Me, Myself and Memories

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  Noreen 2:30 pm on March 10, 2026 Permalink  

  A Crack 

  I just discovered this morning while at a physical therapy appointment that in 2013 and 2014, I had fallen through a crack, make that two cracks.

  At first I thought my primary had mad a mistake in sending me to a PT appointment for a shoulder ache.  After all, this 81 year young body is bound to have an ache here and there.  This morning, I saw Dan Kern, my usual.  Mike was out.  In 2013 when I had had the first reverse shoulder surgery, I should have had physical therapy as well as the second reverse shoulder in 2014.  Me and my shoulders fell through the cracks.

  I had had no idea that there was more to the story than recovering from the actual surgery.  No one else that I knew then or now could have given me an insight.

  Dan was amazing.  I was amazed.  To make a long story short, Dan feels that there is so much improvement to make for mobility in my shoulders, even the left stroke one.  Wow.  For this first session, I came home sore but thrilled.  Anything out of my ordinary would buck.  I have home exercises two times a day, seven times a week.  I will see Dan once a week for six weeks.  After this long of a time, there have been some tendons and muscles that have gotten quite comfortable enjoying the backseat.  There will be no fast harsh treatments.  Slow and steady, Dan believes will win the race.  Me also.  Whew, what a blast of information to receive.

  This afternoon, Furniture Gallery from Sleepy Eye delivered my recliner.  It fits right in with our motif . . . early attic.

  With that I will take my leave.  ♥

   
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  Noreen 2:12 pm on March 9, 2026 Permalink  

  Schedules 

  My medical schedule was quite light coming into 2026.  No so much after I kept my three month appointment at 10:15 this morning with Dr. Glotfelty.  My blood pressure was 112/74.  Niceee!  Checked the lungs, heart, ears, throat and nose.  All satisfactory.  Tomorrow morning at 9:45 I check in at a physical therapy appointment made by my doctor.  She feels it would be a good re-assessment of my mobility if there is some type of adjustment to assist with that.  The end of March I will meet with the nutritionist.  So the end game there is for me to be weighing less by making better food choices.  Hmm!  I will be back to see her in three months.

  The sun is doing a number on drying up some mud puddles in the neighborhood.

  I received a phone call that Dennis’ purchase for me is to be delivered tomorrow.  Thus has been the tidy, tidy so our living room is ready to welcome a new piece of furniture.  Dennis will be babysitting the house throughout the forenoon.

  I called Aunt Janet last night to allow her to know that her nephew, my cousin from Gibbon, is in hospice in the Gibbon assisted living unit.  Wayne Opitz, the son of my dad’s sister, Esther, chose not to take treatment as the pancreatic cancer had already spread throughout.  It is one of the sneakiest cancers.  Wayne will be 85 this year and was an only child.  Wayne’s wife, Jean, will also be in the same unit with early stages of dementia.  When their son Michael called me yesterday, it could have knocked me over with a feather. 

  We do not know, nor do we have control of our Father’s plans. 

  With that I will take my leave.  ♥

   
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  Noreen 2:51 pm on March 8, 2026 Permalink  

  Is it Spring Yet? 

  It may not be officially spring, but the young ones and even those older have the power bikes out.  It seems that the ones that can down-shift the fastest may win the race.

  Dennis’ granddaughter Sadie from Mankato came out for a visit.  She is now retired from the military, via the Red Bulls.  She retired as an E8.  Sadie and grandpa talk all things military.  It does Dennis a world of good.

  I’ve gotten some bedding swapped out.  With these temps, I would have hung them out to dry, but the boxelder bugs have arrived early.  Actually, the days of me putting laundry out on the lines is over.  I like my laundry setup in the bathroom.

  We are having chicken tenderloins for supper and what Dennis thinks is cheesy broccoli.  I decided to clean out some of the freezer’s goodies.  I partially thawed the brussel sprouts.  I chopped them, so the dish does look like it has a green vegetable in it.  Velveeta cubes in and on and they will be popped into the oven for supper.  Time will tell if I pulled it of.

  With that I will take my leave.  ♥

   
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  Noreen 3:30 pm on March 7, 2026 Permalink  

  Cold Morning 

  There was no way I wanted to get out of bed this morning.  The north wind had the chimes on my northwest corner of the house a clanging away.  It sounded cold.  Sure nough, I got up at seven and it was cold out.

  Today was the long awaited pedicure and hair cut day.  I knew I had to motor through the several hours to get my day started.  I do have my routines.  Dennis was out of bed, but napping in his recliner.  I rousted him at 8:20.  With coffee cup filled and his breakfast box under is arm, he got his routine going.

  There had been enough of either a rain or snow to leave the ground covered.  By the tracks that Dennis made going to the garage, it looked like slish.

