I'm baaaaaack...

 

Hi. It's been a long time. 

It's been a rough time.

We lost the house, and have been living in a single room in a hotel - Sis, Mom, and me. We had to find new homes for Miss Muffin, Teddy, Amy, and Gigi because there was a limit as to how many pets we could have in one room, and we couldn't afford two rooms. It nearly killed us all. Sammy died over the 4th of July. It was completely unexpected and gut wrenching. Sissy desperately needs a new hip and is in constant pain, but her heart seems to be holding up pretty well. Mom is, well, Mom. She will be 86 this month and is still running strong, although a little slower. Otherwise, we are doing pretty well. Managed to avoid Covid so far, so there's that to be thankful for as well.

I'm still working for the transportation company, but work has been so incredibly slow that I had to get a second job. I'm now working nights for Amazon in a warehouse about 40 minutes north of our hotel. It's incredibly physical for a gal that has spent the last 36 years sitting on her fat butt behind a desk, but I'm managing pretty well. It's a 10.5 hour shift, and you are only able to sit down during your two ten minute breaks and half hour lunch. Otherwise, you are on your feet the entire time. I'm getting used to it, and have even lost a few pounds! It's literally a half mile walk from the front door to the area where I work. Seriously. I've mapped it. So I'm walking about twelve miles a month just going from my car, into the building, and back. Woo hoo! I'll take it any way I can get it. The pay is good and so are the benefits, so I'll keep doing it for as long as I can; but I'd really like to go back to an office job.

I've updated my pages and have even added a few new ones. I hope you enjoy them! I've been trying to be productive and learn a few new things. I have a laptop now, so I hope to get back into the swing of blogging again. Wish me luck!

Oh, and Mrs. Weenie says hello. TTFN.

Random Pictures

Since yesterday's post was such a major downer, I thought I would post some pictures that I have taken over the last year. No negatives here! Ha! Get it? Pictures, negatives... Oh well. Please to enjoy.

Skyler on a cottage cheese high.

Old car in Gavin, WA

One of the cabbages from Les's garden last summer

Our yard in winter, 2016

Sis and I ran away to the coast one day in February

Shell

The mother ship near Ocean Shores, WA in February 

Quinault Beach, WA

Out for a drive with Mom and Sis a few days before Les's funeral, saw this sweetie

Same drive, near Mossyrock, WA

Took this picture while waiting for one of my train crews; Solo Point, WA

A lily from one of the flower arrangements at Les's funeral

A peony the size of a dinner plate - no joke - Montesano, WA

Montesano, WA - city hall

A deer in our very overgrown yard on a lovely June morning

I hope to post more pictures and things soon. Love you all.

TTFN.

Basically, Life Just Sucks

Well, it's been almost a year since my last post. Sorry to have neglected my posting, but without decent internet at home, it's nearly impossible these days. While many little things have not changed in my life, there have been some big changes. Here are the highlights:

