Dance show success

I borrowed skirts, and jewelry, and a veil.... I went to class for 6 months to learn and master a short choreography.... I practiced....

and last night....

I danced with my class on stage for about 4 minutes.

Lots of prep for a moment in the spot light!

But, it was fun, and we nailed it.  At least, I think we nailed it.  I know that my arms were in the wrong position on two momentary occasions.  Oh well.

It was fun. We were gorgeous.

Unfortunately, the skirts were white, and the foot lights were INTENSELY bright, so the cell phone pictures Dave took did not turn out well enough to share here.

Hopefully, someone else had a different angle.  Or the back-stage posed shots a couple of the girls have in their cell phones will be shared eventually on Facebook, and I can post them here.

Dave's trip to Houston was good for him.  He got to catch some fish this time, and he made it home safely on Tuesday evening.

Today, we have some sunshine, so will finish the yard work we didn't get done last weekend.

Have a good Sunday!

Bachelorette day

It's going to be 87 degrees today, and the wind is whipping.

Dave left at 0:dark:30 this morning to go visit one of his brothers, and I was out mowing the back yard by 9 am.

It had to get done, or it would be too tall to mow at all by next week, because we have an old- fashioned reel mower.

It was lovely out at that early hour, but now, it's hot.

I am supposed to do a little hand sewing today.  I have a button to tighten up on one of Dave's shirts, a little hole to sew up in one of my favorite tops, and then I have to sew eyes in to my new dance bra that line up with the hooks on my mesh body stocking.

I keep putting it off because I HATE TO SEW!

It's been over a week, now,  since I got the injections in my wrists, and everything is going well.  My thumb is still locking first thing in the morning, but it doesn't hurt, and eventually stops doing it.

I've changed up how I do the part of my job that is hardest on my hands/wrists, and I wear my braces every day, even if I am not in pain.

(that part of the job is folding and stuffing thousands of pages of paper documents every morning)

I've spent a lot of time today just sitting outside.  This morning, after I mowed, I was drenched in sweat, and sat out on the back step in the breeze for quite some time, letting my hair and clothes dry out a little.

Then, a little while ago, I went out and swept the front porch and steps, and sat there in the shade for a good long time.

I've been thinking today about all of the pets I have loved (and who have loved me), and about how I have not been able to make myself be with most of them when they've had to be put down.   

I spent a good long time saying "I'm so sorry" to each of their loving spirits this afternoon as I sat outside.

This was spurred by a blog post I read on Facebook this morning....written from the point of view of an old dog on his last day.

I wept, sobbed, and realized that by NOT being with them, I was being a complete coward.  

Dave and I held Jack when he died, and I will never do anything other than that in the future, no matter how much it tears me up.  

THAT is the moment when they need us the most.... and I will never cop out again.

Pete and Annabel are both sleeping at the moment.  I will have to give Annabel her prozac later by myself.  Dave and I have been tag teaming her, but I'm on my own today.

She is doing really well on it.  It seems to be helping.

Poor babies are so anxious.  I wish we knew why, and could fix it.

Hot shots

I got a call from the orthopedist office on Monday, and was able to schedule my cortisone shots for the same day as my oncologist appointment for my shot at THAT clinic.

I was able to add a little of time off from work to that time that was already scheduled without any problems (surprisingly--since taking time off is like pulling organs out of bodies without cutting the skin).

The shots hurt FAR worse than the first time, and I cried when we got back in the car.  It was INTENSE, and the pain from the injections lasted for hours.

The morning of my appointment, my thumb had started to lock up again, too, like it was doing before the injection in December.

The ortho elected not to inject the thumb again, and just did the wrists.

So far, the effects have been positive.

The doc says it takes 48 to 72 hours for the full effect to become evident, but I remember from last time, that it took more like a week to ten days for the cyst on the left wrist to go away.

I went grocery shopping Friday night, and did not have excruciating pain while handling my purse, and did not come close to dropping items because it hurt so much to lift them off of the shelves into the grocery cart.

Then, that evening, I reached around and scratched my own back!!

Yesterday, I did chores, and cooking, and laundry, and had FAR fewer incidents of popping and pain.  Even played my guitar last evening!!

We got into our hot tub last night, and I slept better last night than I have in probably 2 full months.