  Maria was finishing up one client when we got to her shop.  She looked up and came to her counter where here date book was.  Maria rolled her eyes.  When that client left, she got the tanks ready for our pedicure soaking to begin.  She shared that she has two sets of books for appointments as she in Windom Monday, Wednesday and Friday and the remaining of the six days in St. James.  She had double booked today, Saturday.  She had made an error with her two sets of books.

  Maria didn’t let her error show.  A real trooper.  As we finished up with our haircuts, those waiting didn’t seem to mind.  When she wrote out our next appointment, it was for an April date.  A clear window that this year was indeed on a roll.

  This afternoon I am taking it slow.  As yesterday rolled along, I damp mopped the dining-living room area, taking my time with the moving of the furniture to let one area dry before the next area.  No carpet and gliders under the furniture helped.  I was weary when all furniture was back where it needed to be, but with a great feeling as well.  Could this be the beginning of spring cleaning?  I think I will put a damper on that thought. 

  The sun has cleared what had fallen during the night time hours.  A bright afternoon compared to this morning.  This up and down winter continues.  And sure nough the day has continued and a plan needs to be put in place for supper.

  With that I will take my leave.  ♥

   

   
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  Noreen 3:35 pm on March 6, 2026 Permalink  

  Plugging Away 

  I don’t know about you on this damp gray day, but I am still plugging away condensing the contents of our home.

  Our home does have a walk-up attic with about a 75 % basement.  I tend to feel more comfortable storing items in our basement than the attic.  The attic is stuffy with no measurable air movement.  Our basement has had good work done to it.

  When we had the tile put around that 75% basement, we also opted for new basement windows and a vapor barrier job under the remainder 25% of the home.  All of the work was done by Complete Basements of Mankato.  One company for the work means one contact if we have questions.  The dehumidifier that Complete Basements installed is geared for a much larger area than it services.

  What I am getting at is that when I store items, no matter what . . . there is no basement stuffy air to be absorbed.  There are two fans than run 24/7.  Ya know . . . for a home that is over a hundred years old, it offers pretty sweet living.  We couldn’t ask for anything more as that would mean more square footage to take care of and more items to bring into today’s level of safety and upgrads where it is needed.

  When I was working and homes were assessed for their value that would drive real estate taxes, some of the most important items to look at was plumbing, wiring and heat source.  Kevin replaced all of our plumbing and upgraded wiring to have the inspector put his stamp on it.  We rely on the Watson boys to check on our furnace and A/C plus any new additions that we need installed.

  Life on Stauffer, the most sought off location in town.  Tee hee.

  With that I will take my leave. ♥

   
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  Noreen 3:20 pm on March 5, 2026 Permalink  

  Birds 

  Do the birds think spring is here?  They are all very busy fliting from tree to tree.  The squirrels never did acknowledge our winter.

  This afternoon the house is filled with the aroma of cinnamon rolls that just came out of the oven.  The frozen Rhodes can’t be beat.  They come twelve to a frozen package.  Doing six at a times works best for Dennis and his breakfast box.  There are two bags of cream cheese frosting included.  I had this bag in the freezer for some time and today I checked the expiration date . . . Sept. of 2o26.

  The diced pork roast oven dish of last night was a win.  Leftovers for this evening . . . can’t beat it.

  As we, mostly me, take notice of our first floor, decisions needed to be made.  Furniture designed for larger homes than what our 720 sq. ft. can handle works for only so long.  It may be that Dennis has been prone to falls and thus furniture with sharp corners has been put out of his reach, as much as possible.  That is not to say that the situation may flip in times to come.  Being realistic is what I do . . . for the both of us.

  Today, I sifted and sorted much.  Not necessarily throwing anything out, just using what room we have wiser.  Putting things where they were taken from is the key.

  I feel very good about making the best and the most of our home.

  With that I will take my leave. ♥

   
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  Noreen 3:38 pm on March 4, 2026 Permalink  

  Again! 

  Again, our snow bas disappeared.  I don’t think anyone is upset about that.

  When I look out my kitchen window, Jan and Randy’s yard is one huge mud puddle.  Our concrete makes our coming and going really easy as well as anyone stopping in.

  Dennis has been out and about making his rounds.  Of course one stop is always at nephew Brett’s concrete shop.

  I have spent some time on the world wide web today.  I have several sites that I have used when I need some fabric.  Going onto Etsy’s site today, I found what will work for Nicholas’ quilt to fill in from what I have pulled together here.  One step at a time.  I had yardage info from the actual quilt pattern.  The fabric is coming from several locations and it is now “hurry up and wait.”

  I have never had any trouble finding things to keep me going.

