Here Come the Holidays!

There are at least four houses on our street decorated for Christmas already. Michael suggested getting our tree up today, but I just wasn't up for it. Maybe tomorrow...

I am less congested today, but my voice is still pretty weak. I have my favorite substitute teacher on standby for Monday in case I don't get my voice back. There's no way I can do my job without my voice. Can you imagine?

So, we have spent the entire day on the couch once again. Michael hasn't been sleeping well, so he's spent the day in his pajamas napping on the couch. I haven't been napping, but I did manage to complete Michael's Social Security Disability application. We hope he won't need to go on long-term disability, but we'd rather be safe than sorry. His type and stage of cancer are "fast-tracked" for SSDI, but even so there's a five-month waiting period before benefits kick in.

So, perhaps tomorrow I will start feeling human again and we can deck the halls, or get our Christmas cards ready to mail, or hang up the outdoor lights, or make some shopping lists, or...

You get the idea!

Couch Time

It's not the dreaded swine flu, but nevertheless I'm under attack by some nasty germs here. What started as a tickle in my throat on Sunday has morphed into lots of congestion, a bit of a cough, and the loss of my voice. Fun times.

My sister-in-law suggested to me yesterday that I ask my doctor for a Z-pack. I'm not one to call the doctor when she's not in the office (it's the long holiday weekend, you know?), but I was feeling a little desperate this morning. Bless her heart for calling back and suggesting I take Musinex and prescribing an antibiotic for me. I think I'm feeling slightly better this afternoon, but just slightly.

On our way home from the Thanksgiving feast at Michael's parents (which was wonderful, by the way), we stopped by CVS and purchased a vaporizer. I haven't used one of those in years, but with this dry weather I knew I couldn't tolerate another night of nasal stuffiness and having to breath that dry air in through my mouth. Can I just tell you that I love that vaporizer? What a huge difference it made for me last night.

Hopefully, Michael won't get sick...

So, our plans to begin painting and installing crown moulding this weekend have been postponed. Perhaps I'll start to feel better tomorrow or Sunday and we can get going on that project, but it's hard to say right now. I'm very happy with how the paint job turned out, though. Such a pretty and soft yellow color.

In lieu of doing our own DIY project, we're watching HGTV while crashing on the couch. ;-)

Happy Thanksgiving!

For each new morning with its light,

For rest and shelter of the night,

For health and food, for love and friends,

For everything Thy goodness sends.

~Ralph Waldo Emerson

This has been such a challenging year for us, but I know that my blessings far outweigh my curses. I can only attribute my sense of peace and hope in all this to the promise I have in Jesus Christ. As I've been reflecting on that, the lyrics from an old Bill Gaither song came to mind:

Because He lives, I can face tomorrow,

Because He lives, all fear is gone;

Because I know He holds the future,

And life is worth the living,

Just because He lives!

The Gaithers were one of the first concerts I saw as a child with my family at the Anaheim Convention Center - along with Sandi Patti and Carmen. Too funny! Anyway, it's amazing how the lyrics of a song can be buried in my memory and my heart from the time I was just a kid, and then resurface so many years later to be a source of comfort and strength.

I am very thankful to be sharing my life with Michael. It's not the life we expected to be living, but it's a good life nonetheless.

May you all enjoy a blessed thanksgiving surrounded by your loved ones!

Feeling a Bit Under the Weather

Wouldn't you just know it! Here I am on vacation and I've got some sort of sinus thing or a cold coming on. Sheesh! I started taking Zicam yesterday and I hope that will at least lessen the symptoms so that I can do the things I planned to this week. We're taking it easy this morning, but I think we'll try to do some painting a little later today.

My family left this morning for a week in the Grand Canyon area. I will miss spending Thanksgiving with them, but I hope they have a great trip. While they are gone, we are dog-sitting my parents' dog Rosie. This has got Buffy in a bit of a snit. Rosie is the top dog, and so Buffy is having to deal with the fact that Rosie has taken over her bed. This leads to a lot of pacing the floor and whining on Buffy's part. We are not interfering because we think they just need to work out the situation for themselves. Buffy has two other beds in the house to choose from, so it's not like she's without a comfy place to settle down. Buffy is also really jealous of any attention we give Rosie. She was always like that with Taylor, too. This has just reinforced for me that we cannot have another pet. Buffy just doesn't like to share her things or her people. That's okay. We have enough on our plate. We don't need another pet right now.

And So It Begins

The title sounds so profound, but I'm simply referring to my bedroom project. This morning we went and purchased paint and supplies, and I've just spent the last hour clearing out as much stuff as I can. I wish I could get the furniture out of the room, but our house is so small that there's no place for it to go. After my blogging break here, I will head back in the room and cover the furniture with some plastic before I begin to wash down the walls with a TSP solution. Then I'll tape off the woodwork and call it a day. I think that's all I'll have time for since I want to go to church this evening. Tomorrow I'll paint the ceiling, and Monday I'll paint the walls. Later in the week we'll paint and install the crown moulding.

I think I'm on my own with this first part of the project. Michael is feeling very low energy today. He says he didn't sleep well last night. He's resting on the couch this afternoon before he heads out for a gig tonight. It's just a two-hour gig, so hopefully he will have enough energy to get through it. He's playing a church service in the morning, too. It will be a good test of his endurance to see how he does with these jobs this weekend. The cough has been really bad this last month. We kept hoping the Sutent would have a positive effect on that, but no. Yesterday was his last day on the Sutent for that cycle. Now he has two weeks off. Sometime the week of the 30th he will have his CT scan, and we will hear about those results on December 7th. I'm expecting to hear good things!

Anyway, I've taken some before pictures of the bedroom, and I'll post those and after pictures when this week's projects (paint and crown moulding) are completed.

Wish me luck!

Anniversary Trip

Make a Smilebox slideshow

November 11, 2007

It was the happiest day of my life by far. I had loved Michael since I was just 26 years old, and after much waiting he finally came 'round to my way of thinking. Even though our short marriage has seen more than its fair share of hard times, we are so in love. I wouldn't want to be on this journey with anyone else.