girl, so she’ll be able to be made comfortable.

Thanks!

A chill in the air

A nor’easter blew through the area, giving us a taste of the weather to come.We had to work our way through some damp, dreary rain.

I am home tonight.My workweek is done.Jim is out of the house.I am sitting down with a nice cup of hot chocolate.

Yes I know I have written a lot about coffee, but there is something about hot cocoa or chocolate when you are home, relaxing, or at least trying to relax, and have your flannels or sweats on. I have the Food Network on, and most of this early evening is mine.You find yourself channeling your mom, as you blow on the mug so you don’t burn your tongue.A little sip goes down your throat and it is delightful.

Now I am going to curl up with the Zusher and Kasia and it’ll be girls night,in front of the television.

As Martha Stewart would say…”It’s a good thing.”

Withdrawl.

That’s what I went through last week, when I couldn’t go to my Flip Fitness class.I still have my stitches in but by tonight, I was a little bit more secure in going.

There’s something about a Flip Fitness class that has us all together.We are in the same boat-trying to get our bodies mobile and feeling somewhat better about ourselves. When one person isn’t here, they are missed.We share what’s going on and in our own heads, we are happy to be going, because we know it HELPS us.The exercise and stretch is beneficial, but the laughter that we share is even more beneficial.At the end of what is often a very long day, it is a perk to be able to laugh off steam.

Look up Flip fitness classes, if you feel things like yoga or Zumba aren’t your speed yet. You’ll be pleased at the difference you feel in your body.

Ending of meetings

…I hope!

Today at lunch time, my union had a speaker on retirement health and welfare benefits. It had been touched on numerous occasions before, but one more time wouldn’t hurt,

Whenever these meetings occur, I take notes,and tell Jim about it. He, Inevitably, says,”well what about q, w and x.” I swear up and down they covered it in the meeting, but not to Jim’s satisfaction.I tried something new this time-I taped the meeting on my phone.Hopefully, everything will be pretty good.

It’s a pleasure to be at this point of a career and look at final meetings. It is a day you never really expected to come about.

Top Chef

I, until tonight, was a Top Chef virgin.

We share one television here and I came home deciding I needed to chill.After surfing, I came on the Esquire channel, which was featuring a Top Chef finale.

I recognized a few of the people on the panel from their various appearances on food related channels,commercials or magazine articles.The set up seems to be Seattle, as opposed to Food Network’s New York city.Maybe it’s because I am partial to Alton Brown.It’s as if Top Chef is the Food Network on speed.I think that I am behind the eight ball because I haven’t been following, but it gives me this impression.Top chef is for youngsters, meaning cooks in their twenties and thirties.I think that Food Network aims for me, a cook in their fifties who isn’t interested in speeding around the kitchen.We want chefs who are like us, who show us things that we want to pick up and try in our kitchen.Top Chef is a little bit too serious.

Food Network? Their friendly brother, in my humble opinion, speaks my language.

Sorry Top Chef.

The Tudors- Saint Thomas More.

When I went to Mass this morning, the priest talked about St.Thomas More and his part in history during the reign of King Henry the Eighth of England. He was an aide to the King, yet when made to either sign a document to say that the King was the head of the Church of England, he refused.

When he was sentenced to die for not signing it, he, Thomas More, went to his death saying he was the king’s faithful servant but God’s first.

Jim went to Saint Thomas More high school and really, that is all that I really kept in my head.The episode of the series, the Tudors,really splendidly played what was probably close to what is the truth.You felt the angst he felt when his wife came to him in the tower and asked him to sign the oath. As a Roman Catholic, I really never got anything in-depth on the life of Thomas More.

It grabbed me, the series of The Tudors.As a history major, I thought I knew more. Obviously there was a lot more for me to learn.

Powers of Pot Roast

We had gone through pot roast withdrawal for a bit.You know, when it is warmer out, pot roast is not necessarily food on top of your ” must have it now” list.

