So tired

[houghchrst]

I must be having a FMS flare. I hurt, am depressed (crying on and off for 2 days), woke with a migraine. Can PMS cause a flare?! I don't know, guess I should look but don't have the energy. Tired of worrying about paying bills. Christmas took a toll on us. Oldest bipolar son has been staying at his grandma's and though I talk to him almost everyday and see him once or twice a week I feel like I am losing him. Yet we are getting along better than we ever did and though I worry about their influence on him and the fact that he may be failing in school he is turning out to be a wonderful young man. My youngest seems to always be getting sick this time of year, went from missing a week in school because of his asthma 2 weeks ago to missing today due to a bowel obstruction that is being treated.

My mother was going to buy me a swivel rocker recliner, 400-500 dollars and I had looked at Art Van but now I will have to turn it down because I feel like it is absurd to spend the money on a chair (we only have a couch now because my other chair finally fell apart, only thing I can sit in for any length of time because of my back and knee and feet) when we have bills that need to be paid. I had to take my new digital camera back to WalMart yesterday because it was faulty, (I have always wanted one and bought it with christmas money and my mother was thrilled that I bought myself something for a change) well they didn't have any more and I have decided that I may as well use that money for a new pair of shoes (my feet are bad and need good shoes which are expensive) or bills, was quite heartbroken at that. Court is Monday and I am scared yet curious as to what will happen. Actually I am kind of wondering if he will even show up. Maybe with a lawyer.

Pain........oh Lord am I sick of hurting. I need to lose weight I know but the more I think about it the more I eat so I try not to dwell on it too much and lately I am not even really eating that much but I don't eat healthy enough and get very little exercise so I am sure that has a lot to do with it. I know that I could apply everything I learned in rehab to losing weight because after all it is just another addiction, I did it for smoking. I can't even go for walks, I can't afford to join a gym, I do have a yoga for arthritis DVD but I keep procrastinating with it. I don't even have a friend to do it with to give me incentive. I wonder if my mom would be interested. Maybe after dropping youngest at school. I am sure it is too early for her. Most of the time she isn't even up yet. She is worse than I am when it comes to procrastination LOL. That is how I inherited it. So I know that after a couple of sessions she would be calling me and telling me she is not up to it. Jeez I have a webcam, maybe I could find someone to do it online with me LOL, wonder if that would work, through IM maybe, webcam program, I could advertise LOL.

I am sorry this is so long I just needed to vent, there is much more, little things. I just feel so overwhelmed. It is almost as if I cannot get a breath in between things. Just feeling sorry for myself I guess. I know I should be grateful for all the good things. It is not so much that there are more bad it is just that they seem to come right on top of each other. Okay I am done whining. I hope you all are having a great day.

[tic chick]

christina, *smallrose

yes, the holidays pass and our everyday problems still remain.

i don't know if you have every heard of this organization. they have groups in almost all states. you sign up and you can search for items that other people are giving away completely free! i have read articles in the newspaper about them and it seems to be a very good way to get rid of stuff you don't need that others do.

here is the url:

http://www.freecycle.org/

type in "michigan" to find a group near you.

i'm going to suggest a recumbent bike. you can sit on it and start moving your legs and possibly gain some strength. burn calories. decrease stress. yes, you can apply all the things you have learned to control your addictions to lose weight and start exercise.

you can do it for one day, christina.

and one day the next day.

you have amazing fortitude.

give yourself a set amount of time to worry or cry each day. then move on.

you need to remember today:

one day at a time.

let go and let God.

i want to encourage you to keep doing your work. i am here to listen to you.
i am here to support you.

we all are.

take care of yourself,
jeannie

[houghchrst]

Jeannie, thank you. You are a great support for me. It is funny that you mention Freecycle to me because I have been a member here for 2 years. I did get an exercise bike from there but it was not a recumbant and I could not use it so I freecycled it out. I have tried to get recumbants but someone always beats me to it and I am not even sure if we have the room now. It will not go in a bedroom, we had the other (it was quite compact, bicycle type) in the dining/living room area and I had to pull it out a bit to get on it. Barely room for it then. Our house is pretty small. Yes I know sounds like a lot of excuses but they are facts.

I felt a bit better this evening after spending time with my mom today. I also got to spend time with my oldest son. I picked him up a little early from school as he was not feeling well but decided he would stay with me for a bit. He says that the ex and the exMIL have come to the decision that they don't want me to stop getting the child support payments. THey just want me to give the money to my son. LOL, LOL, according to her lawyer, if she were to get the child support money she would be breaking the law. My child support worker told me that once I got the money it was mine to do with as I please. So I wonder if that means they will not be in court Monday and I wonder if that has anything to do with the response to his motion that I filed and they got a copy of.

Anyway, enough. I am tired and we are gonna lay in bed and watch a bloody shoot em up movie. I know that doesn't sound appealing to many but I like Clive Owen and I am hoping this will be mindless entertainment. Thank you and have a good restful night.

[Ponygirl]

I've always loved your name, BTW! Very pretty!;)

Phyllis

[houghchrst]

Thank you Phyllis, when I was younger I always wanted to change my name to something more romantic like, Elizabeth, or Chelsea or something like that. If I had a girl when I was pregnant I was going to name her Chelsea. Well Brandon James and Jared Braden are not too bad at all LOL.

[joy]

Christina I wish you felt better. With Monday hanging over your head I'm glad you decided to watch a mindless movie. I have taken on the attitude that if I make it through the days without caving into anxiety, depression and other things, I have accomplished something no matter what the house or laundry needing to be done says about it. It is called surviving I thibnk and we do what we can and the rest we just let slide until we can do otherwise.

You have a lot on your plate and mind right now and I think that you are managing it all quite well from my standpoint here. So keep us in the loop, we may not can do much but offer our support. We can do that easily. I'm thinking that after court Monday things will look better for you.

bty, that is my daughter-in-laws name and I think it's a pretty one too.

[Buttons2]

Christina, holidays are over & I promise you this week will be better! Or at least not quite as stressful. Hang on, and I'm glad your youngest is getting some help. And of course glad you got to spend time with oldest son. I imagine this has been an emotional holiday season for you.....that brings on more pain. Let it go if possible.....anything that brings on stress to you.

Take care,Buttons

[houghchrst]

Alright Buttons, now you promised me a better week and now it is time to pay up. Court went just as I suspected yesterday. Case dismissed. Only about 2 minutes in from of the ref. Later decided that my poor hurting feet needed new shoes and after the first place I went to look I decided that my stupid ankle hurting and being swollen for this long was bordering on the ridiculous so went to the ER clinic down the road and I have a half healed fractured ankle, not to mention stretched and pulled ligaments and tendons. Have been walking on it since the 18th of December!!!! UUGGGHHHH!!

Okay well this is good, my new rocker recliner will be here today and I am the proud owner of a new, top of the line (for newbies) digital camera. All compliments of my mother. I am so spoiled!!!! She felt really bad when she asked why I hadn't carted along my camera to her house and I explained. So she "made" me go order a new chair, (she knows how I relied on the old one, only thing I could sit in that wouldn't cause all kinds of pain) and go get a camera. I tried to tell her no that it seemed absurd to spend the money but then she did the let me do this for you begging/guilt thing so I gave in. I always feel so guilty about taking it but she would be mad if she heard me say that. She said that will just be less I get when she dies LOL. Eeegggaaaddss! What a sense of humor.

Still feel like crap and am hurting and am waiting for this really intense PMS episode to get over with.

Hope you are all having a good day.

[Buttons2]

Well, if I don't see some SUN pretty soon I'm gonna go crawl in a hole!

Hey,last year one of my son's bought me a digital camera. Now you'd think in the past year I would have learned how to use it right? NO,I'm not good @ reading little books filled with instructions.....I call it "direction challenged". I still have no clue how 99% of the stuff on my computer works!

Well anyway, now that you know you have an ankle owie-what are you doing for it? I want to make a strange suggestion: tree tea oil! I put some on my hip yesterday just to see what would happen,and I swear it helped the pain go away! DO NOT put this stuff on any open sore,etc. as it burns(kinda learned that one the hard way). But when my hip gets bad it's total misery & Advil doesn't touch the pain. I think it just might help heal your ankle. Let me know if you try it.

About your momma buying you gifts,well I think when we feel guilt we are just being stupid. Say thanks & get on with enjoying the gift. Mind you I'm the exact same way with my parents! If they give me something,I always feel I must give them something back. We might do better if we think of how we like to give to our own children?