• In September, Mom started packing in earnest for her move up here. We took in her two dogs, Stanley and Shadow, while she packed so that they wouldn't be so nervous and constantly under her feet. On Sept. 21st, Shadow disappeared from the front yard while Sis and I were in Olympia doing some grocery shopping. We never found him or found out what happened to him. Sis, Mom and I were absolutely devastated.
• Jim moved away at the end of October, about three days before Mom moved in. He sold off the riding lawn mower, which we owned half of, and kept all the money. He tried to steal a bunch of Les's tools, and also sold the one working push mower we had, keeping the money for that as well. Parting good-byes were tense. I made sure I wasn't home.
• Mom moved in at the end of October. We had lots of help from the men in her church, and my nephew Jeremy was a HUGE help. He got a friend of his, Dana, to help. Dana had a huge pickup and toy trailer that pretty much held everything in my mom's trailer! They took stuff to storage and brought the rest to the house. We hugged and praised Dana, and I told Jeremy to give him my number if he was interested in a fat wife.
• One week after Mom moved in, Jeremy's wife left him for Dana. Apparently they had been having an affair for months.
• We managed to make it through the winter without killing each other.
• In February, we had to put Luka down. We think she may have suffered a stroke. We think she was around 15 or 16 years old. She had a great life with us and we miss her every single day.
• Also in February, Les started having a pain in his side, like a kidney stone. After several weeks, I finally managed to convince him to go to the ER to have it looked at. It wasn't a kidney stone. The ER doctor was very kind and a little amazed as he told us that it was actually cancer that had completely invaded his lungs and liver. He could not believe that Les was just now presenting because of pain! He told him he was too tough for his own good. After seeing an oncologist, Les decided he wanted to do chemo. It would only extend his life about 18 months, but he wanted those 18 months and we supported him in that.
• On March 3rd, Les turned 80 years old.
• On March 7th, Les had his first chemo treatment.
• On March 10th, Les passed away in his sleep. He had been admitted to the hospital at about 3am that morning because he was completely incoherent and was running a high temp. He thought the paramedic was his son, Lee. They got him stabilized and brought his temp down, but his heart rate was really high. Sis and I left the hospital later in the morning to go home and get a few hours sleep. We went back in the afternoon, and he was better, but had big sores in his throat (probably from the chemo) and couldn't eat anything. We left him in the evening so that Sis could go home and get some sleep. Her heart condition has worsened again and the stress and little sleep was really bad for her. We left Sis's cell phone number for the nurses and went home. Sis made me turn my cell phone off because work kept calling me, trying to get me to come in. When I woke up the next morning, there were five missed calls and voicemails from the hospital, trying to reach Sis. He had died at 11:30 that night. The hospital had transposed her phone number in their system and couldn't reach her; I was the second contact but had my phone turned off. Sis cannot forgive herself for not being there.
• Without Les's income, and the fact that Sis's name is not on the mortgage, the bank is now foreclosing. I got Sis an attorney, and we may be able to save the house, but chances are slim. Sis currently has no income, and Social Security is taking their own sweet time approving her benefits. There are mountains of paperwork and the meds Sis is on make her really dizzy and jelly brained, so I am trying to help her keep track of everything, but she keeps losing stuff, etc.
• Like I mentioned, Sis's heart condition is getting worse again and she is barely capable of the most basic things. Mom and I are constantly waiting on her, hand and foot, and we feel horrible and selfish for hating every minute of it. She has zero stamina and mostly just sits in her recliner watching YouTube videos and playing games on her phone all day. Or sleeping all day. Sometimes she is able to help prepare dinner or go to the grocery store, but then the next day she can only sleep. I am trying to get her to go back to the cardiologist, but it's been fighting an uphill battle.
• I am trying to come to terms with my fate. I will probably never have a life of my own again. I will spend the rest of my life taking care of Sis and Mom, and then will be too old for a love life or anything like that. I will end my days in a state run nursing home, being abused and robbed blind by the staff until I finally die. The end.

So much for trying not to be negative. Thanks for listening and letting me get this off my chest, especially that last bullet.  Probably not a wise choice of words - "last bullet". Surely things can only go up from here? I probably shouldn't ask that out loud, should I?


I hope anyone reading this is doing better than we are. I'm trying to keep my chin up and I buy a lottery ticket every now and then. Wish me luck with that.


TTFN.

Life Still Sucks, But There Are Blessings

Sorry to have been away so long. I have wanted to come back and update, but I've just been too down and negative to be on here. I hate being negative; no one likes to read that! But, I do have some positive things to say, so I guess I'll just lay it all out there.

First off, a big THANK YOU to Betsy C. She left a very nice comment on my last post the other day, asking about how Sis is doing; this encouraged me to come back to the blog. I appreciate it!

So, Sis is doing MUCH better these days. By March she had lost 100 lbs!! She looks like a totally different person. She got on the right combo of water pills and heart medications and is almost back to normal. In May, her ejection fraction was up to 44% (from 19%). She has enough stamina to walk around the grocery store, do light housework, some cooking, etc., but still tires easily. I am not waiting on her hand and foot anymore, but I think she would still prefer that I do! She still has some days where she just doesn't want to get out of bed, but she does; sometimes it's not until Noon, but she does it. Most days she has her hair done up and her make up on, which helps her to feel better as well. Here is a recent picture of her from June:

You would never know this was the same woman lying in a hospital bed in January, as round as round can be from all the fluids she was retaining. She has been having great fun going through her closet and finding brand new clothes that were always too small for her that now fit her perfectly!

