I had my first manicure in 10 years last weekend.
It was a nice little $15 luxury, and I met our friend Lindsey there.
Since I am no longer allowed to go to the chiropractor, I finally started allowing myself to get a massage once a month. That was yesterday.
I am going to the girl I heard about from a former co worker a few years ago, since I tried to get trades going with a couple of different people, and they didn't seem interested.
One of the major figures in the Grateful Dead family died last week. That was a sad day, but he had been ill for a long time, so it wasn't exactly a surprise.
He was one of the lyricists to work with the band. SO many songs that he wrote the words to mean so much to me!
Had my monthly injection on Thursday, which was also Dave's 59th birthday. I am back to only seeing the doc every other month, at least just now.
I will see him in March, and then I am up for a scan in April, so that will put me back to back, but, at least I got to skip February.
After my appointment, we met Lindsay again, since her birthday was the day before Dave's, and her husband is deployed overseas.
I tend to glaze over Dave's birthday, sadly. It always sneaks up on me, and I am also very rarely anywhere WITHOUT him, so it's difficult for me to pick out a card.
So, this year, I tried to make up for it by secretly putting out a call to our wide internet community for people to do MORE than just post birthday wishes on Facebook.
He needs to know that people love him!
It worked out really well! He got a BUNCH of cards in the mail over the week!!
For the moment, that's all I've got. Have a good Sunday, and an easy week!
Sunday, February 11, 2018
Wednesday, February 7, 2018
John Perry Barlow died today
Principles of Adult Behavior by John Perry Barlow
1. Be patient. No matter what.
2. Don’t badmouth: Assign responsibility, not blame. Say nothing of another you wouldn’t say to him in the same language and tone of voice.
3. Never assume the motives of others are, to them, less noble than yours are to you.
4. Expand your sense of the possible.
5. Don’t trouble yourself with matters you truly cannot change.
6. Expect no more of anyone than you can deliver yourself.
7. Tolerate ambiguity.
8. Laugh at yourself frequently.
9. Concern yourself with what is right rather than who is right.
10. Never forget that, no matter how certain, you might be wrong.
11. Give up blood sports.
12. Remember that your life belongs to others as well. Don’t risk it frivolously.
13. Never lie to anyone for any reason. (Lies of omission are sometimes exempt.)
14. Learn the needs of those around you and respect them.
15. Avoid the pursuit of happiness. Seek to define your mission and pursue that.
16. Reduce your use of the first personal pronoun.
17. Praise at least as often as you disparage.
18. Admit your errors freely and soon.
19. Become less suspicious of joy.
20. Understand humility.
21. Remember that love forgives everything.
22. Foster dignity.
23. Live memorably.
24. Love yourself.
25. Endure.
2. Don’t badmouth: Assign responsibility, not blame. Say nothing of another you wouldn’t say to him in the same language and tone of voice.
3. Never assume the motives of others are, to them, less noble than yours are to you.
4. Expand your sense of the possible.
5. Don’t trouble yourself with matters you truly cannot change.
6. Expect no more of anyone than you can deliver yourself.
7. Tolerate ambiguity.
8. Laugh at yourself frequently.
9. Concern yourself with what is right rather than who is right.
10. Never forget that, no matter how certain, you might be wrong.
11. Give up blood sports.
12. Remember that your life belongs to others as well. Don’t risk it frivolously.
13. Never lie to anyone for any reason. (Lies of omission are sometimes exempt.)
14. Learn the needs of those around you and respect them.
15. Avoid the pursuit of happiness. Seek to define your mission and pursue that.
16. Reduce your use of the first personal pronoun.
17. Praise at least as often as you disparage.
18. Admit your errors freely and soon.
19. Become less suspicious of joy.
20. Understand humility.
21. Remember that love forgives everything.
22. Foster dignity.
23. Live memorably.
24. Love yourself.
25. Endure.
Sunday, February 4, 2018
The Nutcracker
I received a wooden soldier Nutcracker doll as a gift when I was a child.