Buttons

[tic chick]

christina, *smallrose

i'm glad everything went well in court.

you are going to need that chair with your ankle all messed up!

you know, once my father gave me an extraordinary amount of money for christmas. i was so shocked, i asked him if he was doing okay, healthwise. but, i didn't feel guilty. my father was basically absent as a parent for me and was abusive, as well. i had forgiven him years ago for this. but, i felt it was his way of making amends for not being there for me and my siblings (they got the same amount of money, too).

maybe, this is your mom's way of making up to you. i am sure it makes her happy that she can help you as you have helped her.

enjoy it, christina.
jeannie

can you believe the 64 degrees we got up to on monday???
(i am talking about MICHIGAN here, people...lol)

[houghchrst]

Well it has been like 6 or 7 days and I still don't feel well. I am so severely depressed and I hurt all over. I cry on and off everyday, I laid in bed most of the afternoon yesterday because I actually felt like I was getting the flu. It is hard to explain. Does anyone understand when I say that I feel like I have the flu only without all the symptoms like coughing, sneezing, nausea, only my body feels physically ill? Tired, dizzy, hurting. I am absolutely miserable. I know Jeannie that you say to take it one day at a time but it is so hard to feel this way at this moment in time and not to wonder when it will go away. I can't get any comfort from not thinking ahead because the now is so miserable. I am making everyone else miserable even though I don't mean to or want to. I hate this and want it to go away. Still PMSing too. This is the worst it has been in longer than I can remember. I almost wondered if it could be a med thing but there is nothing really new.

My bone scan, according to my primary, showed arthritis in knee, feet, and lower back but from the way I could see him scanning it I think there was more but he only read what he considered to be important. I am going to be scheduled to see a neurologist for my migraines, a new pain management doc (fingers crossed) and to see my ortho for my ankle and I will be sure to bring up my knee.

64 degrees, scary. Now the south has storms and flooding the likes of which they haven't seen in a hundred years the news says. I think we have waited too long to do anything about global warming. They need to work faster before it becomes irreversible. Sun, what is that, jeez I think I have only seen the sun a total of 10 times in the last 2 months and that is being optomistic. When a 6 year old starts talking about how he misses the sun and hasn't seen it in days then you begin to wonder what is really going on.

I hope you are all having a better day than I. I am going to take something for pain. I do have Darvocet and Percocet, both I got for my fractured ankle from different docs. I can't stand either one but they are better than nothing. Then I will see who else is here.

[joy]

Hi Christina. I feel bad for you. I have been a bit under the weather myself but I have had some sunshine and it DOES help. I kinda got over my wanting to just stay in bed and sleep all the time. To me it is not like a depression kind but truly a sleepy kind. Si I end up in recliner. At least I have been told to take it easy so I ca take advantage of that. :o .

I wish you could take it easy for some time too. I know with all you have to do it is impossible but that is what I wish for you and that you get to feeling better soon. Pl;ease keep sharing with us. I know we may not say anything that helps but I do like to keep tabs on most all of people here. Big gentle hugs for you.

[Buttons2]

Well we seem to have the winter whines......I feel exactly like you do Christina,everything hurts & I can't shake this depression. Somebody has stolen our sun also. Even the birds seem to have deserted me for now. Still feeding the doves but a quail visit would be nice ya know?

Today just getting upstairs to take a shower is gonna be a big achievement! How pathetic is that? Now I do blame the weather for alot of this,and think we will also be having flooding since it was so warm yesterday.

Maybe we should all watch the travel channel & dream of warm beaches & lots of sunshine!!

Ah, my recliner awaits.......

[tic chick]

christina,*bunch

yes, it is hard to think of one day at a time when that day is so miserable and you want to believe that it will get better. okay, baby yourself. pamper yourself. get a heating pad or fill a plastic soda bottle with hot water and put it behind your knee. take a nap. play a sit down game with your son. start reading a book to him. he will look forward to the next reading day. yes, i believe some days are just too hard. so just be good to yourself, nothing wrong with that. do what you have to do to get through today. then do the same tomorrow. i feel for you, christina. i want you to start building on small successes, that will be big successes. but that will take time.."one day at a time"...lol

cause it always has and always will.

i have had a few of those days where i felt like a truck hit me, but i had no other symptoms besides the tiredness and the achey feeling. on days like that, it's hard for me to give in and rest. everybody else has a job that pays, so the housework is considered all mine.

i have bad osteoarthritis in my knees. i had gone to physical therapy about 5 years ago and part of my therapy was riding the stationary bike. the pain went away and i bought myself a bike for home. i haven't had any knee pain since i have consistently used the bike, plus dropping my weight helped a lot.

there are days i feel taken advantage of, days i feel unappreciated and it's funny how it's the people who you love that treat you so uncaringly. each day, i try to do something nice for me. but, i don't think a mother's work ever really disappears...it just gets more added onto it.

i know that depression and pain are often intertwined. i have seasonal affective disorder every year from the beginning of november until the end of february. january is the pits for me. right now, i am in the middle of the pits. i am trying hard not to think that january has 20 more days.

so, those are some of my problems. what i am thankful for, though, is my unflagging optimistic attitude. don't know where i got it from, don't care. it is mine. i will get on my bike and ride for 45 minutes everyday and at least feel better for having accomplished that. i will watch something that makes me laugh. read something that makes me feel good. do something that makes me feel vital.

and then do the same tomorrow.

i hope tomorrow is a better day for you, christina
jeannie

today i have to find the courage to change the things i can.

[houghchrst]

Oh I think I may be finally coming out of this. I hurt so bad yesterday but was not as bad mood wise though through the early part I did cry on and off. Today is better despite that I woke up with a headache. I got to stand in the sun for about one minute this morning before it disappeared:D. I got to sleep in and boy did I ever. Until about 11 :eek::D. I have gone back to drinking my Valerian Root tea before bed instead of taking the sleep aids and I don't have any of that yucky next day hangover feeling. Works surprisingly well and my psychiatrist oked it.

I have got to get back to logging my info on Moodtracker, I just got tired of writing the same things over and over again everyday ie: this or that hurts, headaches, depressed. Jeez just reading it is depressing. I do have a myspace and have considered blogging. That way it is more editorial :rolleyes::confused: and can also vent whatever I wish.

I will find out next week when I will get to see the Neurologist and the new PM doc so hopefully I am finally going to get some relief.

i don't think a mother's work ever really disappears...it just gets more added onto it.

Jeannie, you know this is a great source of distress for me. I become stressed at the chaos around me, part of being Bipolar II, and though I am by far no neat freak (no you definitely would not want to eat off my floors, well unless you follow the 5 second roll rule LOL) but I can feel my whole body being tense and my mind feel cluttered if there is too much to be done I feel as though I have a wall pressing at my back (does that make any sense) and I need to pick up daily. I know that most say, "that is the price you pay for being a mother and homemaker", yeah well whatever, LOL, I am tired dangit. I often feel bad that I am not better at it, mostly for my BF, though he would never say anything bad about it, but considering the households we both grew up in we are much better off. I am afraid to even sit down at his mother's and when I was growing up my mother was very clean but then she got on her own and was suffering from depression and had 4 children and things got out of hand. Now that she is in her new place, well relatively, it is much neater but because she is so disabled it is dusty and a few cobwebs but nothing like when I was younger. Okay I have started babbling. Not interesting.

Buttons, upstairs to take a shower :eek:, I can't imagine LOL, taking a shower is hard enough without having to climb the stairs to do it. The next place I live will not have stairs unless it is to go down the basement during a tornado :D:eek:.

Joy aahhh yes the recliner. I got my new one but have not spent much time in it. I don't know why. Now that it is the weekend I will sit there and read or watch a movie. Maybe depending on my hands work on that quilt that might just take me 2 years to finish LOL.

Are there any updates on Javisi?

Well I hope we all get over these nasty winter blues, you think if we watch the travel channel and get really close to the TV we can soak up some of that sun LOL?

Is it possible for me to write a short post?:eek:

Thank you all for being such a wonderful support.

[houghchrst]

Buttons, before I forget again, the tree tea oil you mentioned, I actually do have some of that. It is probably too old as it has been in the back of the medicine cabinet for a long while but I hear all kinds of things about it. It was given to me by my ex MIL (back when we got along) to put in my son's shampoo one time when we he was exposed to lice at school. I put a couple of drops in his shampoo. I also have used it for minor owies like scratches and such and I kept getting these itchy bumps over my fingers at the beginning of every summer so I started using it on that also and they went away quickly. I will have to get a new bottle. Thanks for the reminder.

[Buttons2]

Well as you can imagine the stairs are NOT helping my hips,geez I feel like an old lady! Need alot of new body parts......my foot doc told me about tree tea oil for ingrown toenails. I like the smell of it too. Anyway I'm applying it to my hip rather than the smelly,messy castor oil.