As it is now mid-October, we here in the Mid-Atlantic states have reached, at least for now, a genuine dip into October weather.When that happens, it was like an automatic reflex:I reach for the crock pot.Having a mom home for most of my life, I grew up with someone who was home and poured love into her meals. As times have changed,I discovered that the I can get the love in a meal via the crock pot.

I put carrots,peeled potatoes, celery and onion in the crock pot and then put the cut up pieces of chuck roast in.I normally cut it up when I know I am having company for dinner.Then, for trying something new, I purchased Campbell’s tavern pot roast sauce. All you had to is open the pocket and put it in the pot.

Cooking the pot roast was easy,as low and slow me a very tender pot roast.It smelled so good, the Zush the invalid come around to be a little bit. It was a hit across the board.

The Perils of Pauline,er, Zush…

We managed to get in to the vet with Zush today.She isn’t yelping all the time, but the sporadic yelps let me know she is uncomfortable.He gave her another shot of cortisone and we are leash walking her only for potty walks so she can heal.

It’s a job.

After we got her in for her first shot, combined with the pain killers, she was feeling so good she went and tweaked her back again.That’s the rough part about working. You don’t know if you missed her doing something or she did it while we were working or what.It’s frustrating because you don’t know why and, like an infant or toddler, you are left to wonder what’s the problem.

Down here at Undisclosed, I found a new vet, who is willing to help us until we are down here full-time. I am going to be working with the Cape May Veterinary Hospital with taking care of Zush as needed when we are down here. Eventually they’ll be our new vet.They were so nice over the phone and I felt comforted by them and knew it would be a good fit with the girls.

Hold good thoughts for both the fur girls, especially Zush.

We’ll keep you posted.

Schuykill

Schuylkill (pronounced School-kill) is probably an old Indian name. In Philadelphia, one of our rivers is called the Schuylkill. There is a county in Pennsylvania called Schuylkill.

And then there is our expressway running through Montgomery county and the county and city of Philadelphia-the Schuylkill Expressway.

Well, it was not an expressway this morning. It lived up to the second half of its’ name-kill.
There was a one car fatal accident this morning that made the Schuylkill a parking lot. I left for work and got on a public transit bus at 7:25am.

And I sat…and sat…

Traffic was bumper to bumper and then some, if possible. What normally would be a 40 minute commute took close to two hours and twenty minutes.Sad for the person who lost their life on the expressway.For the rest of us, it was avoided. The SEPTA transit authority opted to take the local route. The local route was bumper to bumper with everyone from Philadelphia and Montgomery county and I ran everyone, or so it seemed.

I will not miss this commute in the least.

Pink month,er, green?red?yellow?

I have had numerous cancers in my 54 years.

Cervical,to start, then breast, then thyroid, and sprinkle in some skin cancer along the way.

I was at the dermatologist today having a squamous cell carcinoma taken off my face located in front of my right ear.I had four biopsies last month, and cock-eyed optimist, me,well, I had made this appointment today with hope of going in only to get biopsy stitches out.Hah! I,in the back of my head, knew better.

The cancer that they took today was one that I found.Oh yes;I am an old pro at this by now. It was raised and starting to get itchy.I asked them to take it when I went for my annual check-up.I was very fortunate, for now.It was in the state of being ” in situ”.This meant it was so early that they couldn’t even put a stage on it yet.I can’t conclude on it yet, as I have to wait for the results of what was taken today. The physician hopefully got clean edges, which would show the cancer has not spread.If the edges turn out to be not”clean”, well, I’ll be back in for treatment.

My skin is light and freckled and my eyes are hazel.I know I am prone to this, and sometimes sunscreen isn’t a safe enough guard.The thing is I CHECK.No matter what, I CHECK!

Gentle reader; I appreciate all of you and would like you to keep on reading.Please be here to do so.Check yourselves for cancer.It may not be your favorite thing to do but it saves lives.I have lost a niece to cancer and other sporadic family members have had it.Trust me-we don’t want any more members in our club.