We aren't sure, but we think it came from Germany, and it was probably given to me by my God parents.
It came out every year as part of the holiday decorations at Christmas time.
It's been in my family home for over 50 years, so its white rabbit fur hair is yellow, and stinks like an ash tray.
How do I know this? My brother shipped it to me for Christmas!!
But here's the back story:
He shipped it, as a surprise for me, far enough before the holiday that it was to be delivered to our house on Yule (Dec. 21st) while we were off work.
Nothing was delivered to our house that day. We were home almost all day.
My brother had mentioned that something was coming, but he didn't say what, or when it was expected.
He waited a few days after it was supposed to come, and then he called me.
His tracking information said it was delivered, so we surmised that it had been stolen off of our porch. Those things happen a lot around here, so it was entirely possible. This is why we always have anything that we order delivered to us at work.
We supposed that a "porch pirate" had taken it, found it to be a worthless old piece of junk, and threw it into a dumpster somewhere.
Cole opened an investigation with UPS, and I called in a misdemeanor police report.
Surprisingly, we found one just like it on ebay, and posted a picture on Facebook, just in case any of our local friends would come across it in a thrift store or something.
We waited, and nothing seemed to come of any of it, pretty much just as we expected.
Until last week.
I got a call from the local UPS office, asking if the package had ever arrived. I told them no. They apologized. They asked where I had ordered the item from.
I paused, and said "it was a childhood treasure of mine, shipped by my brother."
It seemed odd that she didn't know that already.
Anyway, then she confirmed that their tracking information showed that the package was delivered on Dec. 21 to 2533.
I said "My address is 2532."
She said "I beg your pardon?" Yes, the package was addressed to 2533.
Across the street. (The house where the man had once screamed and swore at me for parking in the street in front of his house, because we had workmen in our driveway with their truck and tools. GREAT!)
The rep from UPS suggested that I tell my brother my correct address for future reference, and we hung up.
REALLY?????? Jeez!
I had to leave for dance class, the guy wasn't home across the street, so I messaged my brother with the news.
The next evening, Dave went to the house across the street, and Terry, the neighbor, had the box!
He seemed very nice, which was a HUGE surprise, given our only other encounter with him from five or six years ago.
Dave came back across the street with a big box, and I burst into tears!
Sure enough, the label said 2533! My brother went back to his UPS office in Illinois, and got a refund for their mistake!
Happy ending!!
Oh, and that one we posted on Facebook? My brother bought it. He was going to send it to me. Now there is a Nutcracker in the house, just like there always has been.
We aren't sure, but we think it came from Germany, and it was probably given to me by my God parents.
It came out every year as part of the holiday decorations at Christmas time.
It's been in my family home for over 50 years, so its white rabbit fur hair is yellow, and stinks like an ash tray.
How do I know this? My brother shipped it to me for Christmas!!
But here's the back story:
He shipped it, as a surprise for me, far enough before the holiday that it was to be delivered to our house on Yule (Dec. 21st) while we were off work.
Nothing was delivered to our house that day. We were home almost all day.
My brother had mentioned that something was coming, but he didn't say what, or when it was expected.
He waited a few days after it was supposed to come, and then he called me.
His tracking information said it was delivered, so we surmised that it had been stolen off of our porch. Those things happen a lot around here, so it was entirely possible. This is why we always have anything that we order delivered to us at work.
We supposed that a "porch pirate" had taken it, found it to be a worthless old piece of junk, and threw it into a dumpster somewhere.
Cole opened an investigation with UPS, and I called in a misdemeanor police report.
Surprisingly, we found one just like it on ebay, and posted a picture on Facebook, just in case any of our local friends would come across it in a thrift store or something.
We waited, and nothing seemed to come of any of it, pretty much just as we expected.
Until last week.
I got a call from the local UPS office, asking if the package had ever arrived. I told them no. They apologized. They asked where I had ordered the item from.
I paused, and said "it was a childhood treasure of mine, shipped by my brother."
It seemed odd that she didn't know that already.