Now if I could get motivated I'd move all my stuff to the downstairs bath-then never need to go upstairs! Well just the ones to the house,but every little bit would help I'm thinking! I just lack the motivation.....guess when I fall down the staircase that has NO handrails I'll wish I'd been smarter huh?

My depression is lifted somewhat today also. Went to town & saw 3 eagles on one tree on way back. Got some new books to read-won't notice the dreary weather if I have my nose stuck in a book all day.

If Seahawks win today I'll be happy!! Refuse to think about them losing.....

That baby polar bear on the news has got a big smile out of me,nothing cuter!

Fighting the urge to get another dog to replace the wee one had to have put down last month. I think my depression is rubbing off on my dog!

I think everyone suffering from pain has to learn to ACCEPT a dirty house. It used to really bother me,well it still does but I have learned a few lessons the hard way about cleaning/suffering! My housemate could care less,in fact he's the reason everything is a mess.Now about those cobwebs......well unless the sun shines I don't notice them so much! And I did clean them off the beautiful deer head before Christmas! And it's so amazing to see just how far those things can go......and good fly catchers also!

I wonder if people that live in sunshine year around get depressed?

Thinking I need a greenhouse,wouldn't that be great to have a warm place to be? I could grow tomatoes that actually have some nutritive value! Maybe some bamboo & sit out there & watch it grow-literally!

Javi sees a new doctor on the 16th,let's hope she gets some REAL help this time. I plan to call her next weekend to see how she's doing. Her son is living with them now & doing good.

Now go look in the mirror & smile everyone!
Buttons

[tic chick]

lol, christina and buttons!

i think it's interesting how certain messes will bother us and others won't. i wonder how our mother's housekeeping habits affected ours. my mom worked since i was in kindergarten...yep, i was a latchkey child in 1960. i would come home, just open the door and walk in. someone was home by 3:30, usually, so i didn't wait long.

my mom was clueless about housekeeping and childraising. as i grew up, i noticed that messiness made me feel edgey, also. it probably was the start of my ocd, cause i had the symptoms of ts by 8. the days my mom had off, she would pick a drawer to clean, or one other task to do and thats what she would do all day. i can still see her ironing late at night, taking clothes out of the refrigerator that had been dampened and rolled in clean towels. thank heavens for permanent press!

by the time i was 10, i was cooking for myself and doing housework so the messiness would not make me feel edgey. i vacuumed, cleaned the counter, did the dishes, cleaned glass tabletops and dusted. i picked up little things that were out of place and straightened other things out. then i felt better.

these are the same things that i still do today. clutter still makes me edgey. a glass table with cuprings on it drives me wild...lol. the problem is that nobody else has this same hang-up :D. they cheerfully leave opened mail on the mantel and somehow know that i will either throw it out or file it for them.

but that is the nature of the ocd beast.

tea tree oil is great for skin probs! i would not use it if it were in a shampoo if you color your hair, though, cause it strips the color right out.

i want to plant some bamboo in my yard this year, also. it's really a very invasive plant, so you have to control the area it grows in.

i wonder sometimes, if moving to a sunnier state would ease my winter blues. i love michigan 3 seasons out of 4. we are the worst state for getting sunshine in the winter, because we are the western-most state in the eastern time zone, plus we have the great lakes surrounding us, which always makes us cloudier in the winter because of their higher-than-air temperature.

my christmas tree is STILL up...lol. (NOT bothering me...yet).

but, i have a bunch of good books to read and a few movies from netflix to watch.

yes, life is good.

thanks for sharing,
jeannie

[houghchrst]

Buttons you mentioned reading, I was introduced to a great website called Paperback swap. I have been reading then passing on and getting from around the country. They have all kinds of books and not just paperbacks. There is also a DVD swap and CD swap. Fun.

Got out the Tea tree Oil and it smells not quite it's usual self so yes I will need a new bottle. I have noticed at BoRics that they have tea tree shampoo. Now that I think about it I seem to recall seeing it in a couple of other things too, just can't get the brain to kick in.

I never did tell you how sorry I am that you lost your pooch. Your other one may be lonely too, they have feelings and know when something has happened to their little friends. May be in mourning. May not like trying to make a new friend. They can often become set in their ways.

Let us know how Javisi is doing.

[Buttons2]

Well this is getting OT for here but I did bring it up afterall......my dog Rags went 3 days without eating. Now of course I got concerned. Even suspected he was going over to the neighbors (the fools that threw their turkey carcus(sp) outside).

My other thought was he is far too clever.....knew there was canned dog food from Pepper's last days alive. I didn't want to waste that canned food so had been mixing it with Rag's dry food once a week as a treat.HA,he simply held out for the 3 days until I gave him some canned food!Licked his bowl clean last night in record time!!

Well, we'll see who's the smartest around here,no way am I gonna get into the habit of canned food everyday!

And yes I do think he misses his little canine companion,they never played cause Pepper was an old dog & had long outgrown playing. But still they were both dogs & with each other constantly. Even the cat knows.....she now jumps on the sofa just where Pepper used to sleep.

I actually can see some blue sky today! Do I dare hope for a peek of the sun? I hurt from head to toe today also. Although I did get busy & do some cleaning yesterday while watching the football game.....just couldn't stand it another second!

About books, I buy them at local thrift shops or yard sales. We have a ********* place here called Costco,everytime I go there with my housemate I just throw a few books into the cart,he doesn't mind. Books save my sanity alot. Heck when my memory was so bad I could just read the same book over & not even know it!

I was thinking of bamboo in a container. I once had some planted in a huge pot on my deck,I could literally sit out there & watch the stems shoot up! I wonder if we could grow tea trees?

Don't let pain & fatique ruin your day!
Buttons

[houghchrst]

I practically live at the library. I like to get what I refer to as brain books. Just stuff that I am interested in like health, crafting, just general stuff that interests me and helps to keep the brain working along with 3 or 4 fiction books to read. IT use to be that if I got a book I made myself read it but I have become more selective and now if I can't get into it back it goes so now I have to get a few extra just in case. Only now I have to take along the BF becuase I get so many it has gotten hard to carry my book bag. I also got a little cart thing that folds up and has bungee cords so if I do go alone I can strap it to the cart. I got it through freecycle, lol.

I watched them plant bamboo on the DIY network and they had to dig down deep and put up a plastic divider so that the bamboo would stay in its own area and not spread out all over. Just find out how deep the roots go and do a bit below that and you can plant it. I do have a bamboo plant (one stem) that my mother had bought for my grandmother before she passed. It has grown like crazy and even branched out. Love it.

YOur Rags is very clever LOL. Made me laugh. They can be far smarter than we often give them credit for. I had a dog that turned into a neighborhood dog. He would make his rounds everyday through the area and would go to people's back doors and get a treat then meander his way home. Would stop and checking traffic before crossing the road. Somebody killed him. The whole neighborhood was upset, well except for one person obviously.

[tic chick]

the newspaper i read has book reviews on sundays. i cut out the reviews of books that interest me. my church has a huge booksale every september. i take a list of titles and look for them. i also read the synopsis of the book on the back cover and pick up those that are interesting. the last day of the sale you can stuff as many books in a bag as you can for $2. these books last me throughout the year. i have found a lot of new authors by getting hooked on one of their books and going to the library to look for more books from the same author.

i used to go to this great used bookstore when my children were young. it was my break from them. i would ride my bike about half a mile there. jim, the owner, had chairs and couches all around. he had friends who would bring drinks for all who sat and chatted. sadly, he went out of business.

i signed up for this free offer from the makers of the yogurt i buy. when you send in 4 labels from the yogurt, you get a year's free subscription to a magazine called "organic gardening". so i did and i am looking forward to the first issue.

i really want to start a compost pile this year. i tried growing lavendar plants this past summer, but i put them against a high, dark fence. they didn't flower. i think when the plant directions say "very sunny" conditions, they mean it. this lavendar is hearty enough for michigan winters and is the easiest to grow. but, that's what's fun about gardening. you are surprised by plants and sometimes have to rearrange your plans. the bamboo is intriguing me.

having 2 dogs and plans for a nice yard can be challenging. but, nothing gives me more pleasure than working in the yard and watching the dogs play in the summer.

thinking of april....
jeannie

[Tootsie]

Do not plant any bamboo unless you really, really, love it. Soon, it will be taking over your yard, and the neighbors. Fortunately, our neighbor who planted the bamboo, put in a cement barrier under the fence to a decent level so I only have to deal with the bamboo that comes over the top of the fence.

I try to bury all my organic kitchen waste, as a compost pile can be a lot of work to keep it turned, wet, etc. It doesn't rain here for about 6-8 months, so in the summer, you have to water your compost pile. Cheerio.

