Linda and mom and sights around town.

Kidding I have no pictures of that!!

Day 1 I went to ATL to get them and Linda called me when they headed to the tram. I thought “ok I’ll go sit in the line” nope. I was moved along rather quickly and the NEXT time they moved me on I was passing them on their way out of the elevator area. Oops!  Good news is that it’s a quick circle around to them again!  Yay!!  Zip zip and you’re back. The cellphone lot has moved as well and no longer is next to the ru way but at the END of the runway do a smidge louder and not as fu. To sit and watch takeoffs. Oh well. I talked to David for a bit until I started going around in circles waiting for them to come out ;)

We ate dinner at Gambino’s Mexican   It always makes me chuckle because the name is so Italian. Oh well they have good food and an OK bathroom. 

We got home at a decent hour and everyone settled in. 

I had Marja’s funeral to attend. And it went fairly well. I just cried a little. Grace (her daughter) and Earl (her husband) were stoic. I wonder how people do that? I can NOT blubbered through dad’s funeral :(. We (Butch and I) didn’t stay for the service just the open house as I had things going on. I’m sure Marja would have understood. 

The plant party was a success. Lots of food consumed and what wasn't is getting eaten still to this day!  I had some of the cheese with lunch :)

It was awesome to have mom at the end of the hall. I popped in on her to chat and visit (no escape!!)

And as usual we find beds as the BEST place to visit and chat ;)

We went to Liz’s house after Brunch in Macon in Sunday. Even mom made it upstairs to check out the whole house.   Yay her! 

We had a good lunch and a short stop over at Barbara’s to pick up some socks as well. Mom now has more fluffy socks to keep her toes warm!   Linda’s gotten really good at ensuring we have pictures because I sure didn’t. I have taken less and less photos as the years progress. Not sure why!!

My skills are still required to put people into photos with photoshop however :) 

After these adventures we went back to the house where most took a nap.  

And mom with her new fuzzy socks :)

Monday I drove mom around to see all the old sights. We went to Striplin’s to get some sausage and then to Groom to get tickets transferred to me since I picked them up at the airport and they were non-refundable. I took that as my sign to buy them from Linda and shuttle to my flights this week. Decision made :) the transfer was easy enough to get done. 

It was a great visit and I’m glad I’m able to have mom here and care for her a bit!  Next week I’m going to Utah so it’s sort of funny that they were JUST here. I’m not changing plans. Still going to Utah for the week. It will be fun. Even David will be there !

The plant exchange party

I was planning a plant exchange party and invited all sorts of people who claimed to be thrilled to come and get only two of my friend showed up but the WONDERFUL part was Linda and mom came out. I laughlingly told them I have no friends. They thought I was joking. 

The party day. Barbara showed and my former boss from Robins of all people. It was a good time regardless as the girls came as well as two friend of mom’s from church. (the lawsons)

Angela wasn’t supposed to be off work however a sad event happened and we had a funeral to attend for Ms Marja Cooper - Angela’s second mom in high school

It was such a shock. She and I had gotten together for a lunch about 4 months back and had seen each other when voting and kept saying we should do it again and yet we didn’t. It was in me as she initiated the first meeting. Sigh I had invited her to the plant party but not personally. I should have done more. Don’t we always say that?  Sigh. The funeral was sad. 

Anyway after that we all came home to have this party. A little awkward but most didn’t know Marja and it was a good reminder to keep in touch!. 

Food prep!

Not a clue what’s going on here but it was entertaining!

The Lawson’s had a great visit with mom. 

The plants we exchanged. Ignore the “stick” that was my attempt to propogate a fiddle leaf fig. It failed. 

I’m horrible at taking pictures and these are all from others!  Thanks for taking pictures - it was great to have everyone here!!

Big Bertha has a new home

Who was/is Big Bertha?  This lamp:

To my defense I did ask Butch if he would kill me if I brought her home.. He said no killing would occur - he had no idea how BIG she was in this picture... looking at the table, he should have added 2+2 to know it was a card table - meaning she was a big girl!! 

I personally adored her and she fits into our very large room... but not on that particular end table... but hey, she's large and in charge.

Sadly for me, and happily for Butch she sold last weekend.  

Fun news!!!

Mommy and Linda are coming to Georgia!  Scary news, my house exploded since I was trying to avoid lifting at all but still sell things on eBay. Yikes. That means I spread out my bins upstairs so I could get into them!    And I was shoving everything to the guest room and then listing… as I could  soooo this is the mess I was left with  
The guest room!  I had things stacked on the right that were listed and left for “need to list”. So the GREAT news is that the pile on the left is non-existent. So it’s all photographed and listed or in draft to be listed this month. I try to slowly post things to eBay to keep interest up on the site and so far it seems to work. 

Here is the “mid” point. Aka the point I stopped. 

You can see the bed now :) huge plus!!  I need to roll my rack to the base of the stairs and put all that upstairs.

