Tree!

the pointy part of the roof is about 25 feet high

The big pine, the one that had a limb fall off several years back, was starting to rot where that limb fell and the huge sections were beginning to crack apart.

The worst of it, the one they took off first, was just over my bedroom and we had a heck of a time finding a tree crew to tackle the problem.  They either wanted an eye-bulging amount or took one look and said, "No thanks!"

So, we asked CJ who knew a guy who called the next day and he came out to look at it, offered to do it for $200 less than our next lowest offer and while he's no arborist, he has been cutting trees since he could walk.  He works with another guy who is bonded and has insurance, so we were good to go.

They stood out there for half an hour talking, pointing and making gestures, then they just started to work and it was amazing,

One guy climbed the tree WAY up and attached a chain.  Then they cut all the lower limbs that might catch the roof while it fell.  Then they tied the chain to a skidder and pulled it away from the house and zizz!  About 6 seconds later it was down.  They cut off the limbs and hauled the trunk to the big truck in about 3 minutes, it was FAST.

A little size reference

The second section came down fast, the skidder got it

Scary!  Another fast fell between the house and shed, didn't even squash the fence!

Final cut took the rest down, they cut it into sections and hauled it off working well into the dark.

They have about an hour of cleanup and it's done.  I am keeping some of the last bit here to do a bonfire, if the ban ever gets lifted!

I am so glad to have that tree down, I didn't realize how tense I was until it was on the ground and no longer literally looming over our heads.  Matt said the same thing when he got in.   It's too bad it had to go, but that rotten spot was terrifying and since last Monday when they came to do the estimate, the crack had gotten about an inch wider.  They said there was so little living tree holding the branch over our room and the one angled over the back fence that it was just a miracle it hadn't already fallen.

Let this be a lesson to all-don't use a freaking PINE tree branch to hoist an engine block.  We didn't, but a previous occupant did and that's what caused the whole problem.

We had lobster ravioli to celebrate and it was so darn good. I will be making that again!  I adore Jake, but it's nice having him at work at night so I can make 'gross' stuff (like beans, sprouts, and ravioli) for dinner!  haha

Recrudescence

Oh yeah, it's on now.  Ankle is at 90%, I am hitting the full round of exercises twice a day and walking every day it's not raining.

I put on about 10 pounds of sheer fat while stalled out and I am ready to start getting that off AND start building up some stamina as my lower body muscles are puny and soft.  Until a week ago I could not take stairs on just my weak ankle, I had to do that 'step stop, get the left foot on there too, step stop' so I have a ways to go.  But I am going!

I have set myself a goal of 15 miles a week at the track, hoping to blow that away!

9 days in and plans underway

So, today is my 9th day of bed rest. My ankle is doing very well. Swelling is at a minimum and I can walk around the house using my crutches without any pain, though I still tire easily and it starts to ache after about 15 minutes of being up. I have been exercising, which helps my mood, even if it's a bit awkward. My left leg balance skillz are off the hook. Yo.

Yesterday we got our newest confirmation for Disney via a 12 digit number to make things happen. We were able to go online last night and personalize our Magic bands which will be sent in the mail shortly. Mine is pink. With their new magic + system you can go online at home and reserve your spot in line in the park, picking fast pass times, making meal plans and even holding yourself a spot for viewing the fireworks and parades. You also use the bands as your ticket and in place of a debit card, so when the kids are on their own they can still eat without having to carry anything. There's a tracking app to keep up with everyone and purchaces (that we don't want to carry with us) will be sent to our resort...it's a pretty painless way to potentially go through a lot of money!

Our seminar is about sustainable living and will be held in the living with the land pavilion at EPCOT. That's probably my favorite place in the whole park. Well, there's Japan and Norway...oh, who can decide? At any rate, I am super excited about the location and the topic!

2006 on Ben's 7th birthday

2008 on Ben's 9th birthday

The baby should always be extra celebrated.

I am sure I will have more Disney stuff to talk about over the coming weeks, I am glad our planning stuff is operational, that has a learning curve and is fun! I used the photo app to take a pic of my foot and add a hat and sticker. So don't worry, I am not mouldering away too badly!

Also:

better day

Today was a better day altogether, I feel like I've hit some sort of stride... pardon the pun.

I had a good lounge in the hammock which always helps help my mood. Though getting back out was more involved than I foresaw. It will be a while before I try that again.