[Buttons2]

Tic Chick-I got a laugh out of the guy going out of business cause he allowed people to take up precious floor space for hours probably & read books! Why bother to buy them? Actually the local Goodwill has a spot like that,but the homeless hang out there reading (not anything funny about that).

Tootsie,you can always move to my neck of the woods & you'll NEVER need to water compost I promise!

Christina,does this mean you don't drive either? I gave it up several years ago cause of my myoclonus.....it's my dream to drive again someday though.Having a bookbag too heavy to haul reminds me of my first flea market: I bought a huge houseplant in a clay pot,then had to walk all the way back to my car just with that,then all the way back to shop more. Needless to say that was the only time I made that mistake!

[houghchrst]

Oh no, I definitely drive. I don't have a problem with driving, well except for my gas knee, lower back and aching hands, oh yeah, and trying to remember where it is that I am going LOL, it is the getting from the car to where ever I need to get to LOL. My book bag usually weighs from about 10 - 50 pounds depending on what is new and I find interesting. I think if I quit driving I may lose my mind worse than I already have. I get seriously depressed when my car is broken down. There was a time when we could go for walks or would walk to the park down the street. Thanks to my knee and feet I can't even do that anymore. For some reason I can do better with the starting and stopping like at the store than the steady walking like around the block.

[joy]

Hello everyone, boy have I ever been distracted and busy by other things, lol. But it was such a pleasure to get to sit down tonight and read this thread and catch up a bit. I'll have to hurry up and get back in bed with grandaughter soon tho as school comes awfully early in the morning. :p . I certainly don't look forward to that cold trip 15 mile trip accross town but do enjoy having GD here with me.

I use to think that I had to read a book once I started it. Once my reading abilities got so very bad that ideal went out of the window fast. When I worked at a college library, the Reference department was just outside my door and I got to read any and all of the brainey stuff that I wanted, iuncluding travel books to. I loved it because you can't check ou those books but with 2 longs breaks a day, it was almost like having my own personal library and I loved it.

I too don't drive except once in a blue moon but love visiting our regional library here in town. I had the weirdest thought last time hubby and I were there. Morbid really but I did think that if life should throw a tragic thing into it like it can often do, that if I had to move, I would love to move close to our library. And hopefully with the right wheelchair I could still visit on nice days. But what would llikley happen is I'd lose the rest of what little mind I have as it is so I quickly tried to get my mind off gloom and doom. My hubby losing his cousin that was just 1 year older than him has put me into a bad frame of mind that I'm trying to work out of still.

Now bear in mind that I am older than you all but when we tried to do a compost pile, i learned very quickly it required a lot of work, lol. But since I am no longer up to doing anything outside now it doesn't matter. What I did have hubby do years ago when I sometimes could do a few things and loved puttering around in the dirt was to buy those slim concrete like blocks and arrangew them in lengths of about 4 foot long by4 foot wide (or apporximate). The ideal was so that I could kneel down on the blocks and reach accross to the middle and do everything on my knees. It worked and looked pretty lovley to boot. But the first time my son was asked to mow, he dug them up complaining tha he was afraid to mow over them. There went my beautiful plan. It was true enough that I had not used it for the last 2 years then but I was hopeful that I would again somewday, lol.

I found a lot of books once at our local Dollar General or the other one, can never remember which is which and bought about 20 books. It seemed like a good ideal at the time but once my reading sakills dwindled, they are just a nusiance now, lol. It is much better to just visit the library and over-check. I have to make a note of how many I check out and then they still claim I don't return them all sometimes. Have you ever had to go find your own overdue books yourself? I have, many times!

I ran accross that paperback swap once and it seemed like a good ideal to me. I have read one book since Christmas and that is very good for me. There has been times that I just cannot read at all. It is distressing but that is how it has been for me since I have neuropathy. I blamed most of it on the brain fog from drugs ut for someone who has read all their life, it was another low blow, like not driving. TV is not all that interesting especially if you cannot afford all the movie channels.

Well I'd best try to make sleepy now.

PS, oh my, sorry for the length of this thing!!

[houghchrst]

No apology necessary Joy, I was glad to see your "lengthy" post lol. I am sorry about the loss of your BIL. I am sure such a thing really brings our mortality close to home.

I grew up about three blocks from the library and my mother was an avid reader so I come by my love of books naturally. I started out reading books about dogs and horses, the usual girlie stuff, and then my mother was reading Stephen King's "The Shining" and talking about how scary wonderful it was and she decided that I was old enough to read it since I bugged her incessantly. So that was my first adult book and I was hooked. Must say I have been hooked on horror ever since. I also like some of the drama/mysteries. I do not read, westerns, romance and though I have read some historical/fiction (mostly 15th/16th century) horror is still my favorite. I have read some really great nonhorror books but I really need to start writing down names of authors LOL. I can remember a time when I tried to make a list of all the books I had read, many years ago, and I had written at least 3 pages worth before I could no longer remember. Do not ask me the name of the book I just finished 3 nights ago. I am the type who tries to read every night. Just a few minutes or up to maybe an hour. There was a time not too long ago when I promised myself that I would try to read at least one classic novel with every batch of books that I got. Well that didn't last long. The language, with my brain, and style of writing often leaves me yawning or totally confused these days. I use to be able to adjust relatively quickly. Well, no more.

Joy have you tried books on tape. Some libraries have a program where they will ship them to you or they have a mobile library. I had planned to get my grandmother set up when she was in the senior center but by the time things got settled she took a downward plunge. I have done a couple of those and they are good for while doing housework or just laying in that recliner lol. There are also books on tape or CD that you can order online.


Okay I have gone on long enough and I think I may have led us astray as to the topic of this forum. Should I be babbling on Chit Chat LOL. I haven't even touched on what happened this morning. Oh well maybe another time, nothing major.

Have a wonderful day all.

[Buttons2]

Well Christina I'm almost Joy's age myself! Not that it matters,just thought I'd throw that in.

You made a statement that brings back another reason I quit driving: couldn't remember where I was going. At the worse time in my brain fog I'd get to end of driveway & wonder which way I needed to go! I'd also confuse red/green lights! And then I got the "phantom images" seeing animals dart out that were not there! Last time I drove more than a mile I caught myself going 25 in a 40mph zone,luckily I was in the country.

I began reading in 3rd grade. All the Laura Engalls Wilder books hooked me. Then I read bio's of the presidents & their wives. Guess that got me hooked on history. I was an only child until age 9 so books were my constant companion. After that I was the built-in babysitter/housekeeper so books once again gave me a life outside of my own despair.

Today I read a rather wide variety. At one time I also read Stephen King. I tend to read the best sellers these days,once out in paperback that is. I've always thought it would be fun to be part of a book club.

Well this thread has grown from being tired eh? That's good! Since I think we all suffer from fatique on a daily basis.

It's a new week,and the best part is we're getting closer to spring! Smile!!
Buttons

[Tootsie]

Both my husband and I are basically readers, do not have cable TV, but use an antenna on the roof. The only thing we watch together is the local PBS channels, with "Mystery" being our favorite. Every Friday evening is mystery night on our local PBS channel, and we pop popcorn and watch for 3 hours.

Christmas Day, we both spend reading, after a family dinner here the night before. "A Thousand Splendid Suns," was a present and I finished that in a day.
The next day, I read, "The Fifth Vial," a medical mystery with a chilling concept, and finished that also. Awaiting my next reading frenzy is "Three Cups of Tea."
We have about 6 book cases packed full of books we can't bear to part with.

One thing nice about being retired is that you can read until 3 AM, if the mood strikes you. Cheerio.

[houghchrst]

YOu know Tootsie I always liked that picture, a couple reading together and just enjoying the togetherness and hoped I would have it when I met the BF and he mentioned some of the books that he had read. Well I wound up with a remote jockey LOL. Thank goodness we don't have cable though I miss some of the craft and gardening channels, and the educational channels. He loves the educational stuff on PBS and my youngest has even sat through some of the shows that you just wouldn't expect a six year old to be patient through. We call him our little meteorologist.
This might be a bit lengthy but here is an example. We are on our way somewhere, I don't recall, and it was sunny though there were big fat, white, fluffy clouds all over and my son says from the back seat, "we are gonna get some rain", well we just laugh and say oh you think so, because clearly it is not gonna rain, the sun is shining. Well I'll be darned if we didn't turn a corner and these big fat raindrops start falling on the car. I actually thought maybe we passed through someone's sprinkler that was a little off, I mean the sun is shining and the sky is beautiful. So I stick my head out the window and look up and there is this big fat gray cloud just above us and it is raining on us. The BF and I look at each other and start laughing. We turned another corner and went out from under it and when we turned again we were back under it for a few seconds. We couldn't believe it. One of his favorite channels is the digital 12 weather channel. If we have bad weather coming he keeps track and gives us updates. Quite comical.

