Mountain Mama's Point Of View

  Just look at how much the babies have grown! They will be one on the Jan. 1st. They only fuss when they are tired and Lord knows they are getting enough to eat!  Josiah is the serious one, you can almost see him thinking. His solemn expression just melts my heart! Big sister, Karagahn, in the background. Jonah is a busy little fella and takes more convincing for a nap! His little face is full of mischief and he laughs a lot. They will be walking soon. Jonah has no trouble navigating and looks for trouble to get into! Josiah likes to be held and talked to. He is so serious! Such a cutie! I am smitten with them. Our niece, Whitney, holding Josiah and standing next to big brother, Easton. Easton had a stick in his hand and I think Josiah wanted to study it. Whitney can pick both babies up at the same time. Made my back hurt everytime she did it! I kissed fingers and toes and tickled little tummies. It was heaven! Would have been a lot better without the tooth pain! We came home...

  There's no place like home .... We came home sooner than we planned. My broken tooth dominated most of my time and thoughts. You may recall that it didn't really hurt when it happened. We all knew I was on borrowed pain free time. First night out, I was awakened with the screaming pain that only a tooth can cause. My jaws were clamped shut and ALL of my teeth hurt. I had packed Orajel, so I stumbled into the bathroom at the foot of our too small bed and applied a generous amount to the broken tooth. That stuff is nasty tasting and didn't numb enough, so I got back up and numbed my entire mouth and tongue. After I moved two dogs off my pillow and got back in the bed, I checked the time. 1:34 am. Could not sleep and began to wonder if I should have swallowed so much of that Orajel. My throat was also numb, I pictured the path the swallowed Orajel would take and wondered if the numbness would last long ..... it didn't last nearly long enough. I numbed my mouth every two ...

  Leaving now for the trip south. HeWho is driving us through the mountain. He underestimates the preparation that goes into a trip with the animals. I did the most of it while he decided to take the RV in for a wash. $75!! I will do it myself for $75! How hard can it be? A hose, a bucket and a ladder is all you need! Then while I gathered clothing for us and loaded most of it, he decided to blow leaves! He did act as a pack mule for the things I assembled for loading. Then I spent an hour putting the stuff where it goes. Only last minute items this morning and I was up and at it at 7. I washed all the dishes, did a last minute load of laundry, then cleaned Dora's habitat and loaded it, with her into the shower of the RV. I remembered her food and made sandwiches for the noon hour that would most likely find us in traffic in Atlanta. I called out the time of 9:30 and then every five minutes to get the driver of out excursion out of bed. Before we went to bed last night, he said, ...

  You may recall me mentioning the house I saw, or should I say see, everytime we head down the highway. The black plastic has been in place for over a year. Looks like they may have intended to add on, but I don't know what happened to the side of the house. I first noticed it after a storm that blew down a lot of trees. Maybe it damaged the side of the house and they then decided to take advantage of an opportunity to add on to the existing structure. Or maybe they took the side of the house off for an addition. It is a cute little house in need of some attention to the outside, maybe paint? Maybe they started and ran out of money or other circumstance that prevented moving forward? Who knows? You can see the RV behind the house where they or someone has taken up residence. Things happen and plans change. Just odd that they would take the time to decorate the front of the house. Too bad they did nothing to the landscaping. Costs very little to mow and trim and rake. assuming they...

  I can bend!! I even walked up the driveway to the She Shed, but I didn't think I could do any more lifting, so I hiked back down for a rest. The cardiologist called with the results of the ultrasound this morning. The results popped up on "my chart", but they were useless to me, since they did not unclude a normal range to compare. Anyway, I have mild stenosis from plaque and I am already taking a statin and a daily aspirin. Nothing to do different. Now just waiting to see what the results of the holter monitor show. Since I have vertigo rehab on the 20th, we will leave home on the 21st and avoid the really bad traffic that happens on the day before Thanksgiving. We don't have too far to go and can take our time. We will have Thanksgiving with family. My youngest will be there with her family and it should be fun. Always fun to see family.  From there, we will head south and see my nephews and the twin babies. The babies are growing so fast! Seems like yesterday whe...

  The ultrasound of my carotid was uneventful. We were only 2 minutes early and HeWho was mumbling about being late ..... he likes to get there at least 30 minutes early. I had a good night's sleep with the shot and the muscle relaxer. Last night I did remember to ask HeWho what time his appointment was. When they scheduled my ultrasound, I asked that they use the same day that HeWho had his appointment. Same office, but he was to see our cardiologist for his 6 month check up. He seemed to think it was either 1 or 1:30. This is why I asked him to check before I went to sleep. So, I asked him on the way this morning and he said, again, that it was 1 or 1:30. This lead me to believe he had actually looked and seeing it was ONE OCLOCK or a half hour later could remember. As soon as I was finished he was chomping at the bits for food and we left the office to return after eating. My procedure took only about 15 minutes, although she did linger on the left side. I couldn't see the m...