Anyway, then she confirmed that their tracking information showed that the package was delivered on Dec. 21 to 2533.
I said "My address is 2532."
She said "I beg your pardon?" Yes, the package was addressed to 2533.
Across the street. (The house where the man had once screamed and swore at me for parking in the street in front of his house, because we had workmen in our driveway with their truck and tools. GREAT!)
The rep from UPS suggested that I tell my brother my correct address for future reference, and we hung up.
REALLY?????? Jeez!
I had to leave for dance class, the guy wasn't home across the street, so I messaged my brother with the news.
The next evening, Dave went to the house across the street, and Terry, the neighbor, had the box!
He seemed very nice, which was a HUGE surprise, given our only other encounter with him from five or six years ago.
Dave came back across the street with a big box, and I burst into tears!
Sure enough, the label said 2533! My brother went back to his UPS office in Illinois, and got a refund for their mistake!
Happy ending!!
Oh, and that one we posted on Facebook? My brother bought it. He was going to send it to me. Now there is a Nutcracker in the house, just like there always has been.
Sunday, January 28, 2018
Hair brained
A couple of months ago, I splurged, and went to a "real salon" for a hair cut, thinking that it would be better than the cheap Super Cuts in our neighborhood.
I was pretty excited about it, and thought, at first, that the young stylist had done a great job.
As time went by, however, I came to realize that she really messed up my hair. One side was shorter/more layered than the other, and the back was all hacked up and uneven.
SO, I did not go back as I had planned to, and let it grow for 2 months.
Friday after work, I went back to the Super Cuts right here in our neighborhood.
I saw the same girl who cut my hair the first time, back in the fall.
She was able to fix the uneven sides, and told me that it will take a couple of months of letting it grow and trimming it to fix it completely.
She didn't QUITE do what I wanted her to do, though (which was to really shorten the straight top layer, so the curls an do their thing), so I went back yesterday, told her again what I wanted, and she fixed it for free.
You don't always get what you pay for!
It already looks and feels a LOT better. It will lay better now, too, since the sides will be the same instead of different by a couple of inches, and the heavy top layer is a much better length.
My friend Rebecca is coming over today to design a costume for our next dance showcase the first weekend of March.
I have a dress that we can cut up that I will never be able to wear again as it is because I am no longer a 34D chest.
Nothing much else is going on. Dave took care of his dad yesterday, and I did most of my chores yesterday. It should be a nice day!
I was pretty excited about it, and thought, at first, that the young stylist had done a great job.
As time went by, however, I came to realize that she really messed up my hair. One side was shorter/more layered than the other, and the back was all hacked up and uneven.
SO, I did not go back as I had planned to, and let it grow for 2 months.
Friday after work, I went back to the Super Cuts right here in our neighborhood.
I saw the same girl who cut my hair the first time, back in the fall.
She was able to fix the uneven sides, and told me that it will take a couple of months of letting it grow and trimming it to fix it completely.
She didn't QUITE do what I wanted her to do, though (which was to really shorten the straight top layer, so the curls an do their thing), so I went back yesterday, told her again what I wanted, and she fixed it for free.
You don't always get what you pay for!
It already looks and feels a LOT better. It will lay better now, too, since the sides will be the same instead of different by a couple of inches, and the heavy top layer is a much better length.
My friend Rebecca is coming over today to design a costume for our next dance showcase the first weekend of March.
I have a dress that we can cut up that I will never be able to wear again as it is because I am no longer a 34D chest.
Nothing much else is going on. Dave took care of his dad yesterday, and I did most of my chores yesterday. It should be a nice day!
Sunday, January 21, 2018
Let sleeping cats lie....
Pete is lying next to me, on his back, forepaws adorably drooping. Annabel is in a cat bed, across the room, in our living room chair.
Neither one of them is snoring at the meowment.
Pete was obsessed all night with trying to get into the second bedroom/former massage office. He pawed at the door repeatedly, and yowled, on and off -- ALL night.
Dave snored all night.