Afterward, I realized I could probably do some yoga if Matt would help me get the mats on the floor. I worked up a sweat, though that could be partially attributed to having no air conditioning and it being 90 degrees. But no complaints, I still feel like I DID something. Had a nice shower after, put on a fresh skirt. I feel human again.

Fall 1: Work Weekend 2

This weekend we got the old tile out of the shower and Matt patched the hall bathroom floor, replaced the leaking faucet and water valves in the hall sink and sealed around the tub.  I put down new grout and tomorrow I am going to reseal the tiles and grout in both bathrooms.  Matt put fresh cement in the shower floor, when it was redone before we moved in, the floor was below the drain opening.  I tiled the bottom and we used it for years.  Over time from wear and cleanings, the tiles were getting discolored and the grout could not hold up, water was getting between the tiles and there was no way for it to drain out-so there was mildew ALL the time.  It looks SO much better in there and cleaner, too.

The sink was a surprise, we thought just one part was leaking and bought that one part and then discovered the whole faucet was leaking and the water valves and the lines, there was a cracked fitting somewhere...it cost a small bundle that was not in the budget.  I would still rather have a budget than just guess at everything, but it stinks when things crop up like that to wreck it.

This morning I woke up coughing and it was my 'new' cough which involves lots of gasping and Matt freaked out.  I was at the walk-in clinic by lunch.  I have walking pneumonia and some kind of bronchial something. They wanted to give me SHOTS and a chest x-ray.  I am on meds and have to go back in a week for blood tests, chest x-ray and shots if I am not breathing any better-he made lots of 'hrm' noises listening to my lungs and feeling my neck.  He and the nurse practitioner looked in my ears for about 30 seconds each and swapped significant looks.  Looks like 'that may be an opossum in there'.  And they both made noises about my throat, I left feeling like I may be secretly more sick than I thought. That was only $25 and $10 for my meds, then another $20 for probiotics and yogurt.   I think it's adult onset asthma myself.  It's not just coughing, if I talk more than 2-3 minutes in one go, I get totally winded and my voice just goes away and I have to wheeze a while.  I imagine I will be back in there Saturday for more poking.  I am bummed, I need to be healthy fast.

Okay, other than finishing painting the front of the house, which is Jake's project and I just have to be here to help, my goals this week are finishing the round of meds and being 100% better by Friday.  I want to get the shower floor sealed and new shower curtain up.  I want to have a great camping trip-6 teens, that should be interesting!  I guess I need to get my camping gear in order, menu planned and shopping done for that. Like...tomorrow.  Ack.  Come on meds, kick in!  My final goal is to pick up my camera and shoot some pictures.  I have taken seven all month.  Seven.  It's the 22nd already.

Work Weekend!

Saturday, Matt and Jake took down that huge tree in the front  yard.  It was covered, COVERED in wooly aphids that had drained the leaves until they were black.  It had lady bugs, blood sucking cone nose and other undesirable things all over it.  It had started to spread to my maples, I ended up cutting several of their branches to add to the fire we kept going all afternoon.  Luckily there was no wind and it was totally clear, so the smoke went straight up-no lung attacks for the hacking population.

The tree was also directly in front of the internet antenna, so our connection speeds are better now.

We mowed, I mean super mowed where you get the corners and edges and all that.  I ran around with the clippers and clipped down the bigger weeds growing along the fence across the front and foraged into the brush pile across the road and an hour later, found the mailbox.  Well, 1/3 of the mailbox, but it's the third she puts the mail in, so that was good.  The past couple of months it's been just a door in a wall of green things that was fast becoming a tunnel to a door in a wall of green things.  I had to take scissors with me if I needed to raise the flag. I trimmed the rose bush, the butterfly bush, the forsythia, the quince and took down one million or so privet springs with the clippers or the mower.  Then I raked them all up and burned them.  Then I put weed killer directly on the stumpy bits.  YES.  Death-dealer.

The tree limbs and all the brush were burned over the weekend, all that's left is a stack of wood from the trunk and bigger limbs and the stump.  And a huge pile of ash.  Update: we made a fire pit!

I love it!