I have seen that book in the bookstore (another favorite place) and wondered if it was good. I do like a lot of the mysteries but I try to get a variety of books because I get burned out on too much of one thing, well, except horror, though I have become more particular. What irritates me is if I get a book and start reading it and realize that it is the second or third of a character set and they keep mentioning stuff that happened in the first books. I have actually taken them back unread and looked for the first one.

Wow you are right. No matter that I feel like warmed over dog doo I enjoy just coming here and chit chatting. Okay it is for emotional support, but for me it is a form of emotional support. Thank you all.

[tic chick]

yeah, i empathize christina. i got 2 books by an author and didn't realize they were part of a series. of course, i didn't get the book that was published in-between those two! so, i will go to the library to get book #2, because i have finished book #1 AND WILL NOT read book #3, yet.

i love police procedural books, murder/mystery books and psychological thrillers. i have wanted to read "a thousand splendid suns", but will wait until this years church booksale and i'm sure i'll find about 20 copies. if i start a book and it just doesn't do anything for me, i will not finish it. no point.

tip: all the books with a cover of a woman bent over backwards with her heaving bosom half exposed, being held by a swashbucking, mustacheod hero, are the same.

i read about bamboo last night on a few sites. there is running bamboo, (the kind that will invade the block) and clumping bamboo, (which stays put and can be dug up and divided). there is a site that tells which species are tolerant of very low temps and how high they grow and how much sun they need. it is looking like fun.

the christmas tree is down!

i think no matter where our thoughts veer, it is always nice to know that there are people out there who share some of the same interests as we do. we don't always need to talk about our problems, cause they do not define who we are. this give and take chit-chat does.

we are women, hear us roar!
jeannie

[Buttons2]

Well Jeannie I guess some guy could join in-who knows?

I'm reading "The Friday Night Knitting Club" first time author,it reminds me of what we do here kinda,just a bunch of women connecting.

Now I have a gripe about paperbacks. The top selling books are being reprinted but changing the covers! I've read every one of JJ Jance's books,but when they come out looking different I've foolishly forgotten to read the back cover & into first chapter or so I realize I read the book years ago!

Ann Rule is my favorite author for true crime. John Grisham just wrote his first true crime book,called "The Innocent Man" I believe? I like those female private detective books too,the funny ones-can't recall the author right now.

And for a quick read I like the cat stories by Lillian somebody? Smart Siamese that solve crimes,live in a tower of some kind with an old guy I like to picture in my mind as Sean Connery!

Tootsie that's nice that you have a hubby that likes to read also. TV is such a waste of time for the most part.

Well I might roar if I had a new body!
Buttons

[tic chick]

lilian jackson braun writes the cat books. i have read a few of them, they are a quick, interesting read. janet evanovich and sue grafton write female private detective novels. grafton is known for her a-b-c...etc. book series. she is already up to the letter "t", i believe. i wonder what she'll write about when she runs out of the alphabet.:)

my oldest child, my son, will be 30 years old tomorrow. it is hard to believe the time has passed so fast. when i had 3 children running around, my motto was, "this too shall pass". and so it did. they are all good, hardworking individuals. that is my reward.

i don't see any grandchildren in the near future. i have mixed feelings about that, because it seems like the natural progression of things and i would like to play with a baby again. :)

january is still getting me down. but, i just got an invitation to a good friends 50th birthday party on february 2 and i am looking forward to that.

all in all, i am taking it one day at a time. :)

buttons, i wish some guys would join in our chit chat.:D the more the merrier!

wishing you all a good day,
jeannie

[Buttons2]

Well, as a matter of fact I just did it again! Bought a book I'd already read! I really need to look inside & check date first published.....I love the Janet whatever books,make me laugh at least! Now which detective drove a VW bug & had a Great Dane that died on the beach protecting her?

I also like James Patterson,his wife Faye Kellerman& Patricia Cornwall. And those Ya-Ya sisterhood books!

I'm praying for snow! I feel like another day of these grey skies & cold weather & I'll go screaming down the driveway!

It's soooo tempting to go to the local shelter & rescue another dog or cat! I'm holding back on that urge however,I know I'm just depressed & bored out of my mind......

Yes we need more people to chime in here,hopefully someone to spread some cheer! Lie if you have to! Just give us something to smile about!

Well,I did see one cute thing on the noon news. Monkeys trained to help disabled people. Not only are they cute but really smart. These were small monkeys & wore diapers,cost to raise/train them is $35,000! They can live to be 40 yrs old. They were even trained to comb hair & scratch faces with a sponge.But they also act like a 3 yr old,very lively & mischievious.....

[Tootsie]

I'm not sure if my news will make everyone dealing with cold, grey and unpleasant weather, feel worse, or better. The sky is blue, the sun is shining and warm, and my roses are blooming!

We've been warned that we will have some unseasonal, warmer weather, but the air is still cool enough for a light jacket. Just in case someone isn't quite convinced that global warming is a fact, ask any gardener. Usually, the roses are dormant and you prune sometime in the weeks after Christmas. I didn't even catch my breath from Christmas, and I haven't pruned anything yet!

Right now, I'm immersed in a bunch of clutter in my sewing/hobby room. It badly needs a cleaning out, re-sorting, purging of outdated and no longer relevant articles I kept. I guess you can tell, I'm tired of it all and am looking on the computer for something else to do for a while.

I'm also still looking for those slippers I bought my grandson. Wish me luck.
Cheerio.

[joy]

Hello everyone. Boy I hope I remember where I saw all these tips about good books to read. I still do not have one here at the house I am interested in, the last one by that author that I enjoyed the one book by, well the subject matter I did not check out so after realising what the book was about, I decided I did not want to read it afterall.

I have so many clothes and things I need to get out of my closets and free up some space. I still have shoes that I know I need not ever wear since my feet are totally dead. It is so hard to part with some of them though. My favorite everyday shoes were the Erica style of Dexter shoes. They are low cut in the throat and have little tassels on the toes. Just so cute even if your feet are long like mine, lol.

I had to laugh when I read about those trained monkeys Buttons. It would be a really nice animal especially if they could clean up after themselves as well. Let's see, pick up things for their owner and help keep them clean and be entertaining to watch as well. The last book I did read had a service animal for a lawyer that had seizures. It just made me want a dog like that for my daughter all the more. Her MIL had mentioned that she would get her one when she first started having seizures but then let the subject drop after a time. I should say that she has NOT had a seizure in quite some time. But I know not to count on this but still I am thankful. They have a bull dog. Except that he is loved by all of them, he is a lot of work and it would be so nice if it was for an animal that was helpful for somehing as well. I don't see after the inital purchace how a dog could cost any more than what they spend on this one. :rolleyes: Meanwhile they have a hunting dog that lives a sorry life on a chain, and never gets to hunt. One thing I did learn a long time ago tho was that I can't rescue every pet my children get. Thank Heavens. I did try for many a one tho, lol.

[houghchrst]

Buttons I had to laugh at the picture of you running screaming down the driveway LOL. Got a real visual on that one. Know how you feel. Well I guess we are in for a coldsnap despite the fact that last night it was warm enough to rain and the snow we do have was melting. The sun is shining again today, did yesterday morning but not for long.

Let's see........today I got a check in the mail for $4ooo, some kind of rebate. My oldest son just got his grades and they are almost all A's. My little one has been perfectly healthy for weeks now. My BF just got a new job making $17 an hour. I have been pain free all morning and I slept like a rock last night. Got up this morning and weighed myself and I have lost 10 pounds. My house is spic and span and we just arranged for someone to come in once a week for housekeeping. Let's see what else, oh yes we just got a new car and are purchasing a beautiful newer home in in the country in our favorite school district. Single story, 4 bedroom, 2 bath, all new appliances, ceiling fans, fireplaces, huge yard, finished basement, 2 car garage, I can't wait to move in.

Okay buttons, there is my tall tale. Hope you enjoy it. If you like I can tell you what color I am having the rooms painted and about the new Jeep I am getting next LOL.

Jeannie, I have read the first few Janet Evanovich books, they were quite comical. Liked them but after awhile I got burned out. My mother use to read the true crime books, one after another but as she got older they started giving her nightmares. She quit but now there are plenty of cable shows devoted to the same thing and she has started watching those pretty regularly LOL. I prefer my horror to be fiction. I am well aware how messed up the world is, I watch the news pretty regularly.

