Weekday adventure

https://www.americasmart.com/

Why am I starting this post with Americasmart?  Because this is where I went for three days to help a friend gather goodies for her online shop. Tuesday/Wednesday/Thursday was cash and carry sample sales. These are the stores that other boutique come to order and shop from so all the items in this place are samples of what the boutiques can order at wholesale prices. So cash and carry is half off of wholesale or more. So killer deals!

It was so fun!!  I was the helper but still got to shop for stuff for Christmas while there. There are 18 floors in building 2 where we started. Goods didn’t really start until floor 6… we walked 5 miles in circle’s from 10am to 5pm. We made it through 1/2 the stores in building 2 on day 1.

This was not cash and carry but OH so cute. Yea, spring may have this display on sale!!  We did see folks walking out with large displays items too. Fun if you have a store, right??

 After we finished the day we went back to the hotel and went through our loot and decided to DRIVE the next day and park at the venue!!  

going through our loot at the hotel:

We had two wagons on the trip. Both were full. We then had to schelp them home. 

. 

Stuff on the shelf, stuff on the counter. Stuff on the beds. Stuff everywhere. Day one was actually light compared to day two. I was surprised when Barbara said this was light on the shopping haul. 🤯

Day two. 

A considerable amount more. This time I had a box partially full as well with Christmas presents. Big old load today. Walked 5 more miles on this day as well and went to all the remaining stores in building 2!

A few of the things I saw when I was waiting and failing my job as helper (sitting in a rarely found chair!)

So cute!!  The stick was padded and fairly firm with one flaming marshmallow, one scorched and one without marks. Sooooo cute. 

A great pair of Audrey stuffies!!

Some AWEAOME lawn furniture that was very high end for $4,000. They were comfy for sure!  Honestly we were just taking a break!  Ha!!

The view from our hotel. I jokes with Butch it was a man’s heart healthy hotel with the boobs across the way!  

What boobs?  These

Day three and I look like an old man!  And honestly so stiff and sore I didn’t care!

No picture of the haul but an embarrassing picture of my footwear. I wore these HeyDude shoes the first day with pants but I was sooo hot. I switched to capris and wore my tennis shoes with socks. They gave me a blister. Sooo last day, back to these shoes with socks just in case the blister popped. Soooo sexy - not!!

Last day was only 3 miles walked as we only shopped the temporary items. Most were jewelry and clothes. Things Barbara wasn’t looking to buy and nothing I would fit in on a good day. AND only one showroom so we did that, debated about revisiting some shops in building two but opted to just call it a day and headed home with the back of her big SUV full. not to the ceiling but quite full :)

That’s what I did this week!  I worked Monday and Friday and played through the middle. And now it’s the weekend. Tomorrow I am in a glass pumpkin blowing class. I’m not sure we really blow or of we just shape. We shall see. 

I am a complex woman - results such that they are

I am a complex woman - results such that they are, are in.

The visit goes like this… “the lung nodules you have are staying consistent, no changes. The one near your rectum is the same as well” (this one got a “that’s a new one to me, but good that it’s the same size”). Then NOTHING. I reacted in shock with “ok the two I’m concerned about are the two peritoneal ones”. The discussion continues with the history from January to now. Then come my comments and questions of are they winging this or comparing to prior?  Are they (the nodes) just gone? Are we all good?  

Doc did mention well you are at five years. Well yeah, but after all these scares what do we do?  Do we just say “ok, you’re at 5 years, last scan was grand you’re done see ya?” 

What he DID mention was Signatera came back as negative. I thought it was over ruled by insurance. Guess not as I haven’t gotten a bill for it!

He asked me what I felt about it all. This is always met with “I’m not a doctor!”  So I proposed PET scan to determine if that same area still had high uptake or if that was a fluke or infection. He agreed. So there we are:  six months, repeat PET to see what is there/not there..  

Would YOU press for 2nd opinion?  Would you just ride this out because PET scans are notorious for being something other than cancer?  How on earth do you move on from this at 5 years and not still think every twinge is cancer??

Guess we shall find out. 

Three month CTs

My first scheduled was Monday. Yeah. Today is Wednesday and I’m just getting in to get the test. The CT machine is broken in Macon. Sooooo I found this out RIGHT before I started to drink the drink. We had to get approved to move locations and such for insurance. So I’m having it done today instead. Sigh. 

Plus side  - the drink is raspberry. And it really is good. Shocking!!  I think because I teased the tech he hooked a girl up ;)

And now we wait. Results next Wednesday late. Then the debate will happen for 2nd opinion. If something surgical is needed it’s not on my oncologist anyway so we should see someone else for a second opinion anyway. I’m procrastinating on it. Not too smart on some levels… 

Columbus Day weekend

We made a trip to Fort Walton. It was mostly to clean the house of personal goods as we are putting the house up with a rental management company for weekly type rentals. Yes we are transitioning to letting the house be rented to strangers.  what drives this?  When you break something and you say “meh, ok, it’s broken “ you know you’re good with moving on. 

What MAY have to happen is moving from a bunk room to a two twin room as beds fail, which I’m sure they will as they are NOT super sturdy beds. The rental company will address the bed situation as best they can as I warned them the bunks are NOT for adults. Period. We shall see. It’s been 7 years and so far they are doing OK. The rental company should rent as less beds I think to ensure less weight. I will review the rental listing before it goes out and update it.

