Fleeting Thoughts:
I believe that I am right where my Lord needs me to be at this time in my life.
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Noreen
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Noreen
We went to Mankato today. The sunshine and 37 degrees took Dennis into a spring fever mode. I so agree. Life is sweet.
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Noreen
I Love a Finished Project
Nothing is more satisfying or appreciated than a project that was oh so close to be pitched long before there was a thought of a finished project that would look anything like mittens as Christmas tree decorations. The counted cross stitch was a bit much to chew off. Amazingly, this kept me busy off and on for several weeks without having to purchase anything. Mother in law, Esther Schafer, crocheted with gold cording and I had just enough left in a stash of hers to make the hangers for the mittens. Floss and lace came out of a stash that Kevin and Kersten have shared with me. The linen was in a fabric stash of days long ago. Now the mittens can rest until I find homes for them in the Christmas of 2015.
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Noreen
This was a day that really does not have much to show for itself. By the time we got home from the Super 8 pool it was noon and I could feel that I had done a good job of stretching and moving. We visited the pool three times this week and my lower back tells me it was a good thing. As with any area of the body that arthritis has dared to invade, continual moving will not remove it or cure it, but it allows the joints to continue at an acceptable level of function. The argument of ice or heat for inflamed areas has always been batted around. Ice is the friend of choice if a new injury is being dealt with to relieve the possible swelling. Arthritis needs heat to get as much blood flowing as possible around joints.
That being said . . . we had a great evening meal and I am going to do a bit of crocheting while I have heat on the lower back. If the pool pass and the heating pad can contain the pain, back surgery is not in my vocabulary. With knees and shoulders having been replaced, there has been some mobility that has been sacrificed. On the up side, I have no knee and shoulder pain and as far as the quality of life . . . it is sweet. I just am not up for any additional lack of mobility. I was quite blunt about some physical struggles after the second shoulder replacement in my blog stories. I am very comfortable having met and conquered those struggles, taking it one day at a time.
Life on Stauffer Avenue with Dennis is just priceless.
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Noreen
A New Venture
I did power through to finish a project with the beaded snowflake on the 32 stitch per inch of linen. I did work over two stitches and I now know two things for sure: I can still enjoy doing counted cross stitch . . . and working on linen is no longer in my wheelhouse. The remaining seven snowflakes that I did finish may be made into more Christmas tree decoration mittens or I may leaf through some craft magazines for additional ideas. To give my eyes a bit of a rest, I am going back to some crocheting.
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Noreen
27 degrees with on and off again sunshine. It puts a new bounce in my step. This evening we are going to enjoy a crock pot pot roast meal. The carrots, onions and potatoes round it out to be a healthy winter meal. The leftovers later this week will be just as good as the real deal this evening. No kitchen duties for me this evening. Dennis can enjoy the self serve buffet style via a complete meal in a crock pot.
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Noreen
Today was all about dust bunnies. I so enjoy the fact that Swiffers are my all time favorite cleaning tool. I would never go back to having carpeting in the home again. Had it not been for Carrie’s cat Rocky coming into our home and pushing our buttons to the point of taking up all the carpeting, we would never have realized how easy it is to keep the floors tidy. Rest in peace Rocky.
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Noreen
Is It Any Wonder?
This morning, Dennis and I hit the Super 8 pool for a good hour workout of bodies that tend to become tight from the cold and from watching the ice patches when we walk.
After a good session we had a cup of complimentary coffee. Coming home it was a lot easier to kick it in gear as I had wiggled every which way but loose in the water to limber up. I started the laundry and took a few minutes to crochet several rows on a project that was lying on the sofa just begging for a few stitches. The pool does wonders on the core body, but the hands need the manipulation that can be achieved by whipping the crochet hook around with the right hand while the left manages the tension of the yarn.
Is it any wonder the hands need more TLC than the body? Dennis and I began to recount the farming days. Five gallon pails full of feed with handles that were nothing more than a stiff rod with no padding for the hands, and more than anyone could count were the 40 lb. bales of hay with twine that would cut into the palms as the livestock was fed. Dennis and I agreed that the all time favorite was the pick ax in the silo of frozen silage that needed to be broken loose, thrown down the chute, and then carried to the mangers for the milk cows. For me, it amazed me how content Carrie was as she was carried up into the silo facing me in a sling that I had made. She had a sand pail and a shovel that we left up in the silo, complete with an old blanket for her to sit on, and it kept her happy. It sounds like she may have been cold, but when the top six inches of the frozen silage crust was broken into, the heat within the silage actually made steam. I just kept moving her from one warmer spot to another.
Oh yes, thus was life on the farm. Dennis in Watonwan County and Carrie and I in Renville County, it was the great life of farming. Wouldn’t have changed a thing, other than remaining farmers.
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Noreen
Trial or Error
Today was about deciding what medium to use putting snowflakes on some linen. The beads were really a challenge. Some of the seed beads had such tiny holes, they would not fit on the beading needle. I think I will stick to the DMC embroidery floss on the right. When a stitch is put in with the floss it lays flat. Beads have a tendency to roll and the visual effect can be distorted. Right now I am resting the eyes. I like to work on items for next winter while I am in the here and now of this winter. That does say a whole lot for having time on my hands right now.
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Noreen
It Has Been a Year –
A year ago today I came home from the Mankato Mayo Hospital with my new shoulder . . . second new shoulder. The year surely has not gone slow.
I can tell you that pain from shoulders that were encased in arthritis is no more. I had spent the gardening season of 2014 doing pretty much what I have always done, enjoying it to no end. The quilting has been progressing quite nicely. There were several wall hangings that I hated to see come to an end as beading is very relaxing for me as well as keeping the sewing machine needle 1/8 inch from the edge of any given image. There are so many things in my day-to-day life that I do without thinking about it.
A few items in the kitchen are accomplished in unique ways. I can no longer hold a mixing bowl up high enough in my left arm to use a rubber scrapper to get the contents into a pan or dish with my right arm. Neither arm has the ease of the arc that it takes. I can open the towel drawer that is just below waist level and make sure the towels are stacked to the very top of the drawer, the pan or dish setting on the towels is the perfect height for me to empty that mixing bowl. I no longer lift multiple items up into the cupboards. The items that I use often are no higher than the second shelf in the cabinets.
Our bathroom has less clutter as the curling iron and blow dryer can no longer be manipulated. The motion of my arms can reach the top of my head, but the additional extension of a handle of the curling iron or blow dryer takes my arm out and away from my head that is beyond me having any control of the arm and hands. That is not an unusual end result of the reverse shoulder surgeries. With muscles and tendons and nerves being reassigned motion, there is a surgical limit. I had worn my hair very short for most of my adult life. The change of growing it out to a length that will be maintained by simply brushing it is taking a bit, but I know that will be doable.
There is one more thing that still has me working on it a year after the fact. It is holding a fork for eating. The right arm and elbow tend to not want to tuck close to the side of my body to allow for the forearm and wrist to make that nice smooth movement to the mouth. I know it is less than a smooth movement. The fork hits the target every time if the elbow is out a bit from the side of my body. I don’t make anything out of it, and for the most part, I don’t think anyone notices. While eating alone there is not a problem, but I could take someone out that would be sitting rather close to the right of me at a full dining situation.
So a year has passed and life is oh so good. My main objective is to get through the winter months staying upright on the snow and ice. The tuck and role method of a fall most likely would take out one of the shoulders. I know myself well enough that if I fell forward, I would put out my hands to break the fall to protect the two titanium knees, and that would jar the shoulders to the extreme. Like I said, staying upright is the objective for the 2015 year and thereafter. Life as I know it, is pretty darn good.