Tootsie, I hope you find those slippers soon LOL. Roses blooming :eek:? Scary. I have been slowly but surely going through and getting rid of things. They say that your memory is all you need instead of keeping tons of photos you haven't looked at in years or the little mementos to remind us of trips and events. I have a real thing about throwing out photos but I had to overcome that and cried as I threw out about 200 pictures. Old wedding photos, baby pictures. I think I took at least one a day during my first born. My mother's basement is full of boxes from the move and she can't get down there to go through them so starting next weekend we are going to have my BF go and bring a few boxes up at a time and we will go through them and Freecycle what we can, trash what needs to be trashed and pass treasures throughout the family. Probably about 30 medium and smaller boxes in all. I kind of look forward to it. A lot I will remember from my younger days. She said the big thing that weighs on her mind is that when she passes I will have to again go through everything that was kept when my Grandmother passed but also what my mother leaves behind. Morbid I know but she has been through it so knows what an awful chore it can be.

Joy, allreaders.com is a site that may help. It can be an easy pick or gives you the option of being very detailed in what you may be looking for. I have a couple of publisher sites saved that I go to and look to see what is coming out.

HOpe you all have a great day. :D:):p:cool:

[joy]

Hi there everyone. Now I just have to put in my opinion about that Jeep Christina. The back seat is a joke so no way should you spend your money on somethinbg like that, lol. Thanks for the tip about the allreaders.com site.

I spoke too soon as I am not up to par just yet and neither is my grandaughter. She gets to spend another day at home. The doctors office was swamped yesterday and they offered advice. It seems there is an awful viral infection going around and all they can suggest is what to take for it and say it may take several days to 10 to get over it. I think this is my second time to have it tho. If we did not have sunshine I don't think I could stand it. Thank Heavens for that good old sunshine and places like this where we can at least think we are a bit normal and share with others. ;). It is way better than not having anything and I'm not making light of it.

I remember when I stayed at a home ran by a church group when I was at the mayo clinic. The sweet woman that ran it would always make herself scarce when the shows were on that had violence in them. She explained one night that her daughter had been murdered so I felt so sorry for her, trying to be a nice host but having to deal with all the horror by herself. I am still sensitive to things myself and I haven't lost anyone like she has. I just hate violence. There was a woman in our town that was running late and somehow she ran over her own child. I can't even begin to imagine how horrible she must feel. This is the third child that has been killed in our school system in 10 years time. I have practically stopped watching the news, reading the newspapers, everything I can think of but still you cannot miss hearing of tragedies like this. So all I can do is offer up a prayer and keep that family in mind.

I used to watch talk shows also but more and more am finding it hard to find anything to watch. And what will they find to make a reality show about soon, lol!! I can't even enjoy music any more because of my menieres disease. That reminds me, did you hear about the woman that hearing a particular song made her have seizures? Not kidding, it is true!!

I hope everyone has a nice long weekend. An extra day off, yeah for the school kids. As my grandchild asked me yersterday "What do you think my 2 favorite holidays are.?" I guess Christmas. Nope. It is halloween and Valentines day, lol. She really loves trick or treating. Aaah to be a kid again.

[Buttons2]

Christina,I loved your lie! Now my son has a Jeep & I've never even been for a ride in it! I'd need a stepladder just to get inside!

Joy,hope you & granddaughter get better soon!

Maybe one good thing about rarely going anywhere is less germs to pick up? And I also am getting fed up with news......I prefer to read it on the internet so I can pick & choose.Throwing kids off bridges seems to be the latest,I often wonder if people hear about someone else doing something insane & figure they'll try it also?

Too bad we don't have a "good news" channel to watch. Oprah is going to have her own station,will be interesting to see what's on it.I don't like violence either,much prefer the dog shows,etc. Or where they show how stuff is made,kinda like going on a field trip in grade school.

Lately I've been watching Dr. Phil, what I cannot understand is how people can make such fools of themselves on there? Are they really that stupid? Do they get paid to let the world know how they live?

I'm hoping the hummingbirds will be here soon,they were last year!

Buttons

[Tootsie]

We are fortunate to have 2 PBS stations that our roof antenna will allow us to watch. I do like ABC news, but my husband prefers the news on PBS.

As for Jeeps, we had a Wagonneer, when the children were young, as my husband likes the 4WD option. It sat in our driveway, after our youngest left home and my husband finally sold it to someone who planned to re-build it. I never likes it much as it rode like a truck. However, it took 4 kids, 2 adults, an occasional play pen or potty chair, plus tent, sleeping bags, tied on top. Two of our 3 boys, used the repair manual and kept it running while they were in high school. One son, even bought one for his own family.

I do watch the major channels on TV, but only if I have something else to do...sew, crochet, and even read the newspaper. I hate all the commercials and unless the program is well done, eventually will turn it off and devote myself to what I was reading during the commercials.

Most of my clutter, is unfinished hobby projects. I do have trouble letting go of those things. I also still have some of my mother's clothes...a heavy winter car coat...too heavy for my climate. I keep hoping I will find someone to give it to. Still.....no slippers! Cheerio.

[joy]

Hi there. I might should explain about my dislike of that Jeep vehicle. Both my husband and I are very tall and I always have to try out the back seat of any vehicle we ever consider buying. I rode in the back for a test drive and not only did my long legs not have enough room, the ride was a rough one. So we didn't make that purchase, lol. But I sure met a lot of people who just loved theirs. Maybe their list of must be this or etc. was just not as picky as mine. I know none was as tall as myself, the women I talked too. I even was brave enough to walk up to them in parking lots and ask them how they liked theirs. And if they were driving one, they always like it so that was good for them. That is what got me to test drive one in the first place, a nice woman's assurance she liked hers. But if we are going to put down that much money for aa vehicle, it sure is going to need to meet a lot of things on our list, lol. And a comfortable back seat is one since I ride back there when we go places with other people. Not that we do that all that often any more.

I love PBS stations too. Just this last weekend I was watching one of the Jane Austen movies and I thought my grandaughter was never going to quit complaining, lol. It put her to sleep eventually though. I told her this was suppose to be one of the greatest authors of love novels of all times. She is eight just and didn't buy a word of it, lol.

[Buttons2]

OK Tootsie,about those missing slippers. Think back & envision having them in your hands,where were you? Did you get interrupted by a phone call & set them down somewhere? Have a visitor? Get distracted in any way? Were they in a shoebox? In a shopping bag?

I actually found a new pair of slippers in the hunting trailer my housemate used to have! Still in the box , (we didn't even remember them so actually weren't "lost").

You need to envision having them right before you.....good luck!
Buttons

[houghchrst]

Joy, for my Jeep, well money is not an issue and that will just be my alone time vehicle LOL. It is only a tall tale. I love the little volkswagons too. The bf keeps telling me that when he finally gets his own shop that he will buy me one. By that time I may be too senile and medicated to drive one LOL. I just watched Jane Eyre on PBS and then watched ....... oh shoot....something that started with P I think. I like it, no commercials (oh yeah, Persuasion, had to look it up) but then again if there are no commercials then I miss something if I have to use the lady's room or if my little one needs something. I hope you get back to feeling more yourself soon. They had to close one of the local schools because there were so many staff and students sick.

We just bought a digital tv, even though we don't have cable, and have found that we have all kinds of channels right now. I watched Russia's news and then right after that they had and Asian country's news. Very interesting. Also a Create channel that has all kinds of cooking, decorating and craft shows on it.

Tootsie, when my grandmother passed away I inherited all of her crafting equipment. Her old sewing machine, fabrics, yarns and half finished craft projects, tatting stuff, latch hook rugs and all the stuff it takes to make just about anything. When she died her major thing was quilting and knitting though I do have a few things that she painted. Beautiful flowers on ceramic soap dishes, tea sets, jewelry, all kinds of stuff. She always made comments to me that she would love to teach me quilting but my lifestyle was not very conducive to such things. Not long before she died we began cleaning out her house for the estate sale, she knew she was not coming home, and she told me to take all of her stuff in the sewing room and whatever else I wanted. So I got it home and immediately started working on my first small quilt. Had no idea what I was doing but found a book in the library with patterns and decided it looked easy to do and was small. Well each square was 2'' x 2" and if anyone knows anything about quilting that is not the greatest size to start out with LOL. I got that quilt done and took it often to her to show her how far I had gotten but near the end she was pretty out of it and didn't even really know what I was showing her. I got it finished just before she died and was working on the next, yoyo, while I sat with her at the end. My first one I buried with her. My next one was a bit bigger maybe 2' by 18" and was for my mother for Christmas, my first applique, and the next was a lapquilt which I still have and will take a picture of maybe and post. I did make a big one for a queen size bed but it was pretty easy as it is all 12" squares with a border. Maybe that one too. Right now I am in the process of making one for my mother that has colors that coordinate with her house and in the center of each square a yoyo will have been appliqued that is made from the fabrics that came from her mother's old clothes, fabrics, aprons and housedresses that she had made herself and many my mother will remember. She doesn't know it yet and I have no idea when I will get it done. The fabric is all cut, well most of it, but I tell ya, appliqueing (sp?) all those yoyos is really tedious and my hands are a bit more resistant. Plus I can't get down on the floor like I did with the last one. Well....I can I just can't get up LOL.