AND the final results: 

And how does upstairs look?

Before

Crates on the left spread out. Boxes everywhere. What you can’t see are the boxes to the right. 

Crates crates and more crates. I have 12 and sadly not enough. 

So I got busy and took inventory and consolidated some boxes. Just to add more boxes from downstairs. Sigh. I need to cull BUT I noticed that things sometimes take a year to sell. I’m learning more what NOT to buy :)

After

It’s not perfect but it’s better. Butch will need to get all the train items off the bed as well. But I think we have another table around here somewhere so he can shift them to a table. 

My photos on my phone are outta control as well. 

I’m going to research and list more this weekend and NOT buy much this weekend. That’s the goal however I’m STILL going out ;)

Yeah, I didn't spend much but got some lovely goodies :). 7 sales only one I walked out empty handed. Total spent? $93.41. One house I spent $3 on a small sized hand truck. One I did $7.50 for 6 items (“big eye” prints that I’m hopeful for). Barn finds was $10 for 6 sets of placements. (The boxes were gross but the placemats cleaned up well). Perry was $31.41 BUT bought some pretty old fashion delft pottery in green/gold. Haven’t seen those before. And the last BIG sale was $30 for a 9x12 rug for the little house in blue. Making a dent in rug requirements there. Need one for the living room but it’s such a hodgepodge of color it’s hard to know what would look best in There.

Water aerobics

Well after five weeks off from water aerobics I’m finally back at it - two of the three days I typically go were accomplished. Im still not QUITE up to snuff and twisting still has a bit of a pull at times BUT I’m going!!

I skipped Monday. I just couldn’t face it that day. BUT I’m determined to keep going back. Even next Monday :)

Hernia - you sick of hearing yet?

Ok appointment went well. The binder did its job during recovery to stop swelling and aid healing. I’m released from their care and allowed to go into the wild. I forgot to ask if I’m free of the binder now or not BUT feel I will be in it for any lifting or straining situation. I did call and leave a message or the nurse asking if I could ditch it for normal days. We will see what they come back with. 

The bottom line is NO lifting over 30lbs for the REST OF MY LIFE. 

HOW am I going to do that???  Yeah I am used to picking up TWO 40lb bags of salt, one on each hand to balance me, and shuffling to the back yard. 

Guess I’m no longer on that duty OR I find a way to get someone else to put them in the car and invest in a dump wagon to get them to the back yard. Sigh. I would say getting old sucks but beats the alternative and really it’s all good because with my nether hernias I probably shouldn’t be listing anything heavy regardless as THOSE are not fixed and I would not want to think about the scar tissue they would have to fight to resolve them. 

So, we start lifting smarter or not at all : /

Hernia update (last with photos)

What I have discovered is that my stomach still hates adhesive after the ostomy. Who knew?  Not me!  All the itching was about the glue they used. Seems that if you don’t shower daily your glue doesn’t readily fall off as it should so at three week I googled about removing it. 

The answer was at three weeks it’s fine to peel it off. Talk about RELIEF!  I pulled three medium stops of glue off and all my itching subsided. Go figure. It wasn’t my wound healing it was my skin saying “get this dang glue OFF!!”  

It’s off now and the litte scabbing is from the glue irritating me. Everything else looks and feels great!  I will see tomorrow about modifications to my lifting protocol AND get clearance to go back to water aerobics. I’ve missed going. It makes my weeks rather full but it’s worth it!

The scar will be longer than the original but who cares really?  Not me. It’s just another to add. Shoot you can’t really see the one in my belly button anymore. It’s the squiggle that pulls to the right in the photo. Would think it’s just a fat wrinkle, eh?  lol. Nope. 

On fat I don’t really take much stock in that anymore BUT I officially hit 85 pounds lost the other day. Will it bounce up and down and go over that for weeks, I vacillate by 3/5 pounds in a week. Up/down in a daily basis. It’s all good. BUT it is documented in my fitness app so it happened. I laughed when setting the goal of 190 when I first started out but honestly I may just make it at this rate. 25 more pounds and I will be there. Sounds so small from where I started. So back to the gym and continue to eat well and we will see if I make it eventually :)

Before. Dec 15th

Dec 30 - Jan 9th

Hernia update

Well this is interesting. The glue is irritating my skin (not shocking as glue for my ostomy products could do that as well.  When I was taking a shower the other day I noted that the glue was pulling away from the skin - which is what it’s designed to do BUT there is a weird “gap” in the scar. I’m HOPING it’s a flap of skin that doesn’t affect form and function of the stitch line. Maybe skin that got pulled up a little higher than necessary to close the gap as my skin is rather loosey goosey after the weight loss. I will probably call the office Tuesday to see if I can have a nurse take a peek at it and give me her opinion on the whole situation. The wound has been weepy but it’s the yellow pre-scab type of ooze so I haven’t been too concerned. We shall see what they say this week if I can get in. 