SO, please add your positive hopes to mine that this will eventually provide complete and permanent relief.

Thank you.

Dave will deliver the baked pasta I made for his dad, and go get the groceries for him, this afternoon. I will practice the dance routine for this semester's recital, which is coming up on the 25th.

My sweet friend, Rebecca, is custom making me a costume for someone without breasts.

Not much else is on the agenda for today.

We missed a local protest yesterday because the weather was cold and damp, and I don't need to get sick again (since my co workers were all sick again this past week, forced to come to work sick because they're not allowed to use their sick time to be sick).

We were supposed to get heavy rains yesterday, but they never came.  There's another chance tonight.  I hope it rains.  This state has been on fire again lately.

Windfall

Our tax refunds, and Dave's annual bonus, hit the bank this week, AND Dave gets an additional bonus this year for 35 years with the gas company.

He decided to use his extra bonus to buy a new, state of the art TV, blue ray player, antenna, and stand for it all to sit on.

The newest technology creates a pretty amazing picture, I have to say, and the new set up looks really nice.  I actually picked out the stand, and we are happy with it.

I didn't think we needed to do all of that, but it was his money, and his choice.

Some of the windfall money is going toward more home improvements.  The majority of the improvements this year will be internal instead of external. We aren't going to spend NEAR as much as we did last year.

That means that there might be some cash left over!

At the moment, the plans are for a new kitchen faucet, and the installation of a garbage disposal and water filtration system; replacement of the water hydrants under the house; and the installation of lights under the car port.

We are also planning a vacation to Chicago, and have purchased RIDICULOUSLY expensive tickets to  a Cubs game.

I also am replacing some of my shoes, and would like another swim suit for the hot tub.  These are things I have denied myself because of not wanting to spend the money.

I finally got fed up with the wrist pain that has returned on my left side, and started on my right side.  There are days, again, when I can't use my hands at all without pain.

The cortisone shots I got in December were partially successful, though.  My right thumb is cured, and the cyst on the left side is gone.

I put a call in to the nurse at the orthopedic doctor's office on Friday, and explained that the medication that caused this issue was withdrawn after my injections in December.

I am hoping that I can try another set of injections before we have to consider surgery, since the pain on the left came back, and the pain on the right started, before that medication was completely out of my system.

I should have an answer this week.

In the meantime, I have completely missed my opportunity to get licensed as a massage therapist in the state of Oklahoma, so I guess I am "officially" retired.

The National Certification program ended on the last day of December (with a grace period until the end of March).

That would have been my "grandfathering" credential to get licensed without having to undergo rigorous testing AND provide proof of graduation from a massage school.

I've been in practice for over 25 years, and do not have a diploma.

So. Oh well.

My thousands of hours of hands on experience are for naught if I don't have a credential to prove that I know my stuff, and my wrists have been so bad, that I did not pursue licensing.  What would be the point if I can't work anymore?

Besides, I have never been able to get a business going down here, and only see a few clients a year.  Again, what would be the point of getting a license?

In other news, Annabel is now on prozac, too.  Pete has been on it since I started chemo, to get him to leave me alone long enough to sleep at night.

Annabel is now on it because or her obsessive grooming.  Chances are, she was allergic to the flea bites she was getting, and it started that way, but now she just grooms all the time, and has made most of her underbelly bald.

The vet suggested we try this, so now both of our cats are being drugged.

I am not sure how I feel about that, but it's better than having to put her in an "e" collar for weeks on end.

We are also going to see if we can get an anti-itch spray recommended by a friend.  We're not convinced that she actually IS itchy, though, but figure it can't hurt to try.

Pete is still on the prozac because, when we took him off of it last year, he started grooming obsessively, and created bald spots!

He still suffers from horrible separation anxiety, poor thing, and may have to be on the prozac forever.

We tried calming cat treats, but they won't eat them.

I made my first batch of home made kahlua!  It was so easy, and it tastes pretty good!  I gave some to my friends because it makes so much.

I am going with Dave today to do his dad's grocery shopping.  I haven't gone for a couple of weeks because of that virus I had.

Now, all I have is continuing congestion.  It would be nice if that would go away, but now it's spring in Oklahoma.  Everything is blooming (several weeks early), and the pollen is high.

I've pretty much been congested since I moved down here, it's just worse than usual right now because of the virus.