We bought stuff to finish fixing the hall bathroom floor and redo the shower floor in here, we bought enough paint to at least finish the front of the house and the kids already have a whole section double-coated, it looks great!  We bought wood to replace that last row of fascia board, we bought curtains for 3 more windows.  I bought paint for Ben's previously pink and purple closet doors.  Now they are green.  They need one more coat to be done.  We bought solar lights to go next to the frog pond I dug as a joke in the spring.  It has 11 frogs now!  It's very badly located as far as walking around at night, so now there's a little light right by it, I hope the frogs don't mind, but I did not want to step in it and squash them all.

The new curtain for the front door.  Still lets in light, but makes it more private!

.

The budget house is spent for this month, but it's a great start.  I got up one day last week with enough energy to do something big, but not enough lung capacity to exert myself, so I tackled the budget for next year and worked out how much we can set aside to put on to projects and still do things like get a down payment for Matt's newer car, replace the roof, pay off Ben's braces and take a vacation.

I have tried to take it somewhat easy this week, after making the fire pit yesterday I felt like my rib was jabbing into my lung.  I ended up calling the nurse line out of sheer nothing else to do for myself.  She went over my symptoms and said it sounded like that rib may be broken.  Well, there's nothing to do for that other than prescription pain meds, which honestly have never helped much anyway.  They make me feel more like I don't care that I hurt than actually make it NOT hurt.  Tylenol is fine, thanks.  Found out if you wrap it, you can give yourself pneumonia.  Makes me wonder if bras are such a good idea.

We have a camping trip next week and Matt's vacation is coming up next month, I am looking forward to being elsewhere for a little while, even getting so much done around here, I have been around HERE for a solid month, barely even left the yard.  Have not even seen friends since we got back from Tennessee.  It's been a very lonesome summer!

Something

I saw on a food documentary yesterday said cilantro and parsley were good for detoxing, they pull the gunk out of your gut that your liver hopes to get rid of when it cleans your blood.  So today, Matt came home with a huge bunch of each, which we will be adding to our salads all weekend.  Tonight the salad was P and C and spinach with raspberry and bean sprouts. 

Tomorrow it will be P and C and spinach with these tiny white mushrooms that even I like and I hate mushrooms.  And mango and avocado.

Sunday it will be P and C and spinach with carrot and chopped egg and zucchini. 

Hopefully by Monday I will be able to report the amazing change that has amazingly changed my life.  hahaha. 

This is day 6 of no fake sugar, corn syrup and about 1/3 my usual gluten intake along with a huge increase in raw foods.  So far, I feel better.  Some of that is because of the sun being out, and some has to be from knowing I am taking steps to get us all healthier.  And some of it is from the blackberry wine Matt brought home.  ;D  It's Kosher for passover-real sugar!

Good News Friday

This past week has been crazy-for us.  Which I am starting to think translates in Estherese to 'one thing went really wrong and I got tunnel vision'.  The kind of tunnel vision where any minor annoyance is amplified into an ordeal.

The Volvo died, but the part came in early this morning that should fix it for now and it can finish dying when the van is paid off.  That seems fair to me.  I have spent a while talking to it this week, but the battery is not in it, so I don't know if it can understand my explanation of why it needs to last another 6 months, and that another year would be even better.  There was drama regarding the part, and the company car-stuff dot com has given me a grand run-around.  More on that later, no doubt.

The kids got feedback from the directors of Alice that was fairly glowing, Jake needs to work on getting his lines exactly right so there are no missed cues, but otherwise it was all things you'd want to hear other people say about working with your kids.  : )

The problem with Alice is that even when there's dialogue, it's nonsense.  There's no logical flow of a conversation, I did not realize how confusing and difficult learning lines would be in that situation.  It's almost like toddlers with excellent vocabularies engaged in parallel play.  That's when littles sit together and take turns talking, but they are not engaged in the same activity, one may be carrying on a conversation about trucks while the other chats about farm animals.  Alice: the Parallel Play.

Jake absorbing some inspiration from the white rabbit

Let's see.  Sunday was A Bad Day, Monday I spent a few hours researching what we could do with the Volvo to fix it, Tuesday Matt took off work and we ran around seeking opinions.  I had been in touch with 3 different 'will come to you' mechanics on Craigslist and while they ALL got back with me right away, they all 3 totally crapped out on actually showing up!  I even settled on repair prices with the first guy. 