  This morning I pulled out the container of the diced pork roast from a bit ago from the freezer.  A half bag of frozen peas and carrots with cooked pasta is in the works for a three item oven meal.  I had saved the juice of the crockpot’s pork roast and that had been in a freezer bag.  Using corn starch to thicken the drippings worked well.  Using heavy cream with additional corn starch, I came up with my own Alfredo sauce.  Dissolving corn starch in either cold water or cold cream and adding it to the hot juice worked well.  I know the pork roast drippings had a great flavor.  I continued stirring the sauce and it got thicker by the minute.  A good supper is forthcoming.

  With that I will take my leave.  ♥

   
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  Noreen 4:23 pm on March 3, 2026 Permalink  

  Tuesday the 3rd of March 

   A morning in the studio as everything went according to plan.  Such a good feeling.

  The next step was to take out my favorite quilt pattern:  the log cabin.  I have made that pattern often, but never using the same color-way.  One was for Carrie using appliqued snowflakes as well.  One was for Kevin using a twist for a red, white and blue theme.  I checked and checked, there was nothing of enough yardage or color-way.  Not to worry.  There is no time crunch.

  When Dennis came in at noon, he asked if I would take a road trip with him.  We were going to go looking at chairs for me that would fit my criteria.  Away we went.  I had my phone and extra catheters and Dennis had his wallet, as he was buying.  Couldn’t beat that!

  When we got to the furniture store, Dennis found a comfortable chair while the sales gal, took me by the arm.  I sat in many chairs of all shapes, sizes and colors.  My main concern was that I could get out of the chair without using my shoulders.  The next concern was that my neck would not be thrust foreword as I leaned back into the chair.  I didn’t care if the chair was a recliner or not as I knew I wouldn’t be able to use the lever towards the bottom on the righthand side.  I didn’t need a chair that had huge armrests.  Trial and error. 

  It was down to two.  The chair that fit my needs the best, happens to be an electric chair with buttons just below the right hand side of the armrest to raise the feet.  The contour of the back of the chair by my neck did not change as the foot rest went up.  Dennis bought Grammie a chair!!

  This will be the first chair of comfort for me, picked out by me . . . ever.  Sweet.

  The chair will be delivered sometime either late this week or next.

  To celebrate we are having Subway for supper.

  With that I will take my leave.  ♥

   
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  Noreen 3:31 pm on March 2, 2026 Permalink  

  The Secret 

  The secret for me getting up before eight in the morning, is to drink a glass of water when I do a bathroom call at three in the morning.  I do enjoy getting up earlier than eight, but it just feels so comfy, I can look out the window and the evergreen boughs lull me back to snoozing.

  All of the laundry was done by noon.  In between swapping out loads, I filled the last of my mini pillows with crushed walnut shells and glued the openings shut.  What remains is a bit of trim around all sides.  My mini pillow phase is nearing an end.

  The next chapter in the studio is going to be a quilt.  I know just what box to take off of the west shelves in the studio.  I am seeking orange fabric and that which may be companion hues or colors.  Orange is the color of Nicholas’ University of Tennessee.   I have researched the motto.  This project may well keep me out of trouble for some time. 

  This evening we are having the remaining Manwich meat with the remaining beans, mixing both together for a supper with some spinach dip and chips.  Kind of like a home on the range supper. 

  With that I will take my leave.  ♥

   
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  Noreen 4:03 pm on March 1, 2026 Permalink  

  Hello Sunday 

  This scattered winter has moved right on into March 1st.

  Though nothing earth shattering occurred this winter, I feel as if the time has gone swiftly.  When I look about there have been quite a few finished stitched items hanging about.  They have been completed by one “x” at a time. 

  Dennis brought up the idea of us going back to The Furniture Mart in Sleepy Eye for a new chair for me.  I have him on pause with that.  Dennis’ Lazy Boy recliner . . . I cannot sit in, as I cannot get myself up and out of it independently.  Secondly, the head rest is puffy enough that it tilts my neck forward just enough to cause a headache.  

  There are two items my chair must insure:  I can get out of it and having the neck support.  In thinking, the chair need not be a recliner.  A soft chair with a high enough padded back that I could lean my head back and have it fit my neck.  That spurred on an experiment.  My teak rocker’s seat is the perfect height for me to sit down on and get up from.  Truth to tell, I didn’t sit in it for any length of time as a headache took over.  I dug out two of those support bands that medical people use to stabilize patients.  Dennis worked the buckles while I held a stuffed small pillow in the area of a head rest.  Trial and error we got the fit right . . . for now.  As I use the rocker with the captured pillow, time will tell.

  Calvin called this afternoon.  Nothing exciting for either of us to report, just a good old catching up.  Eric, now a widower, left for a job trip down to the southern states.  I know his job has something to do with hard metal detection and he travels a lot.

  We are doing Manwich’s and beans for supper.  I browned the hamburger, added the can of sauce and put the kettle in the oven at 250.  It is a way for flavors to really get co-mingled without scorching the kettle as it would on the stovetop.  The gas flame doesn’t like such a low setting.

  With that I will take my leave.  ♥