Buttons, talk about making a fool of your self. The BF loves to watch Jerry Springer. I hate the show and am embarrassed for anyone who gets on there. I too have reached a point where I don't like to watch the news. Here they have news on from 4pm until 7pm and while the earlier stuff my have a few feel good stories by the time 6pm news comes on all they have left is bad. Every once in awhile I might go to our local news website or CNN news site and pick and choose also. I do believe there are a lot of copycat crimes out there.

Oh my goodness I do believe I have gone on too much. I am so sorry LOL. Geez you would think I didn't get out much, well I don't but .......

HOep everyone has a good afternoon.

[Tootsie]

Cristina, I loved hearing about your quilting adventures. I tried taking quilting classes but all the people in the class had done a lot of quilting and I couldn't keep up. The quilt they were doing was all bias cut...not the best thing to start with. I got discouraged and it was hard to lug my machine to class. Now, I'm finding that I can't crochet for extended periods of time or my hands hurt too much.

I have saved some old jeans and hope to make a quilt from the denim. My DIL has one that her grandmother made and it is so heavy and WARM! It is a shame to throw out denim jeans just because they are worn out in some places. Such sturdy fabric needs to be recycled....as if I need another hobby! Cheerio.

[Buttons2]

Well Christina this began as a thread about how tired you were. I'm still tired! I'd have to say my only real hobby these days is checking BT everyday. First thing I do in the morning in fact.

I bought a sewing machine a few years ago,took me until this past summer to actually thread the thing & sew some curtains! I've never made a quilt in my life. I do however buy & sell old ones when I can find them. Right now I'm stuck with 3 "cabin quilts". I made the huge mistake of washing them! Smelled of mildew so bad I couldn't stand it,plus I've always washed any linens I sell. Well these had never been washed so the colors bled!

Lately I can't seem to do anything but sit. I do walk my dog daily but that's a short walk. I don't recall ever being in such a rut before! I can't even stand to talk on the phone! Just can't get motivated at all......you mentioned laughing at the idea of me running naked down the driveway? Well first of all just dressing/undressing is a big chore for me,and the last time I ran was in 2002 I believe!:eek: Plus the driveway is very long......it would be a frightful sight let me tell ya!I always take my walking stick when I walk in the woods,falling in mud isn't too fun.

Last night my housemate & I got to talking about adopting another dog. Little dog was put down about a month ago. So I looked on the internet at what our local shelter has right now......every dog was either a lab mix or a pitbull mix!! Every single one! Maybe that's a good thing? No way would I even allow a pitbull on the property. No offense to anyone that has one,but that's what attacked Rags in the shelter & had to be killed to get those jaws unclenched.

Every day I read the free ads in our local paper,people always say have to give dog away cause moving or no time for it anymore. How sad! I'm kinda leery about getting a pet from a free ad though.....has anyone ever done that? At the shelter you know they've been vet checked,and the volunteers usually have some idea of their personality. Going to a stranger's home is a different matter,people will LIE through their teeth about anything!

I know I shouldn't even be thinking of another dog. My cat brought in a baby mouse last night,it was in the bathroom & Rags never goes in there. We were thinking how little dog,Pepper,would have nailed that mouse in a second! Now mind you the cat brings in mice everyday just about,but she usually eats them on the bathmat (which I have to wash constantly). Nobody set a trap last night,so we now have a live mouse in the house!

Well I'm just rambling......I'd love to have a new VW also. Only vehicles I have ever owned! I finally sold my Beetle a couple years ago,I called him Herbie. I like seeing him around & being driven again.I learned to drive in a VW bug,was so old it didn't have a gas gauge,had to reach down & flip a lever when the gas ran out so could get to a gas station!

Nowadays I think a van would be nice,so easy to get in/out of. :rolleyes:

Have a good day everyone, I'll be watching football all afternoon!
Buttons

[Tootsie]

Aha! Another VW fan! Ours was one of the first 1958's off the boat, and had the larger back window. The lever for the extra gallon of gas and the manual choke were things I really got used to. In fact, my oldest son made the comment one time to his father, that he didn't see why he was always telling Mom to lock the car. She was the only one who could start it! I drove that VW for 17 years and cried when we had to get rid of it. With 4 kids, we all didn't fit anymore. The two older boys would sit in the back seat with their knees in their face.

It rained all day yesterday, and it is really cold....meaning that the snow level is down to 1500 feet, but still not freezing in the valley. Cheerio.

[Buttons2]

I wonder why VW doesn't make a van these days? I drove one a few times,only time I've run out of gas too.....didn't get the mileage of my bug! Another time I ran over the neighbor kid's bike! I got out & chewed the little girl up one side & down the other cause I could just as easily have run over her,I simply couldn't see the bike right @ the rear.

Well we are having so much sunshine I'm thrilled! Very cold but that's OK. This sun is motivating me to clean house & trust me I needed something to get me going. By the time spring gets here I want to be outside,not in here cleaning.

Now all this VW talk reminds me of how badly I wanted a Karmen Ghia,by the time my kids were grown they were priced too high. I had 4 bugs,1 beetle,1 stationwagon,1 fox,2 rabbits,oh & one of the very first audi's. Think I was kidding when I said I'm a VW fan??

Those are pleasant thoughts of the past,when I drove! Maybe someday I can do that again!

Hope you all are staying warm & getting some sunshine also! The full moon has been awesome with the clear skies.

[Nana4&cntn]

Hi Buttons,

I have seen some of your replies to folks and you seem to be a very intelligent and caring person. I was lucky to have a karman ghia as a kid. Great car. The sun is also shining beautifully but it's 10 degrees out. Not to motivated today my pain is off the charts.

Have a wonderful day!!!

Kathy

[Buttons2]

:DTootsie, I've been on a cleaning kick this week,last night I was removing everything from the cabinets in the utility room.......there in a box,complete with the sales slip from 12/23/02 were new slippers! Housemate must have bought them,neither of us can recall who they were for!!:eek:

Kathy,good to have you join in our gab session here!

We lost our sunshine today & it's still cold......but now that I have the utility room looking like a war zone I'm still determined to keep busy cleaning! Today I'll be boxing up all the magazines that pile up during the year. I usually clean the pantry,medicine's,spices,etc. go out in Jan. every year. I seem to have enough vitamins to stock my own store.

Kinda like Christmas finding stuff you forgot you had eh? Must not have needed alot of stuff too much if forgot we even had it!

I heard a songbird yesterday! Is that a sign of spring?

I've decided to try to ignore my pain. It hurts whether I'm busy or just taking up space on the planet in my recliner anyways.:rolleyes:

Christina,hope your little one is feeling better by now & back in school.

Smile today at least once everyone!
Take care,Buttons

[tic chick]

one of my friends had a karmen ghia in the 70's that we used to troll around in. it was such a small car and it seemed when we went on the expressway that it shook from going so fast. i dreaded going in that car.

i read somewhere today, that today, january 24, is considered the most depressing day of the year. only one more week until february!

my mom is in the early stages of dementia, probably alzheimers. she is still very much aware and sharp, but at times she makes no sense and mistakes what people say to her. sometimes i feel angry when stuff like this happens and i kind of shut down and do not talk to her very much during a conversation. i am not angry at her, i am angry at the disease. i just don't know whether it's worthwhile to try and explain to her or if i should just let it go.

i know the stages of alzheimers and have seen what it does to those who have it. my hubby's mother is 90 and has been in a nursing home the last 11 years or so. she is healthy except for the alzheimers. she no longer recognizes my hubby as her son.

i have been in a funk this week. so much i can do, but all i want to do is watch trash tv...lol. i know i will feel better around the beginning of march, but that seems a long way off. but, it is nice to see the sun up around 7:45.

you know, there is truth to the saying, "what you don't know can't hurt you."

my dogs have been amusing me a lot lately. i laugh and am amazed at how smart and clever they are at times.

i broke my glasses and my new pair won't be ready until monday, the earliest. the pair i had broke right at the bridge. so, if i want to read the morning paper or use the computer, i have to balance the broken ends on the insides of my eye area against my nose. i cannot tic, or they fall. to a person with tourette syndrome, suppressing tics is frustrating. i can suppress voluntarily, but not if i have to, if that makes any sense.

buttons. i had so much fun rediscovering all the christmas ornaments i have this christmas. i haven't put up a tree for the last couple of years because of the dogs. but, this year, i did and i was pleased that the dogs really didn't care about it. my daughter and i laughed at the "disco ball" ornaments i have and i wondered what possessed me to buy these other huge, spiked, silver gawdawful ornaments. i will not throw them out, because i think they will be a source of amusement every christmas for years to come.

i really look forward to reading all your posts here everyday. it's at the top of the list of my favorite things to do. again, thanks for sharing.

i hope everybody had a happy moment today :),
jeannie

[Nana4&cntn]

Hi All,

I really have enjoyed lurking today. I was very down earlier, in a blah, don't wanna do anything kinda day. You guy's are a riot. I live alone, except for Sam the cat. Kids all grown, thru college and married and making me a Nana 4 no 5 times over #5 is due in june. All are boys, hoping #5 is a girl, but probably a boy and then we have a basketball team.
I was so into reading your messages I forgot to take a dose of pain meds. Thats a good thing!!!

