Laramie Jubilee Days are over. It's the town's extended celebration of July 4th, basically, and an excuse to have a rodeo. We missed the rodeo stuff as usual but this year we made it to the carnival rides (twice), the free pancake breakfast, and the parade. We really only go to the parade so the kids can scramble to pick up candy thrown at them by float-riders and people in firetrucks. Those bags of candy turn into pretty big bargaining chips when it comes to behavior modification... "PLEASE clean up your room." "NO!" "okay, no more candy..."
When the National Geographic magazine comes in the mail each month, I have to race to read it before it ends up in the contaminated magazine pile - SO, I got to it first this month and read a pretty persuasive article about environmentalism. It made me want to trade in the minivan for a hybrid and set up a windmill in the backyard. Go ahead and call me a tree-hugging, bleeding-heart liberal! The one thing I agree with President Bush about is that we are "addicted to oil." Here I sit in a state overflowing with money from the coal industry, and with ties to another state loving these record-high crude prices...
I've been trying to knit more lately. I changed projects, sticking with cables but moving to something much smaller than a blanket - a baby sweater. I'm using the wool I bought in Bemidji, a cream-colored homespun that's kind of rough but looks good with the aran pattern. I want to finish it quickly but of course I've already had to rip it apart twice. With R getting fatter every day, I've got motivation to work faster and more often (and of course it's another excuse to put off housework).
I seem to be spending more time thinking about what exactly I want out of life. I've decided that I really only want more laughter, a sense of balance, and peacefulness. There's plenty of love around me, I don't crave respect or recognition or even anything spiritual... I guess after being smacked down by lupus and lung disease, I just want to pick myself up and make the best of it. All I need are some laughs, some time feeling normal again, and pieces of quiet here and there.
Tuesday, July 18, 2006
Wednesday, July 12, 2006
Today I learned about...
SHINGLES!!! Google that under images for your Gross-Out of the Day.
My leg sprouted a slight rash last Friday so I put some tea-tree oil on it. By Sunday I knew it needed a doctor's attention but didn't stop by there until yesterday. He couldn't see me until this morning... and as suspected it is shingles. Those 28 little compartments in my pill-organizer are getting pretty crowded!
July 4th was a blast, Thank You L & J All of those ooooh's and aaaaaaah's from the kids for every single fireworks blast were priceless. The food was delicious too.
Other fun stuff we've done lately: playdates at the park, alpaca day at the library, many many birthday parties, downtown carnival rides, and watching K rototill the backyard. It's so strange to look out back and not see the wood-scraps and fence-scraps poking out from stands of overgrown weeds of every invasive species... There's a flat yard of just dirt. We still have the vacant chicken coop and the little barren garden plots, but having the weed-forest disappear will surely score us some points at the upcoming homeowners' association meeting. hooray
Not much else is new around here. K's gone again for a couple of days. I don't have any more appointments until August I think, unless some other opportunistic infection comes along.
Gotta go. I've been staying up WAY too late these days...
My leg sprouted a slight rash last Friday so I put some tea-tree oil on it. By Sunday I knew it needed a doctor's attention but didn't stop by there until yesterday. He couldn't see me until this morning... and as suspected it is shingles. Those 28 little compartments in my pill-organizer are getting pretty crowded!
July 4th was a blast, Thank You L & J All of those ooooh's and aaaaaaah's from the kids for every single fireworks blast were priceless. The food was delicious too.
Other fun stuff we've done lately: playdates at the park, alpaca day at the library, many many birthday parties, downtown carnival rides, and watching K rototill the backyard. It's so strange to look out back and not see the wood-scraps and fence-scraps poking out from stands of overgrown weeds of every invasive species... There's a flat yard of just dirt. We still have the vacant chicken coop and the little barren garden plots, but having the weed-forest disappear will surely score us some points at the upcoming homeowners' association meeting. hooray
Not much else is new around here. K's gone again for a couple of days. I don't have any more appointments until August I think, unless some other opportunistic infection comes along.
Gotta go. I've been staying up WAY too late these days...