Financially, we are still really struggling. My unemployment ran out in March; there are no extensions. Since Sis's health improved, I was not able to apply to be her caregiver. I applied for jobs like crazy; no luck. I am not able to work for WalMart or in fast food because I cannot stand on my feet for more than 15-20 minutes at a time, otherwise I'd be all over that. I finally found a job in May working for a transportation company as a driver. We transport railroad crews from one city to another, sometimes picking them up on the side of the railroad tracks, sometimes from the local depot. I love the job because I love to drive, and the guys (and occasional gals) in the crews are super nice. The only drawback is the pay and the schedule. I make about what I made on unemployment, but instead of getting paid every week, it's every other week. I think that it actually averages out to be less than minimum wage. Right now I have about $40 in my checking account, and that has to last until the 12th! The schedule is 5am to 5pm, five days a week, which is fine. The problem is that I am "on call"; which means even though I go on the board as available at 5am, I may sit around all day waiting to be called for a run. It might come at 10am, or 4:55pm, or I might not get called at all. If I do go on a run, I hang around in Centralia all day because that is where the company vehicles are parked. I live 35 minutes away, so I can't afford the time or the gas to go back home just in case they call me to do another run. This weekend we were told that there was a huge back up of trains sitting in Spokane, so it was a call for all hands on deck - no days off - so that we could be ready for them this weekend. Well, I got one run yesterday - which was not for one of the bottled up trains - and as of this writing (at 12:30pm on my scheduled day off), nothing. Sigh. It can make it very difficult to do anything. But, I'm starting to adjust to it. And it's money on the bank.

We have not been able to get disability for Sis for a variety of reasons, which I won't go into. I heard about a possibility of getting more money for Les's social security, so we have applied for that. The smart thing to do would be to sell the house and move into something a little smaller, but I just don't see that happening. Mom has been helping me out, sending me money to make sure the car insurance is paid and my cell phone stays on. I use a pay-as-you-go plan that is only $35 a month, so that helps. I do need to get a smartphone for work, but I just can't afford one. I'm trying to find a used one that is not the newest and fanciest, but haven't found one yet. It has to be an android phone to use the apps I need for work.

Otherwise, we are just kind of in a holding pattern. Sis and Les sit in the living room all day, watching You Tube videos; sometimes Les goes out and works in the garden. Here's a few pics:

The garden is a bit straggly this year; one day Les decided he didn't feel like hoeing out the weeds, so he went out with the RoundUp instead. Unfortunately, it was a bit breezy out, and well ... let's just say it's a lesson learned: don't spray weed killer in the garden on a windy day. The second picture is of our one ginormous rhubarb bush. The stocks are huge and thick, but only about 2" worth is red. It should be ripe for harvesting next year. We planted some wild butterfly bushes in our front yard which are now starting to bloom. I got these great shots the other day just as Sis and I were leaving for town:

I have managed to make a few cards that I'm gong to give my mom for a gift, if I ever get down there to see her.  This is one of the cards I made that I sent to her as a thank you for a check she sent:

It's not a very good picture, but I think you get the idea. I absolutely adore this teacup die! I used it on three patterned papers and the white, then inlaid the patterned papers into it. Mom loved it! I need to make some more and learn how to take better pictures of them. I'd like to try and sell them on Etsy and perhaps in some of the local shops in town.

I guess that's the highlights of things that have been happening. I feel a little better; there seems to be a small pinpoint of light at the end of the tunnel and things don't seem quite so bleak. I still get down in the dumps frequently; I just don't know when I will ever get to move out into my own place, if ever. Mom is planning on moving in here by the end of the year, and to be honest, while it will be a good thing to have her here, I fear it will be the straw that breaks this camel's back. Mom and I do not get along when we live together, and Les does everything he can think of to push all of Mom's buttons. I don't know why. I cannot stand the tension in the house when all of that is going on. I crave my own space, my own things around me, my own privacy. Sis has become very attached to me and hates it when I am not constantly in her presence. She wants me to sit with her in the living room when I'm not at work, but all we do is watch video after video of stuff I am not even slightly interested in, and we can't have a conversation because then Les cannot hear the TV. I love her more than life itself, but she has become clingy and suffocating lately. I don't have anything that is just ... mine. She has taken over my Pinterest account and the You Tube account; any craft I try to do she has to be involved and then takes over; these are petty things, I know, but it just irks me. I'll get over it. Eventually. In the meantime I torture myself by looking at homes for rent and for sale online.

Well, hopefully I won't leave you along for so long again. Hopefully I'll have more positive stuff as the months go by. Wish me luck!

TTFN.

Sorry, But Life Just Sucks

I hate to be a Debbie Downer, but it's the simple truth: life sucks so hard right now.