  I went to see my primary care today for my back pain. It all started with me bending to pick up a sock on the floor last Thursday .... I had thought I would need to take it easy for a couple of days and it would resolve itself. It should come as no surprise that it only got worse, to the point that I could not stand up from a sitting position. It felt like a giant hand squeezing my hip. I am glad there was no video of my efforts to stand! The only way I could get any relief was to stand or lay flat in the bed, and when I say lay flat, I mean there was no turning on either side. Then I noticed this "bump" at about waistline. Purple, it is. Looks just like the bumps on my belly when I had Shingles. No blisters, though. So, then I was sure it was the beginning of Shingles. I am happy to report that it is not Shingles (fingers crossed). However, should blisters appear I am to call for an anti-viral. In the mean time, I got a shot for pain and prescriptions for steroids and musc...

  I have so much to say, it has been so long since my Mom has offered to write for me! This is Mr. BoJangles, by the way. I will start with yesterday. Mom tells me that my dog mom, Piper has given birth to two tiny puppies and they look just like me!! A boy and a girl. She showed me the pictures and I was astounded! Was I that tiny once? Mom says I was, but I don't know how that could be!  You may be wondering if we are getting a puppy. We aren't says Dad. Mom says if we do get a puppy, it won't include going all the way to Missouri to get one! Dad says we are NEVER getting another puppy. Mom says we will see. She says we really need a kitten and I think a kitten would be crazy fun. I miss Martha, the boy cat. As you know, if you read my posts, we already have a turtle. Dora doesn't do much with all of us dogs. She likes to sit on a rock under the heat lamp until she gets hungry. Then, she makes all manner of noises trying to climb out of her habitat to get Mom's at...

  It is a balmy 76 degrees outside and I am stuck inside! I had plans for the day. Big plans. I made great progress in the She Shed over the past couple of days. As long as I don't attempt to walk up the drive with my bifocals on, I am good. I am not sure how everyone else organizes, but I need to just stand in the space and think. Uninterrupted, so alone. If I want feedback, I will ask for it, otherwise just leave me be. So far I have emptied 5 cardboard boxes and one extra large plastic tote and about a dozen smaller containers. In doing so I have discovered things I had forgotten I had. I wanted to get all my paints out and my first discovery was a drawer. Last year, we purchased an old teachers desk for $15. Well worn and pretty big. I was thinking about using the wood for shelves. We took it apart before we unloaded it from the trailer, HeWho complaining the entire time. More like a low grumbling. It was easy to unscrew and break it down into usable pieces. We used a good part...

  I awoke this morning feeling better than I have in weeks. I showered and even put on make-up. Eddie is also feeling so much better. I lifted him into our bed to waken the sleeping man and he hopped and jumped his way to the top of the bed to offer morning kisses. Bo had already jumped in the bed and awakened the master. Toni watched from the end of the hallway, declining my offer to pick her up and put her in the bed. She prefers one on one time with no competition from the boy dogs. The weather is warming and I had planned to hike up to the She Shed and continue organizing and sorting. HeWho, having missed out on his favorite restaurant on Halloween was itching to head to Murphy. Keep in mind that he had his heart set on prime rib. I didn't say it was GOOD for his heart, but I did remind him that lunch was not a good time for prime rib being available ..... I suggested we eat a breakfast bar to tide us over and go later. It was after 12 already. I suppose he is getting ready to ...

  After "taking it easy" while vertigo plagued my existance, I am having a little trouble getting back in the groove. My bifocals seemed to make it worse, making reading impossible. My first rehab appointment was not nearly as bad as I was imagining. It was at 1pm and HeWho chaufferred me wanted to go eat first. I didn't think it was a good idea and declined. I did send him on his way when I arrived at the center. With thoughts of being flipped upside down, I did not want anything in my stomach. I did not get flipped upside down. They did a lot of stuff involving turning my head side to side and up and down with various speeds. Then I was on a stretcher and the student working with my therapist sat me up and supported my head and lay me back with my head hanging off the stretcher. Based on this they decided that it was my ears. Tentatively. I have been relatively steady since then, still not ready to get behind the wheel of the car, since my bifocals seem to make it worse...