Tuesday, July 04, 2006
T's "Best Summer Day Yet"
Happy 4th!
We're home, resting after a long morning at the park. The city throws a big party, with free watermelon, ice cream, lemonade, jumping castles, etc. There are also booths set up by local businesses and community organizations giving out freebies, so halfway through the park the parents are juggling all the junk the kids don't want to carry.
The girls were in the kids' bike parade at 9:30... then we listened to the community band play a bit, and wandered around. I saw lots of people with oxygen! Most of them were in wheelchairs though and looking pretty grumpy.
So Thursday I had my echo and Friday I saw the internist. He didn't have the echo report from the radiologist, so he asked me how it went... The tech said my numbers are basically in the same range as they were on the previous echo in May. So that's not bad news, but it's not what we were hoping for, either. No pressure decrease. Now I have to increase the dose of Diltiazem. I'm on my last few pills of 180mg and will change to 240's in a few days. Then by the next echo in August we'll see if the pressure comes down. My legs stopped hurting! I haven't noticed much of a change from decreasing prednisone yet but that probably takes more time.
K's been home most of the week, that's been really great. He lets me get away with being lazy! The girls get to play baseball with him every night in the front yard. He got a good start on killing part of the weed forest in the backyard. The girls and I are hoping for a swingset to put back there this summer...
BabyR is definitely learning that fake-crying will get results, and that it sucks to be sitting anywhere but in Mom or Dad's lap. He's really so mellow... he was as calm as could be yesterday during the torrential rain/thunderstorm that passed right through the neighborhood. We give him more and more solid foods each day: pears, apples, baby cookies, cheerios. He's kinda fat! I have to clean the stinky lint-balls and cookie-paste out of his neck rolls every day. For some reason he loves his neck to be tickled. When he smiles, his eyes look like Uncle Brian's.
Tonight we'll be going to our friends' house for barbecued chicken and other tasty stuff. K made his favorite cheesecake for tonight, coffee-brandy. There'll be some fireworks in town, and we've been promised some good seats on the roof of our friends' house, so it should be a good time.
We're home, resting after a long morning at the park. The city throws a big party, with free watermelon, ice cream, lemonade, jumping castles, etc. There are also booths set up by local businesses and community organizations giving out freebies, so halfway through the park the parents are juggling all the junk the kids don't want to carry.
The girls were in the kids' bike parade at 9:30... then we listened to the community band play a bit, and wandered around. I saw lots of people with oxygen! Most of them were in wheelchairs though and looking pretty grumpy.
So Thursday I had my echo and Friday I saw the internist. He didn't have the echo report from the radiologist, so he asked me how it went... The tech said my numbers are basically in the same range as they were on the previous echo in May. So that's not bad news, but it's not what we were hoping for, either. No pressure decrease. Now I have to increase the dose of Diltiazem. I'm on my last few pills of 180mg and will change to 240's in a few days. Then by the next echo in August we'll see if the pressure comes down. My legs stopped hurting! I haven't noticed much of a change from decreasing prednisone yet but that probably takes more time.
K's been home most of the week, that's been really great. He lets me get away with being lazy! The girls get to play baseball with him every night in the front yard. He got a good start on killing part of the weed forest in the backyard. The girls and I are hoping for a swingset to put back there this summer...
BabyR is definitely learning that fake-crying will get results, and that it sucks to be sitting anywhere but in Mom or Dad's lap. He's really so mellow... he was as calm as could be yesterday during the torrential rain/thunderstorm that passed right through the neighborhood. We give him more and more solid foods each day: pears, apples, baby cookies, cheerios. He's kinda fat! I have to clean the stinky lint-balls and cookie-paste out of his neck rolls every day. For some reason he loves his neck to be tickled. When he smiles, his eyes look like Uncle Brian's.
Tonight we'll be going to our friends' house for barbecued chicken and other tasty stuff. K made his favorite cheesecake for tonight, coffee-brandy. There'll be some fireworks in town, and we've been promised some good seats on the roof of our friends' house, so it should be a good time.
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