I guess it's time for an update. If I posted every time I thought about it, this would be a different blog LOL! But I don't, so you get these widely-spaced updates.
In November and December I was contacted to do some genealogical research for a lawyer who was working on a will from 1944. It was interesting work and I actually went to court to hear the case. Since that success I recently received an email from another legal firm needing the same kind of help. I'm looking forward to starting this next project.
Danny is still dealing with paperwork from two states for his dad's estate. He's had a "bad back" issue that hasn't helped, and it was aggravated by a leak in a wall behind a toilet. That involved removing the toilet, cutting a hole in the wall near the floor, replacing the floor, and making everything fit together beautifully. It took quite a bit to do all this and meanwhile Colorado kept calling.
I've been wanting a handicap toilet for quite some time because of my knees. We bought one a year ago. I'm happy to say I don't have to wait any longer to get that installed! My unplanned new bathroom looks great. I guess we'll replace the counter tops soon too!
Danny's back wasn't helped any when we went from our California king-size heated waterbed to a vintage full-size bed that was my grandmother's. I get up at night so I needed a bedroom by the bathroom on the other end of the house. I didn't want to walk through the house with a cane in the middle of the night! I told him to stay in our bed but he declined, so we endured a tiny bed for a couple of weeks.
We had a great time at Thanksgiving. My oldest and her husband came and we had the big bird at my brother's home. While they were here we also dined at a favorite restaurant and around the fire pit and simply enjoyed being together. I was hoping they could help decorate the Christmas tree before they left but that wasn't to be. But we did get Mom's decorations down from her attic this year. We divided up what we wanted to keep for memories and the rest went to the thrift store or trash (especially if mice had visited).
Even though Danny was overwhelmed with a leaky pipe and paperwork he did get our Christmas tree up, but only because it was in a trunk at the foot of our bed. Our decorations were in the attic. I was kind of bummed at first but I've gotten use to a blank tree with white lights. I put my crocheted do-dads up over the fireplace and added a poinsettia-inspired tablecloth on my table. Since finishing the bathroom Danny has pulled a couple of small boxes from the attic. We've been looking things over and several have gone to the thrift store. This goes along with how we've done presents over the last three years. We eliminated gifts and took all the pressure and drama off of Christmas. Now we just enjoy being together and have a lot of fun with a glass of wine, specialty cheeses, pots of soup and pajama movie night. We definitely down-sized Christmas stress and now keep our focus on Jesus at the Christmas Eve service and family at home.
We will host Christmas this year. Both girls will come at some point and we'll all have a great time being together, eating, talking, having fun, enjoying the memories we make in our own small way. These memories will sustain me until April and make the time go faster, I'm sure. And it's already started. My youngest and her husband arrived yesterday and oddly enough she (the one who hates Christmas decorating), added a glittery snowflake ornament I was going to toss. So now my tree sports that as well as a small ornament spider that I got from Mom's house. She always said it brought good luck to have a spider in the tree. Legend of the Christmas Spider. If that's the case I should have had wonderful luck because years ago, we had a live tree that hatched a gazillion tiny spiders when we put the tree indoors. That wasn't luck at all! I had to vacuum the tree and all the presents under it!
I'm on a cane full-time now and it really sucks not being able to do things. Bending my knee to get in the car or roll over in bed is awful. We both think this is worse than when I had back surgery or hips replaced. As much as I'm looking forward to getting relief from surgery this time is different. After Mom went in for her 'we do it all the time, piece of cake' surgery and never made it home again I am having more fear. I know there are always risks with any surgery. I guess God and I will have a long talk about it when the time comes. My original knee doctor retired so in May I went to Jordan-Young Institute and met a surgeon who suggested cortisone shots to help. He gave me one that potentially could help six months. It didn't. So then I thought if I'm going to just get shots I may as well go back to the old practice closer to home. In October I got more cortisone shots in both knees which still didn't help. Weeks later I got gel shots in both knees and again, no help. I didn't have a follow-up appointment scheduled, so I called the surgeon's secretary as to what my next step should be. She mentioned that he only did surgery once an month out of Chesapeake hospital. I don't do Chesapeake hospital. I called Jordan-Young again for a follow-up and am scheduled for a total knee replacement in April. I hope they call with a cancellation so I can go sooner.
Even though walking is good for you, I can't walk much no matter where I am. I try to plan out what I need to shuttle from place to place because I can only carry stuff with one hand (the cane in the other). Bending my knee is always in slow-motion or it feels like a knife in me. I hate feeling like this. I have things I want to do and simply can't. Church is more challenging now. I was in a little Christmas choir with two other ladies and 4 girls. We sang two songs on the Sunday before Christmas. It was nice, but it was a lot of extra walking. On Sunday mornings I try to get in the choir loft before service so I can move across the stage as needed before I have to toddle down to play the keyboard. I quit going to Sunday School class a few weeks ago so I don't have to walk that far, staying in the sanctuary to read or talk with early arrivals for worship. At least I'm still able to sing and I love singing for God.
I've crocheted so much while icing my knee that my hand started hurting. Now I'm in "rest" mode for a while. A couple of weeks ago I took 25 handmade hats to a homeless shelter in Virginia Beach and three days ago we delivered a couple of bags of my hand crocheted blankets, shawls and hats to a Chesapeake nursing home.