The photographer was out on Saturday and took pictures. It’s  ready to roll. Now we sit back and wait to see if it’s worth it. 

We went to the obligatory Stewbys for dinner one night and  we DID make it to the beach this time on my insistence. 

Love the beach. 

HATE biting flies. They called them dog flies. They were smaller than horse flies but the same bite capabilities. Ouch! We lasted two hours before I gave up!!

We tried a new restaurant - Don Cha. Very good. Peruvian foods 

And we saw a huge red harvest moon in the way home. It was gorgeous and I miss having a really good camera on me for those times!  Guess it’s time to find my little cannon and charge up the batteries for car rides!!




We got home VERY late for me. 10:00. I came home dumped laundry in the basket and went right to bed 💤 

All in all a good weekend. 

Boat shopping

What do we do when in Destin area? Go look at a boat…

These are photos from the sales adds

Butch could almost stand up in here. It’s about shoulder high so he could stand slightly stooped but had some room 

You can see flaws in the rails. You’ll also see wear on the toe kicks and decking needs some love. 

Checking out the controls 

The boys were in the engine room as the storms were rolling in. 

My real opinion of the boat. It’s OK. There are super steep steps between each level and too many levels. Fly bridge, down to sun deck, down to aft cockpit or down and in to the galley and the salon along with the lower helm. Then down MORE steps to the front v berth cabin and if you count two more small steps to the engine room. You could go down from the galley to the aft master all steep narrow steps. Either way it’s out of our price range and not what I would be excited about. 


The door to the engine room is around the corner on the left.  The “day head” is to the right and is a wet head - aka no shower per say, just a way to put a curtain on a rail to protect the toilet paper and sink area and probably the door. Not ideal but would work. 

The actual master from the bathroom door. The washer and dryer is to the left as is the stairs to the galley and the salon

The master bath is cramped. That shower would be super tight for my liking. 

The kitchen is OK. Nothing to write home. The sink at least looked over the sun deck. I told Butch if we get a boat like this I would need to modify that window to pass stuff out!  It dies have a good bit of storage. 

The salon was a big threadbare in some aspects. The green chair was cracking. The cushions could use a good refresh for sure!  Don’t get me wrong, there was potential but at the price point?  Nope, not the boat for us. 

Driving home. 

I am old… painting my office

I cannot paint and NOT get it on my hands. Ever. 

I also forget to take before pictures. This HUGE desk was on the far wall when I started. I painted the wall behind it then asked the airmen to help lift and shift it to the opposite wall. They were great help and got it moved…then I started on the REST of the walls. The big screen on the wall could come down as I’ll never use it. BUT for now it stays. Someone may want to use it eventually. 

The baby poo. Oh I mean peach is the old color and the light blue/grey is the new. It’s so much brighter already!!

The first wall completed. 

The awful peach with drinks spilled down the wall to just add the perfect touch. 🤮

So glad I painted. I will show the final look once o get everything moved back in. I have three guest chairs that will be moved around. A plant stand that really has no home. This office is the same size but the computer screen on the wall really takes options off the table. So, we work around it. 

Next up phone move network drop activated and I’ll be done. Oh and moving the few additional items into the room I’ll need. I NEED to get rid of a lot of things!!  Guess it’s time to cull!!

Don’t think I escaped unscathed with just paint on my hands. Nope. My body is hurting. I have tail bone pain after all this… why tail bone pain?  Not a freaking clue. Pelvic floor failures and life of a woman who had had one too many pelvic surgeries?  Who knows. But I have spent all of Saturday laying low and using my lovely new percussion massager on my hips and saddle areas. It’s still not happy but feeling better after just resting. I’ll be a back at it again tomorrow I’m sure.  

Visit with Mommie Dearest

And captured from a video I had. 


‘’Twas a cloud filled trip for sure. It was either FULL clouds and bland or beautiful storms!  I was even rained on in Vegas!  Not typical!

Mom said folks were going to think I never have flow before ;) I’m ok with that - ha!

It was a good visit and as always I didn’t take many pictures. 

This is mom reading a card from a friend who sent money to me at dads passing. I used the money to take mom out to eat while I was there. We went to Applebees once, the McDonalds (her choice) and to Linda’s one night :) oh and IHOP for breakfast one day. I joined her af her place for dinner or lunch one day and sat with her while she had her breakfast one day as well. We laid around talking and visiting and took drives up the mountains and even went to the nursery to get her a new plant. 

She and Robert we rubbing on each other one afternoon :)

Robert, Linda, Mike and I played games at night and had a very good visit!

In the evening it’s so nice to sit out in their back porch!

Then all too soon it was time to head home again. I came in Thursday night super later - or super early Friday morning.  Spend Friday - Sunday with mom for as long as she would have me each day!  She only tapped out once and said “nope, I need to go take a nap” and we let her be, but that wasn’t until Sunday!  Worked on her stamina and strength while I was there with lots of walking and more calories than she’s used to. We will get her up to fighting weight yet!!

The flights home had lots of pretty clouds coming into Atlanta

No video to catch the lightning under this storm. 

Not the same cell but a good one from the ground!

A good trip. Now I need a few days to recuperate!!