Your life is priceless!

sigh

It’s been that kind of day.

To top it off, I came home and Zush is hurting again.The yelp is back, albeit it very sporadic.The Zusher needs to be monitored constantly. Unfortunately, I have to be at work and Jim is busy during the day.When I left her this morning there was no yelp. This afternoon, I cam through the door and it’s almost being back at square 3.She isn’t constantly yelping. I wish she wasn’t yelping, period.

Please hold a good thought or say a little prayer for the Zush, and hold a good thought for Mom, i.e.,me.It’s rough when you don’t know what’s wrong with the baby!

Subjected to Shark Tank

Jim watches CNBC a lot.If they had programming on 24 hours a day,infomercials not withstanding, he would be glued to the set.

I sit here most of the time when he has it on and listening to it, or even just ignoring it and using it as background noise, well, it gets to me after a while.One of the shows that just make me shake my head,is Shark Tank.The premise is five millionaires sit there as people with products or business ventures come in and try to get the millionaires to invest in them. Some of the people on the panel are really brusque.If anything, the show gets into my head and leaves me with this impression.Millionaires are people with feelings, but few of them remember HOW they got started.

Money buys everything. I would never want to deal with people like that.I want to go to bed and have my mind rest at ease.

Enough said. **stepping down from soapbox**

October Beach

Jim and I had gone out to breakfast and when we were coming back home, we came back on the road by the bay.

I have become accustomed to nature: I followed nature all my life and never was so aware of it until we came down to the bay.I saw something I had never seen before.

Dolphins.

Sure, I have seen one or two in the waters before but there was an actual school of dolphins-there had to be at least ten of them.As I stood there, awestruck, never seeing so many so close, I figured I have to get a shot or video of the dolphins.

They must have been reading my mind. They saw a “human” and then laughed amongst themselves and said ” let’s split.”

I stood there and Jim told me they are like Amish. They don’t like having their picture taken.

**sigh**

As I walked away, I thought, this is my new home.

Awesome!

Be it ever so humble

We are working our way up the food chain.

We moved.

We moved things into a storage locker.

We moved into the house.

Time to get boxes out of the closets, empty them, and put some things into the attic until we need them.

It was a good way to spend a rainy Saturday.There is nothing like the sense of accomplishment to know that some things never have to be packed or unpacked again.The sense that you have finally found a right spot or space for things to be stored in, neatly.Sure there are things that actually will need storage within the house, such as a book shelf and the like.

It’s starting to really feel like home.

Yay!

Below is a picture for my friend B, who looks for pictures I usually post for the weekend showing the girls “going home”.Well, B? This picture is the one of the girls, going through the front door at home.

Weather or not

It was my nephew Matt’s interest in weather that peaked mine.

He studied it and as he did,all of a sudden my weather report, once a glance at a television screen or ear toward the radio, became the NOAA weather page on the computer or the weather channel or weather underground.Thanks to Matt’s interest I learned to pay attention.

The reason I am writing this post is that down here at Undisclosed, it currently is raining and the forecasted for rain through tomorrow.This weekend, traditionally, has a wine festival here this weekend because for a good deal of folks in these parts, it’s a holiday weekend.Normally they would have it at the Cape May Lewes ferry grounds.Evidently, parking was an issue, so they moved the location this year.

They moved it to a large open field off of the Garden State parkway.That’s going to be good. Torrential downpours, and although they have tents, I was never so glad I am not into wine. Schlepping around in mud is not my idea of a good time.

Stay dry and classy, Cape May!

The week that was…

It has been a really long week.

Zosia’s injury had worn really worried us both, but she is working her way toward getting herself better, and with a watchful eye, we’ll keep our girl around for a good long while.

Then there was the camping out on the Schuylkill expressway in the bus.