I am exhausted this morning! Good thing I can take a nap later. Maybe. Lots to do....so, we shall see.
Yesterday, we attended the 2018 Womens' March in OKC at the capitol. It was a good day for it... the deep freeze is over (for now), and the sun came out. It was in the 60s!
There was a very good turn out. We have not seen any official numbers yet, but it seemed to be bigger than last year, which was estimated to have drawn 14,000 marchers.
Yesterday afternoon, I saw my massage therapist, and then we came home and cleaned parts of the house that had not been cleaned in a long time.
We got a nifty little space heater that looks like a tiny fireplace, and we got that installed and set up in the old gas heater nook in our living room that looks like a brick hearth.
We got a white, heavy duty extension cord, and an outlet safety shut off, and ran the cord under some furniture to a wall outlet. It looks great, and we can run just the fake fire light, or just the heater, or both.
Of course, now the weather has warmed up. Oh well...there will be cold weather again, so we can make use of this in our drafty old house.
I saw my dentist on Thursday for my 6 month check up and cleaning. He and the hygenist thought the "zyrtec phenomenon" was pretty interesting.
The small sores in my mouth that day were determined to be "irritations" caused by dry mouth. Even though my mouth is not NEARLY as dry as it was on full blown chemo, the dentist said that I still have an issue.
He had me start back on a dry mouth rinse, and the small sores are gone already! Yay!
I saw my dentist on Thursday for my 6 month check up and cleaning. He and the hygenist thought the "zyrtec phenomenon" was pretty interesting.
The small sores in my mouth that day were determined to be "irritations" caused by dry mouth. Even though my mouth is not NEARLY as dry as it was on full blown chemo, the dentist said that I still have an issue.
He had me start back on a dry mouth rinse, and the small sores are gone already! Yay!
In other news, the pain in my wrist seems to come and go! This makes me happy, because I can tolerate it if it's not constant.
Unlike before the injections in December, there seems to now be a correlation related to weather changes. Not sure why that is happening now, when it didn't before...but I'll take it!
Dave is going to take care of his dad'errands today, we'll finish the cleaning in the living room, I have several cooking projects, and that's about it for us!
I will be busy all day, and into the night, but it's a good kind of busy!
I will be busy all day, and into the night, but it's a good kind of busy!
Sunday, January 14, 2018
One week of normal
My right wrist started to hurt again this past week.
I am extremely disappointed.
Between the mouth sores going away, and the pain relief of the shots only lasting one month, I had exactly one week of feeling completely normal.
If I had known it was the only week I would have, I would have enjoyed it more! Haha!!
The pain isn't debilitating yet. I have been wearing my brace to do tasks that would stress it and make it worse.
The left side has twinged a time or two, as well, but is not nearly as noticeable.
Instead of getting LONGER relief, this round of shots had the shortest relief duration of all of them.
Nothing much else to report.
Neither my doc or the nurse had ever heard of zyrtec causing chronic mouth sores. I hope that they will remember it the next time they have a patient who can't get them to go away.
Everything is going well here at Dragons' Roost. We are both off work tomorrow (my office takes Martin Luther King Jr. day as a holiday, so Dave used a floating holiday to be off with me).
I started chemo right around MLK Jr. day in 2015. This marks my entry into the 4th year of treatment.
I am extremely disappointed.
Between the mouth sores going away, and the pain relief of the shots only lasting one month, I had exactly one week of feeling completely normal.
If I had known it was the only week I would have, I would have enjoyed it more! Haha!!
The pain isn't debilitating yet. I have been wearing my brace to do tasks that would stress it and make it worse.
The left side has twinged a time or two, as well, but is not nearly as noticeable.
Instead of getting LONGER relief, this round of shots had the shortest relief duration of all of them.
Nothing much else to report.
Neither my doc or the nurse had ever heard of zyrtec causing chronic mouth sores. I hope that they will remember it the next time they have a patient who can't get them to go away.
Everything is going well here at Dragons' Roost. We are both off work tomorrow (my office takes Martin Luther King Jr. day as a holiday, so Dave used a floating holiday to be off with me).