We went to the orthodontist Tuesday afternoon to pick up Jake's new retainer-keep in mind it's been 6 weeks since the old one broke.  They had sent off the WRONG KID'S TEETH to cast the retainer.  There was a note on his chart that he had a broken tooth-which was barely chipped and has been fixed for 2+ months.  So when the assistant was looking for the teeth to send, she picked up a set from another kid that day that had a tooth actually broken off.  So now I have to go BACK and pick it up next week.

My new glasses

Wednesday, I already blogged about with photos, Thursday was payday, which always helps tip things toward the positive spectrum.  I got billed again Thursday morning for Jake's oral surgery back in April, which I JUST got notice from the insurance company that it was all paid for (other than the un-cool grand I had to chip in).  But the oral surgeon's office was actually helpful this time and told me to disregard the bill!  In fact, I should be getting a $61 refund because I overpaid on my portion!

I feel I overpaid WAY the hell more than $61, but that's at least something.  It can pay for my Pizza Luncheon Plan.  Which my LAME FRIENDS have not gotten behind yet, but they'll be sorry they missed out.  Driving 3 hours to Atlanta to look at an Ikea store, seen as a good idea.  Driving 3 hours to eat pizza that I have heard is the most awesome in the whole state, seen as early onset dementia.  I got 'the look' from a woman who once drove me and 5 innocent children across 2 other states to buy a camper she did not even have a jack for.

my new sunglasses.  And very dirty bathroom mirror.

I bought the 2 pairs of glasses in the above shots a couple weeks ago from eye buy direct dot com for under $40 for both pairs, shipped.  I have been happy with them, especially for the price I paid.  I do wish I could have seen the frames in person (and on my face) instead of online, but for under $20 for the frames and lenses, I am not complaining.  I like the black framed glasses, they are very geek girl.

In the final good news category, a friend from high school I have missed very much has been in contact with Matt via FB just this morning (I am not searchable) and just friended me! I am looking forward to catching up and getting to know what all has happened in the past 20 years! 

19

I finally lost the 9 pounds I gained-starting on the camping trip-last month.  Only took me 6 weeks and several setbacks.  But I am back to my lowest point and plan to forge ahead to new ground.  Here is the suck part.  When I gained everything the first time, I was pregnant/new mama and it all packed on evenly with the extra bulge at the belly that has been my bane for 15 years.  My wrath is very unfiery...

When I RE-gained the 9 pounds last month, it was ALL on my belly.  Which, even though I am back to my earlier weight, is not as small around as it was.  If that's not incentive...I can't think of anything else that would make me want to avoid gaining again.  Apparently when you pack on new mother pounds, it spreads out and sits on the muscles to ensure you can make milk and keep the baby warm, when you just pack on fat, it's ab fat.  I saw a video about how it packs in around the organs, that kind of fat.  UGH.

I have been walking and have built up to 3 miles a day 5 out of 7 days.  It's not so bad in the evenings, I still get sweaty, but at least the sun is not baking me.  The recent rains have really helped cool off the world and it's lovely walking out here past all the green-again fields with the sun making the sky pink and orange and the mist rising up along the tree lines in the distance.  It's very calming.  The local cows line up to look at me, hay dangling from the corner of their mouth, occasionally a calf will bolt and skitter, making the other babies charge around and the mama cows back up a step and eyeball me harder.

I have not had an issue with dogs the way we have in the past riding bikes.  I may break Matt's bike out and see if I can get in a 10 mile ride now and then to break up the monotony.  With all the hills, I'd coast half the ride and sweat and struggle the other half!  I am glad to be back on my way again, I lost my footing for a while there.  I am still not totally over my mental funk, but I feel the grip loosening and I can shake it off by doing things with the kids or walking or keeping the house up to snuff.  As long as I feel like they are okay and that I am doing something toward my health and that the house is not a sty, I can beat off most of voices in my head.  I wish I could just understand why my brain is two different beings, one who seems very against me accomplishing even the smallest victory.

You'd think, being trapped in my head, it would want to be happy and live a long time and do lots of different things, not sulk and brood and assure me how much I suck.  Whatever, Inner Nasty.  I am putting you back in the coal hole, for you are being very naughty.  (We just watched Silas Marner for English credit)  Don't bother trying to come back out until you can act better.


Anyway, I had hoped to be at my next goal by my birthday, but a pound a week-my going average at the moment-puts me at only 5 pounds less by then.  *sigh*  I would have to get some kind of parasite to lose 4 pounds a week.  It will take until the first week of November at the rate I am going.  Oh well, as long as it's this year!