Hernia update

Well a week later and the scar/incision is wider. It’s also caked in glue still. Mostly because don’t shower daily. Bruising is still there to the left of the wound. But honestly looking ok. I think this one will spread and get larger like the “bullet” wound style did.  

BUT Jr is definitely gone. Hasn’t popped up in the slightest. Could be that every time I took the good drugs I took a stool softener at the same time. No since is tempting fate as the failed bladder function likely the resulting pushing that resulted in the tear starting. 

The rest is good to go. I get around without pain. I went to the post office today and even went to do some dumpster diving. No discomfort.  BUT I’m not pushing it too much. I’m not doing a lot of anything. I am doing what I’m supposed to and not lifting 

2nd outing

First outing was meeting a friend at Blue moon to look at things there. I debated adding more to the shelf and decided “nawh.”  And went on with life. I also went to Heart of Georgia Thrift and bought a few things them promptly went home and took a nap. Naps are still good. 

I have stopped the “good” drugs at night as of Tuesday night. Was taking Tylenol 1x per day in the morning as needed then holding off until bed time even if I was achy in the late afternoon so I wasn’t doing too much of the Tylenol drugs. It worked out well. I’ve just been achy when moving so it encourages me to slow the heck down!

So while at blue moon we saw that there was an estate sale hosted by one of the owners. And we were allowed to shop early …. So you guessed it. I went to an estate sale Wednesday :) 

First we scape day Tuesday. Driving out to see what I can see ;)

Photo of the fire screen I was able to score for Lizzie. It was only $5. Can’t beat that!

And a rejected tree skirt. I did buy some glass and had Barbara bring my Sherpa. I was able to load. A bag one piece at a time and get it to the table, put it in one shoulder and ensured I wasn’t using my belly and took it to the car. I could just sidle up to the tail gate and squat a bit to let it down ;). No hard, no foul. I also lifted with my arms and then hugged the grate to me and didn’t use my belly to get it to the car. Barbara unloaded it for me so it all went well and Butch brought it into the house for me. 

And the outside of the house with the wreaths I got from goodwill. ;)

Boat before

The anchor locker

It’s dirty! The anchor is in the garage and we have another one as well so we have a spare if we need it

Dirty swim platform with a ding on the left back side. Butch days it’s squishy but it feels sturdy to me. 

Tilt you head to the right. This is the back cockpit of the car. That latch is to the motor compartment. The item to the right is the engine attachment that allows you to hook a hose to the engine for water cooling so you can run your engine while on dry land without burning it up!  Who knew? Not me. 


The side compartment on the starboard side.   There’s a lot of junk in there. 

The port side has a fresh water shower for the transom so that’s nice. We can clean up in the boat if we do an overnight stay on it. (Likely)

Leaves, leaves, leaves. 

The chairs that are add ins for the back. They replace the bench seat that most of these style boats have. There are screw holes back there that indicate there could have been one at one time. I guess if we can locate one we can put it in. May not be worth it. 

Seats are in excellent shape!



Under the chairs. Not sure what’s up with the sliding hostess. They don’t cover a lot… nothing to report here. 



Looking down on the starboard side where the radio is. More junk in the cabinets and holds. Lots of stuff tucked here and there. Time to clean it all out!!



The dash needs some updates and some screens replaced 

Dirty!!

I guess you need this if you’re skiing.



Stuff and leaves. Under the port front seat 

Bonus tools. Butch already cleaned these up. Good thing we have lots of vinegar to soak them in. :)

Beside the port seat. I didn’t even look to see what that stuff was!!

Humidity and press wood items is NOT advised. There are two of these that are failing horribly. Guess we will replace with solid ones OR strip these and see what they look like. Probably both!!



Lots of nooks and crannies 

Beside the fridge. 

Lordie the mud dobbers did a number on the plugs. It’s crazy. We’ll have to pull this off and clean it. 

The fridge!  No shelf. But I’m sure that can be easily replaced. 



Another nook beside the bench

Out further

And closed

These didn’t get attacked by the mud dobbers 

Not sure what they store in here. We’ll figure something out.

And closed. 

Under the port seat

Starboard seat

With the table set up. It’s wobbly and the hinge doesn’t keep the table flat. It needs to be pulled apart and redone. 



Found screens and covers. 

With the bed set up. Should work out well. 






In the head there are lots of rolls of TP I think that Butch chicked them because there is no way to know what sort of yuckie are in them!! Note the top storage is peeling as well. That’s the 2nd that need to go. 

Top storage open with a furry ridge of failed wood product. 



Back side of the panel. 

The head that needs, well, a head. ;) we’lol get there in time. Butch got in there and cleaned it out and vacuumed it all. 

I’ve not been in there this week as it was raining Sunday when he wanted to work on it so I took the opportunity for a complete down day and watched Christmas movies all day in bed :)