To end the workweek, I started dealing with having to go to a needed doctor’s appointment this coming Wednesday which opens up more insecurity.Am I approaching retirement with the right health carrier? Do I need someone else?Do we switch physicians?Fortunately, this is a four-day weekend for me, and I am scheduled for a seminar about my retirement benefits in two weeks. It doesn’t stop the worry though.

Jim is just struggling dealing with me and Zush and everything else.

It goes without saying that a restful weekend is hoped for.

Here’s hoping yours is the same.

Your kids, fur kids…

I have been constantly harped on by certain folk, who have since been left by me on the wayside, about how I should have adopted children but I was selfish for choosing animals.Oh well….my fur kids are my kids. No excuses.

So I have new sympathy for parents,going through what I have with Zush the past few days.She had her shot, she’s getting her medicine, but she’s still yelping, albeit nowhere as much as she had been. I know I have to know miracles don’t happen, and she’s getting older, and the end result? I just want her to be better.Her yelping gets me.I know she can’t tell me, and I know I have a job to be at and I can’t be with her every minute.I feel like a mom running after a kid with a tissue to wipe its’ news.

Would I change it for a minute? Hell no. I am blessed to have my two girls.

Zosiacare

Too bad my girl doesn’t qualify for Obama care..lol

All of a sudden Zush was in such apparent pain she kept leaving little yelps of pain out to let us know something wasn’t right. My nephew Gregory was kind enough to get over to the vet yesterday and pick up her Tramadol for her arthritis.That, we thought, would have resolved the issue but it didn’t.

This morning was not a fun scene. Zush obviously in pain yelping, Kasia wondering what’s wrong and me crying because, yes, damn it, they’re my fur kids.Managed to get through the day to 1:30, when I could leave for the girl’s 2:30pm appointment.

She was in such pain Jim had trouble getting her out of the car, but she got down and into the vet we went. Evidently, Zush’s spine was out of whack and now, with a steroid shot, and slow bathroom only walks, we’ll have our Zush up to speed in new time.When you are talking about a fur baby that’s 12 years old, well we had a big sigh of relief for our girl.She is the rock of our lives!

Below is a shot of Jim’s arm as he carries our Zush out of the back of the car.

To Paraphrase Seinfeld’s George..

The expressway was angry that day.

Well, not actually the expressway.

I left work at 5PM.

Where my bus would take the exit, there was a major back-up on the expressway because the accident closed the main road up to my current homestead.Fortunately,my nephew Greg was there to save the day.

Zush isn’t feeling well: she’s in some pain. Greg was able to go to the vet for me and pick up her medicine.We were going to meet and I was going to pay him and then we’d part.Little did we know from the texts we exchanged and I exchanged with Jim that I would still be on the bus at 6:24 and not able to get off until 6:35 by Greg’s phone.He was the one who found out what happened and I was able to relay the news to my new friends on the bus.It was like being on a lifeboat.You let your loved ones know you were ok and put dinner in the refrigerator because it’s going to be a while until I come home.Then there were the “Hello Dr Soso? I can’t make my 6:15 appointment, as I am parked in a 9 bus on the Schuylkill expressway.”There were no useless conversations on the bus today.We were all tired and frustrated adults who just wanted to get home.

Retirement looking really good right now.

Quiet October Sunday

We can’t believe it’s the beginning of October already.

We are doing things around the house,working on landscaping,moving some things around but, OCTOBER.

Jim keeps asking me if I am nervous about leaving a job I have had for thirty years and I am not. I think he is nervous for the both of us,but we both agree it is time.We just can’t believe how quickly the time has flown.We talk about up coming holiday weekends,and it makes you take a step back to think you WON’T have a three-day weekend next year, because you may not be working, or if you are, it may not be a job giving you that day as a holiday.

Despite the reflection we are at peace.

Life is good.**for now**

Blessing of the Animals

We took the girls down to our church in Cape May today, among with our neighbor, Georgine.We were celebrating the feast of St.Francis of Assisi in the Catholic church.He is the patron saint of animals.