Saturday

Not a bad day at all!  The weather was wonderful, we went to Cullman and walked around the big park and then over to the lake and walked in the woods a while.  Back home, the kids and I cleaned up more brush and Jake dug up a few wild walnut trees that had sprouted in the bulb bed.  We raked and raked and I moved rocks around to reform part of a retaining wall and piled dirt on the high side. 

Matt loaded the drums and headed to a gig, I have Letters to Juliet to watch later on and an interesting forensics novel I am just getting into laying on the bed.  I have had a hot shower and a good-for-me meal, feeling pretty fine all the way around today.  : )  

I had my weekly diet drink this afternoon at the park to help chase away a headache I was getting.  It worked, but it was like drinking a chemical mix!  I did not want it at all.  That's good, I had harbored the feeling that I was not doing as well as I could last year with being able to give up so much, but somehow not the diet sodas.  After a couple weeks of water, fruits and whole grains, when I eat or drink something with several additives or preservatives, I feel icky.  

I feel SO good these days, even when I am tired or something's bugging me, I still FEEL good, my body feels stronger and my brain is more clear. I am loving that!

Day One

 The new year arrived, the kids kept watching Myth Busters, but clapped at midnight.

Yes, yes that is a NASCAR blanket! 

 

Jake did a dance, I told him no one was as awesome as him.  He said, "Right now, no one could be."   

I stayed up all night reading No Direction Home.  Excellent book!
Around 3, I decided to purge everything I have eaten the last 3 days and spent the remainder of the night busy with that little activity.  Ugh, I was SO sick.  Then, it was all over and I feel just fine again.  Maybe too many pain killers?  A delayed reaction to the SEVEN vials of lydocaine he injected into my face?

 Oh, the light of noon the next day, the horror and pain of an early rising!

There was a Munchkin Marathon with the new cards Jake bought.
I worked on my new website most of the day.
It poured rain.
I played Animal Crossing a while.

Not a very exciting New Year, but I am not complaining!  My tooth is about 80%, just the...extraction site...still hurts some and my jaw is a little sore.  Nothing like having my wisdom teeth removed, that's for sure.  Upper teeth are supposed to be easier, I am so glad! 

9 hours later

To get a tooth out without sedation, they numb you up with lydocaine shots in the gum on each side of the offending tooth.  Then they wait a while and shoot more in there.

While we waited today, I let loose with just how I feel about having called and come by so often and not getting an estimate until yesterday.  He said he would talk to his staff.  I said I hoped he realized that did me NO good at all now.

They use a metal spoon thing to hold your cheek out of the way and put a metal band on the tooth in front of the one being pulled to keep it from being chipped if it gets knocked against.

The tooth puller device is basically a smaller version of a dinosaur head on a stick, it had a little handle on one end and a gripper on the other. 

To get a tooth out that is otherwise designed to stay in place even after the body decays, takes work.  And rotation.  Not much back and forth wiggling as it was going around and around.  This leaves a gaping hole in the gum that still bleeds some 9 hours later.

It took about 4 minutes to get the tooth out, he did not stop once he got going, though I tried to tell him my lip was folded under the grabber and he was grinding it into my lower teeth.  4 minutes can be a very long time.

I did not know when the tooth came out, he stopped yanking and set down the puller thing and told me how to fold the gauze pads for the blood.  I started poking back there with my tongue and discovered-no tooth! 

It was not as bad as I imagined.  I was worried that I would FEEL the tooth sluck out of the hole.  He would not let me even look at the tooth, though I did ask for it to put in my holy water bottle.  I had to settle for sprinkling the used gauze and saying 'demon infection be gone'.  Well, I mumbled it anyhow.  I thought about saying it in Latin, malum contagio, licentia, but I was slurry.  Who knows what I might have really said?   I might have invoked something worse than an abscessed tooth-though what that could be, I have no idea. 

Now to begin the process of healing and knowing that the pain won't come back.  I took a Demerol about an hour after the procedure. It was like taking an oblivion pill, I don't know why they don't use those instead of sedation.  Also, I weigh about double what Jessie weighs and she's only $15 to sedate.  Just saying.

I have consumed a can of chicken noodle soup, it was visceral.  Hot, salty, slippery noodles.  I slurped and gulped, it was quite satisfactory, I was so hungry.  The vanilla pudding was not quite as thrilling.  

incipio vigoratus!