Tootsie, I found a pair of slippers I bought for my daughter before she went to college in 2001. Guess she didn't like them.lol.

Buttons,
The song bird you heard was probably a cardinal or black capped chickadee. Neither of them migrate. I have a couple cardinals that live in their nest in my hedges for several years now. My boys used to have to trim the hedges before they layed eggs. I wouldn't let them when babies where on board.

Christina,
I envy your endurance in quilt making. I have all the supplies books enough fabric to make 20 quilts. I even have the Bernina machine that embroideries. I look at the books and and fabric and wish I had the energy to do it. I have a computer chair in the kitchen to sit in while cleaning or sewing or what ever. I think the biggest problem is having to stand to cut the pieces. Alas another craft to add to the ever growing pile, or storage room. I used to have the garage set up as a wood shop. used to cut sand and paint thing for craft shows. I ectually made more than I spent.

Enough, thanks for a fun time and sorry for the ramblings.
kathy

[joy]

Finally broke down and got sick and tired of being sick so went to doctor. Who would have thought, lol. Anyway as big whopping steroid shot and 2 kinds of pills more and I should be better in 10 days. No really sooner and if not I'm to go back.

Well anyway I am not totally a dumb a$$ as I realised soon into this crud that I needed to use a cane. My legs were so wobbly and weak and since they are numb anyway I decided I didn't want to add further injustices by falling. That cane is very useful for punching that disabled button to open doors too, lol.

Kathy I use to use my husband's band saw and radial arm saw and cut out wood projects too. I loved doing that and then painting them. At least I don't have to worry about the cost of my buying them and them going to waste now that I can't do that anymore.

Come to think of it, I'll get downright indignant if hubby e*v*e*r suggests I get rid of my other hobby and craft stuff. Let's see, I have cake decorating tips (about 100 Wilton ones), bags, some paste colors that is still good, the rotating thingy, lol. oh just a bunch of pans.

Then there is the cross stitch b ooks, threads and the nice little storage things that I used the computer and made a detailed list of every color I had . See, I really loved doing the computer work more than the cross stitch, lol.

The surger that hubby bought I never used because that was about the time my meniere's started. Huum now I can figure out just when that was because it was after his wreck. He used insuranve money to buy the serger.

Oh my goodneeds, guess i'll have t spend another time telling about the rest of it. There's still oil painting and ...oh a lot,lol.

But betcha they did not end up costing any more than his toys did. I probably couldn't store all of my stuff in the amount of space his takes up though, tuthfully.

I hate getting steroid shots as they make me even goofier than usual and I don't sleep for quite a few night after I get one. And for someone with insomnia anyway, that sure not a good thing. Look out, I may be back at about 4:30 and writing more. I will wake up and start coughing for sure.

PS - Kathy. Do you have a lot of wood patterns?

[Nana4&cntn]

Joy,

I am so sorry you a feeling badly. I have a friend who has minieres also. She has a tough time. I too hate the steroid buz. not the fun buzz, the I just wanna sleep buz.
And I do have a ton of patterns, mostly ones I made up or saw in a book somewhere. Alot a primitive, christmas, halloween, ok. athere are a bunch of them I haven't seen in oh maybe 7 or 8 years. I looked at my paints the other day and I think they are dried up.lol

I would be willing to share if you think your husband will cut then out for you.

I hope you feel better sooner than 10 days. get sleep

kathy

[Buttons2]

Well I gagged on clorox fumes yesterday cleaning the utility room cupboards,had to open the back door,figured a bit of cold wouldn't hurt much anyways. Felt good to finish the job! Filled a 5 gal bucket with rose food,slug bait,all kinds of bug poison!:eek:

Having had 2 dogs put down in past 6 years,cancer & tumors.... So no more D-con or anything else around here! I even threw out the mole trap since those are now illegal......heck who cares about some lumps of soil in the lawn anyway?

Speaking of which, housemate has enough "lawn" for a golf course! Maybe this year the cost of gas will be so high he'll let the pasture go? In my dreams he would fence it in & get some critters! An alpaca,miniature goat,etc.

Jeannie, didn't realize you have tourette's! That explains your name huh? And here I thought you might have Lyme from a tick!:confused: Broken glasses are no fun. One time I had a lense fall out,so what did I do? Got out my super glue! Huge mistake! Not to mention I almost lost the skin off my finger! Had to buy completely new glasses after that stunt.

Christmas decorations......now when I get to cleaning the basement I'm determined to pack up 99% of the Christmas decor & sell it @ first yard sale this year. Didn't even put up a tree this year & still manged to wear out my body putting up lights & greenery!

Well whoever said Jan 24 was most depressing day of the year got it wrong for me,I think the entire month of Jan is depressing!

Kathy,we don't have cardinals here,I live in WA north of Seattle. You can google LaConner,WA for some idea (I no longer live there,but nearby). Never have to apologize for rambling......heck that's what we do best!:D

Does everyone here have a dog?

Later......oh boy,here comes the sun!! Snow predicted for tomorrow,I hope it snows at least 10". Might force me to figure out my camera!

Take care everyone,Joy write in the middle of the night then when I get up I'll have something new to read;)
Buttons

[tic chick]

it's nice to have a new member here, kathy! thanks for joining our "so tired" group and welcome to the forums. *bunch

all my kids are adults, too. no grandchildren yet, though. i am home by myself most of the day also, although i am looking for a job, so i hope that will change shortly.

yeah, buttons, i have had tourette syndrome for 43 years. also panic attacks and obsessive-compulsive disorder. the latter two are controlled by meds, but there is no cure for ts. the closest i came was with the drug abilify. unfortunately, my ocd became terrible with that, plus i got eczema on my face. i had never had skin probs before then and the eczema disappeared when i stopped taking the abilify. it was nice to be tic free for almost a year, though.

you can't always get what you want, but sometimes you get what you need...lol, paraphrasing mick, there.

tomorrow is recycling day. i missed it last month, so i have double to take to the truck tomorrow. you know, since i began recycling, my garbage can is only half full every week when it's "garbage day". it makes you really think about all the stuff that goes into the landfills. but, i have faith that some brilliant people will think of a harmless substance that will eat plastics and turn it into a filler that will bind with our topsoil and stop the erosion of that material also.

the sun is out today although it is still chilly. it seems the sun only comes out here when we have a cold spell. the warmer it gets, the cloudier it gets.

we have a juicy political scandal here in detroit with our current mayor. it is interesting to read all the legal ramifications and subterfuge going on. i will not go into this any further, because i know this is not a political forum.

no birds here, yet. i remember waking up to birds chirping very loudly when i was a little girl. now, there don't seem to be as many birds.

i am trying to think of a present to get a friend for her 50th birthday. i have some ideas, but if i want to order something over the internet, i better decide. her party is february 2 and i am looking forward to that. she still has a child that goes to the school that my children also went to. i have been out of that volunteer/social group for 8 years. i miss it so badly, because during the school year there was always a meeting or volunteer work to do plus the fun of having a beer and socializing after. :)

my 100 tulips did not bloom last year. they have bloomed and spread every year since i planted them. last year, there was a combination of very warm days in march and then snow and a few freeze/thaw cycles that killed the emerging bulbs. i can't think of any other reason they would all of a sudden just not bloomed last year. so, i am really looking forward to seeing them this year.

hope everybody got a little bit of sun today!
jeannie

glasses ready!!:)

[Buttons2]

Jeannie,Christina started a new thread.....hope to see you on it!