I started chemo right around MLK Jr. day in 2015. This marks my entry into the 4th year of treatment.
Sunday, January 7, 2018
New beginnings
We had a nice, quiet New Year celebration.
The weather was really cold for Oklahoma, so we stayed in pretty much the whole weekend of the holiday.
The past week has been pretty low-key. A nice start to a new year. The weather actually warmed up enough for me to get out and take a walk on Friday during my afternoon break.
It's finally raining today, and warm enough that it won't turn to ice. We really need the moisture!
My biggest news is that, with the cold snap killing off outdoor allergens, I decided to take a break from the allergy medication I have been taking pretty much steadily for a couple of years.
I have taken over the counter allergy medication since it became available after I moved to Oklahoma. It seemed that I was allergic to everything down here.
I periodically have taken breaks from it, but had not for a long while, because we never really got a deep freeze last winter.
Anyway, I took my last one on Thursday before New Year, in anticipation of record breaking cold weather.
The next day passed, and the day after that, I noticed that the mouth sore I had been dealing with all month .... vanished. It didn't just get better, it was GONE.
Hmm. That was very interesting, so I did a little research on line, and SURE ENOUGH, zyrtec can cause canker sores.
ALL THIS TIME, and we thought it was the chemo pill.
Over a week later, and I am still free from sores.... after something like 10 months of almost constantly having at least one, sometimes, as many as five!
I look forward to discussing this with my oncologist next week!
I suffered for almost a year with painful, annoying, diet-limiting mouth sores...and it was the stupid zyrtec!!!
(Or possibly a combination of the zyrtec and one of the anti cancer therapies I am on)
The other plus is that I have zero allergy symptoms!
This all has made me VERY happy!!
When spring time allergy season comes, maybe I will go to an allergist and get a specified remedy, instead of self medicating. We'll see if it's a covered benefit of our insurance. Dave could probably use it, too!
Dave has gone to take his weekly trip to Pop's, and I am doing laundry, and am actually going to finally get out the coloring book that someone sent to me anonymously for my birthday.
I will make a batch of chili later. It will be a low key, relaxing day.
The weather was really cold for Oklahoma, so we stayed in pretty much the whole weekend of the holiday.
The past week has been pretty low-key. A nice start to a new year. The weather actually warmed up enough for me to get out and take a walk on Friday during my afternoon break.
My biggest news is that, with the cold snap killing off outdoor allergens, I decided to take a break from the allergy medication I have been taking pretty much steadily for a couple of years.
I have taken over the counter allergy medication since it became available after I moved to Oklahoma. It seemed that I was allergic to everything down here.
I periodically have taken breaks from it, but had not for a long while, because we never really got a deep freeze last winter.
Anyway, I took my last one on Thursday before New Year, in anticipation of record breaking cold weather.
The next day passed, and the day after that, I noticed that the mouth sore I had been dealing with all month .... vanished. It didn't just get better, it was GONE.
Hmm. That was very interesting, so I did a little research on line, and SURE ENOUGH, zyrtec can cause canker sores.
ALL THIS TIME, and we thought it was the chemo pill.
Over a week later, and I am still free from sores.... after something like 10 months of almost constantly having at least one, sometimes, as many as five!
I look forward to discussing this with my oncologist next week!
I suffered for almost a year with painful, annoying, diet-limiting mouth sores...and it was the stupid zyrtec!!!
(Or possibly a combination of the zyrtec and one of the anti cancer therapies I am on)
The other plus is that I have zero allergy symptoms!
This all has made me VERY happy!!
When spring time allergy season comes, maybe I will go to an allergist and get a specified remedy, instead of self medicating. We'll see if it's a covered benefit of our insurance. Dave could probably use it, too!
Dave has gone to take his weekly trip to Pop's, and I am doing laundry, and am actually going to finally get out the coloring book that someone sent to me anonymously for my birthday.
I will make a batch of chili later. It will be a low key, relaxing day.
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