Sis's health problems are way worse than we imagined. There will be no huge bounce-back from this. Her heart's ejection fraction is 19%; normal is 50 or higher. Much below 5% and you are on the transplant list. The ejection fraction is the measure of how well the heart squeezes and pushes the blood out of the heart. She is so swollen from fluid retention that her legs feel like they are made from cement! However, she has lost over 30lbs of fluid (of the approximately 60lbs she has gained), and it has helped immensely with her breathing issues. Home health nurses and physical therapists make house calls twice a week. I am going to check into the possibility that I could be recognized by the state to be her official care giver; I'm already doing all the work, perhaps I can actually get paid for it and have an actual job.


Financially, life really sucks. I am trying to support all three of us, plus the animals, on $228 a week in unemployment benefits. We've lost our internet (thank goodness for free internet use at the library!) which means no Netflix (we already were doing without cable or satellite); are really close to having our electricity cut off - and our well has an electric pump, so no power, no water; no cell phones; and not a whole lot of food. I'm trying to help Sis apply for disability since the doctor declared her 100% disabled, but it's slow going. The utility company has been very generous with their patience, and we did find a place that will pay $50 of our $400 bill, but I don't know where the other $350 will come from. I'm trying really hard to just live one day at a time, but I'm starting to have panic attacks at night, and when I dream, it's of me explaining our situation to the internet company over, and over, and over...


Otherwise, not a lot else is going on. I'm constantly waiting hand and foot on Sis so I have not been able to get any crafting done. I am able to read at night before bed, so that's nice. I'm going to spend some of my weekly budget on a component cable so we can hook the DVD player up to the nice big HDTV we bought this summer; at least we can watch movies that way.


Thanks for listening to me whine. I have a bunch of pictures to share, but I'm not able to get them on here using the library's computer. Hopefully I can find a way to do that soon.


Take care, and I'll yak at ya later. TTFN.

2016? Already??

Well, heck fire. Sorry I've been away so long; not by choice, I can assure you. Here are some bullet points and a bunch of pictures.

• The mill went on strike in August; I was not allowed to cross the picket line. Was out of work for two weeks while people spit at each other, called each other names, etc. Mill went back to work, but decided they didn't really need the position I held. Now out of work for real. Two weeks later, no work, no benefits.
• Got a job interview; woke up the morning of with strep throat and the entire left side of my head and neck swollen. Didn't get the job.
• Mom is still recovering with her back issues. Dogs are now back home with her; she is getting better and no longer requires 24/7 care. I now go down 2-3 days per week to do her shopping, help her take a shower, etc. 
• Sis's health has taken a sharp nose dive right into the ground. She was diagnosed with heart failure a year ago, but no one offered any treatment or anything. She has had zero medical benefits for the last 6 years, could not afford it once Les had to quit working when he got cancer. I had to start going to work with her so that she could just make it through the day (she was a home health care aide for a private party). She is now on 6 weeks unpaid medical leave, which makes it even more impossible to afford health insurance. I found a policy for her that, with the Obamacare tax thingy, she can afford. She is now seeing a cardiologist who was APPALLED (thank you!) that she has not received any treatment for her condition. She goes in on the 5th for an echocardiogram to see what kind of heart failure she has, then she can be treated for it. She is pretty much 90% bedridden at this point, she can only walk about 10-15 feet at a time before she passes out from lack of oxygen; Les is the worst nursemaid of all time. If I am down at mom's, he never checks on her to see if she needs to eat, or have something to drink, or anything. He thinks she is being lazy because she sleeps so much. I want to hit him in the head with a cast iron skillet.
• I have a job interview on the 6th with the library in Chehalis. I am so excited! It's only part-time, but it has all the benefits that a full-time job offers. Which means MEDICAL! And VISION! My glasses are 20 years old and I just cannot see anymore. Wish me luck!
• Back in August the chicken farm across the road from our home burned to the ground. The firefighters were incredible; with flames reaching heights of up to 150 feet in the air, they managed to keep a 15,000 lb propane tank from exploding, losing a firetruck in the process. They also saved all the homes nearby (including ours). They used helicopters to pull water from our pond in the back, and they used it to keep pumping water on the fire for three full days. 