The Deacon had the service out on the front lawn of the church, and Georgine held Zush’s leash and Jim stepped in and held Kasia’s leash.We said some prayers and then the animals were sprinkled with holy water.I had taken Zush to get blessed back in 2004 in our home parish in Manayunk, and she actually came in church and sat by me, went up with me when it was time for Holy Communion, and in short, she was a perfect girl.We didn’t have Kasia at the time, so I teasingly had said we were taking Kasia today to get her exorcised from the devil, and for Zush to have a 10,000 mile holiness check-up.

I pray for my girls all the time and getting them blessed today was icing on the cake. I don’t know what I’d do without them.

Ah-choo…

We went and got flu shots this morning at our local hospital.

As usual, we turned it into a daily affair:, me, Jim, my brother and my nephew Greg.Pretty sad that is the guaranteed way we have of seeing each other in October.We have been doing this for a long while back. Jim never wanted to go for a flu shot, but for the first two years we were married, he ended up in the emergency room for the fu, so he resolves to give me a hard time every year but ends up going begrudgingly.

It is funny that I have already researched flu shots here in Undisclosed. Down here there is a drive thru flu clinic for the community. I am already anticipating giggling while I ask them if I can have fries with my shot.

If you are eligible for a flu shot, get it.It might make your fall and winter a heck of a lot nicer.

Fantasy for who?

My preference of sport is baseball, but it’s the time of year for fantasy football.

**fantasy?personally? It’s not MY fantasy…lol**

The last time I participated in fantasy football was back in 2000 and since I was the “old girl” in the office back then, guys were willing to give me tutorials on who to pick and why I am picking them. The only football I ever willingly followed ever in my life was Penn State football, so I knew HOW the game was played. I just didn’t know HOW the point system went. I managed to make it through the season back then, and although I wasn’t in the basement, well, it wasn’t too memorable for me.

One of my buddies, Denise, was spreading word of a fantasy football fundraiser for her son’s hockey team so I figured I’d give it a shot again.The only thing now is that it is a suicide pool so you can’t take the same team twice.I took Green Bay last week and won.I took Kansas City this week.My guide now is my nephew Matt, who is helping me navigate the football pool.

Stay tuned.

Just for me

Three years ago today, I moved my blog, Thereisnosanityclause, to this platform at Word Press.

It’s been a long three years.

I want to take this commercial break, if you will, to thank you all for reading my posts.It means a lot to me and I do appreciate it.What has started as an exercise to keep me going while caregiving for my late mom has become something I look forward to doing.Your occasional comments help keep me going.

Thanks,reader,for stopping.Do come back tomorrow.I’ll be ready with a new post.

Living out of a Suitcase, sort of…part deux

So, gentle reader, I was true to my word.

I logged off the computer last night and tried to figure out how to lose the weight out of my handbag.I did manage to figure out a few things to get out of my suitcase, er, handbag. I went through item by item and asked myself what was really needed on a Monday to Thursday basis. All the cards I need, MAC,medical, work id, business cards, and the like are in my little zip up had case, along with the entry access card to my office. I decided to take a little cash out of my wallet, leave my change purse at home, and throw a little cash in my card bag, and today, it worked.I am hoping it will suffice.I figure I’d give it a week to see if works out well.

As I usually have pants on, my change has been in either my pant pocket, or when I get a shot, I throw it in my card case and emptied it tonight.Fortunately, I pretty much bring my food in so what ever I have bought hasn’t been too much.

Normally I put my handbag into a tote bag, because in the tote I carry my lunch and a bottle of water.When I was coming home today,well, it was fabulous. I can’t remember when I carried anything that was so light.

Periodically I will update you on the “state of the handbag.”We’ll see what will win out: a lighter handbag, or, if things start creeping back in, retirement.You know what retirement is right? The ultimate emptier of handbags…**grin**

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6	7	8	9	10	11	12
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20	21	22	23	24	25	26
27	28	29	30	31

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