  

  Pumper truck at the pond

  
  

  

  Fire burns behind mobile home directly across the road

  Most of the pictures I took of the fire itself didn't turn out very well, but you get the idea. The farm had 12 total chicken houses; 8 of them were full with approximately 2,200 chickens in each. They all burned to the ground, no survivors. The fire burned for days. Everyone was extremely lucky. Well, except for the poor chickens. 
• Mom officially retired from the company where she worked due to her back issues. They threw her a little party, and even the mailman came! She was very touched and it meant so much to her.
  
• 
  
• Here are a few random pictures:
  
  
  
  

  

  Our garden turned out quite well this year!

  
  

  

  Lots of lovely onions in the garden

  
  

  

  Prescott Beach turnoff, Hwy 30 south of Rainier, Oregon

  
  

  

  Do you see the stork? Prescott Beach turnoff

Trojan, former nuclear power plant, now a lovely park
South of Rainier, Oregon

Another lovely tree at Trojan

So, that's been my life for the last few months in a nutshell. No time for crafts or anything fun, just an occasional picture or two on the way to or from Mom's. I will have others to post later. I hope to become more regular again as my life (hopefully) begins to even out.

Until next time, TTFN. 

Lots of various stuff and things

Well, so much for posting more often. We just cannot seem to catch a break this year! The pump for the well died, so we were without water for a couple of days (well, I say WE but fortunately I was down at Mom's!). We are fortunate to have the creek just behind the house so we could have used that to water the animals if we needed to; but Les had just finished giving everyone fresh water and had watered the garden right before the well pump died. It was fixed pretty quickly, and hopefully it will last for another 20 years. The bad part is that when the pump restarted it sucked up tons of rocks and now pretty much all the water sources in the house are clogged with them. It takes the washing machine FOREVER to fill to wash even a small load. GRRRRRR.

On my way down to Mom's last Sunday, my Rodeo turned over 270,000 miles! Monday morning, she would not start. Long story short - $500 for a new starter. Ugh.

Anywhooooo...I wanted to give a shout out to Waltzingmouse Stamps. Several weeks ago I won a random giveaway! I was so excited, I never win anything! I wasn't sure what to get since the prize was awarded in British pounds, and so instead of trying to figure out the exchange rate, I just asked Claire to pick for me. Wow - what an awesome selection she sent! I'm pretty sure she went over the amount she said I had won; here is the lovely haul:

Please excuse the horrible pictures; you can see Shadow's foot in the upper right corner of the top one! I cannot wait to use these stamps; the coffee set is my favorite, and I have so many ideas for them!! Please check out Waltzingmouse Stamp's website; shipping is quick because they have a US shipper, so you don't have to wait to get a shipment from across the pond.

I still have not been able to sit down and do any crafting. Mom is s-l-o-w-l-y recovering so I am still spending Sunday-Thursday down at her place. So I am going to continue sharing the cards I made for Jenny's swap.

The second card was my first experiment with the "smooshing" technique. I wish I had used watercolor paper instead of regular heavy cardstock; it warped pretty badly despite my best efforts. I like how it came out, despite that. The flowers were part of a K&C pack of pre-cut embellishments I bought a hundred years ago. I'll share more cards in my next post.

A few weeks ago, Mom and I were down in Gladstone, OR having lunch along the Clackamette River. On our way to the little beach there, we passed the Gladstone Community Garden. When I saw this plant, I hit the brakes! I was completely amazed by it! I asked Mom if it was an artichoke plant, and she wasn't sure. I didn't have my camera with me at the time, so the following week I crossed my fingers and toes that they hadn't cut it down and ran out there with my camera. I thought that perhaps it was the biggest thistle plant I had ever seen; later I Googled it and discovered that it was, indeed, an artichoke plant. This sucker is at least five feet tall, and those artichoke flowers are about the size of a salad plate:

And, almost last but not least, a few pictures of the Blue Moon we had on July 31st:

I mentioned Shadow's foot in my picture above; he and Stanley are Mom's dogs. They are staying out here with us for a while during Mom's recovery. They love to cow-a-bunga up onto her lap and Shadow usually sleeps on her leg that is hurting her right now, so we decided that it would be helpful if they weren't doing that. So, last pictures, are Shadow and Stanley:

Stanley, the ChiWeenie

Shadow, the Chihuahua

Well, I guess that's it for now. Until Mom gets well enough for me to spend more time at home, I'll try to post once a week. Gotta go round up all my stuff and get on the road to Mom's now. Hope you are all well, and I really appreciate your stopping by.

TTFN.