Nothing Much

Nothing much happening.  Just doing a little shopping for food and paper towels and laundry detergent etc.  I even found a bar of Lava soap!

RAMBLE WARNING

Years ago when I was going to business school in Columbus, OH, I worked part time for a music store.

They repaired musical instruments and sold music scores.  Their main customers were schools all over Ohio.  They got dirty and messed up the bathroom sink with slimy soap.

I hate to admit that one of my jobs was to clean that bathroom.  So when we needed more hand soap I bought them a bar of Lava and cleaned the sink.

They were very impressed with the new bar of soap and how it didn’t leave soap scum on the sink.  I told them it was hand soap and showed them the wrapper.  Farm girls do know a few things that city folks don’t need to know.

I got paid $1.00/hour for that job.   That was the minimum wage then. 

I lived in an old house with thirty girls.  There was a kitchen in the basement.  There were several refrigerators and we were designated a quarter of a shelf to keep our food.

A lot of blind dates were arranged.  I accepted a blind date to the school’s halloween party.  It was with an Airforce man.  There is something about a man in a uniform. 

Our dates consisted of a coke with two straws sitting in Isaly's playing chess.   Six months later we were married.  It lasted 23 years and three kids.

Gosh that was a long time ago. 

Enough ramble.

later….

 

Sunflowers

Lory stopped by and took some pictures of our sunflowers.  The first two pictures show how close I am to the pizza place.  It shows a little in the background.

The one above is a bit fuzzy but the bees love it.

Not really much to tell today except that Bandit found a way to get into the garden area and didn’t respond when I called.  I was afraid he had gotten away. 

It is very overgrown along the fence so you can’t see much.  He finally got done sniffing the garden and started barking.

He couldn’t remember how he got back there so I had to walk back and open the gate.  He was very happy to see me coming.  He actually ran all the way to the back door.

Susan stopped by on her way home from work and Bandit showed her how he got to the garden area.  We fixed it with twister ties.  A hillbilly fence deserves a hillbilly fix.

Later….

Cancer Marker Test

The marker blood test is called CA 27-29.  When I search for that on the web I get some explanations and discussions.  It is a way of monitoring the cancer activity and the effectiveness of the treatment.

The best I can figure, it looks at a protein that is in the blood when you have certain kinds of cancer.

The three tests before this latest one (171) were right around 50.  So a jump up is not good.  The Dr. said these pills I am taking (Xeloda) take a while to build up so we will stay with them for six more weeks.  After that I will get a PET scan to look at the spots.

If the spots have grown and multiplied the chemo treatment will be changed. 

This doesn’t really change anything in the day to day stuff.  I have accepted that this is not curable.  My affairs are in order, I have even purchased an urn for my ashes.  Actually it is a box. 

So life goes on and I’m not depressed.  I’m enjoying each day for what it is.  I am taking Cymbalta which is an antidepressant, that probably helps.

The sun flowers that Lory planted in the garden are blooming.  I’ll try to get a picture soon.

The rabbits have eaten all the bean plants.  There are rabbits living under the deck.  Bandit pees on the deck.  I think he is trying to tell the rabbits something.  Of course, he pees in the middle of a board and it doesn’t go down under the deck at all.

Bandit is no longer able to get up onto the couch.  He likes to stay in the bathroom so I got him a cushy dog rug for in there.  He is about 12 years old I think.  I’ve had him about one year now. 

He had to stay in a kennel before I fostered him.  If I have to give him up he will probably go back there.  He has some bad habits but he has improved over the past year. 

He only barks when I am getting his food fixed and he has never howled.  I think he is happy as he comes and lays nearby wherever I am.   I give him a massage every night before bed.  When I get done with his legs and back he rolls over for the tummy part. 

We could all do with that treatment.

Later….

 

Doctor’s Appt. & Chairs

Dr.’s appointment today to talk to the Dr. and get a blood test.  They were very busy so it took a while.  The appointment was for 1:45 and I got home at 4:00. 

The only news I got was that my most recent blood marker test was 171 which is not good.  This Xeloda chemotherapy has to build up in your system according to the Dr. 

I had an anonymous request to ask if I was on Twitter or Facebook.  I do not twitter.  I am on Facebook but do not post there much.  I just like to see what other family and friends are posting.  I feel like a stalker sometimes.

I do like to get comments, apparently someone liked my ramble. 

Susan Tim and Willie came and picked up the trunk yesterday.  They also took a piano chair that I got at an auction and haven’t been able to sell.  For a while there I was into chairs.

Old but sturdy chairs.  I have one in the bathroom that I painted and put some sunflowers on with glue and then sealed over it all.  Decoupage I guess.

I stack extra towels on it since there isn’t much cupboard space in the bathroom. 

Here are some pictures of my chairs:

  Bathroom chair

Rocking chair and big old chair for holding stuff like clothes etc.

The school buses were out this afternoon and the school zones were also blinking red lights.  Some of them started last week.  Poor kids just got used to sleeping all day and staying up all night.  It’s kind of like when you bring them home from the hospital as newborn.

Later….

An Old Trunk & Blind Chess

Ramble Warning

This past week my daughter, Susan, asked if I had a trunk that she could use for a coffee table.  Oh boy, oh boy, oh boy!  I can get rid of one more thing!

When my maternal Grandfather died in 1963 I lived a long way from home, in Gainesville, FL.  His home needed to be emptied.  My parents saved an old trunk for me.

My Mother explained it’s origins, it had belonged to her brother, Harry.  Harry was killed in a hunting accident on Jan. 1, 1920 at age 18. 

She explained her brothers didn’t have dressers or chests of drawers in their bedroom, they each had a trunk.  They had pegs on the wall for some of their clothes and everything else went into their trunk.

The metal corners and edges were very thin metal that had split and jagged edges stuck out.  I ordered new ones.  I used paint remover on the rest of it and it cleaned up real nice. 

The new lock broke just like the original one had broken. 

I put stuff in it that I didn’t know where else to put.  Like the unfinished embroidery of my Mother’s, my old report cards, doll clothes, an old geography book dated 1883 that had belonged to my uncle Harry.  (a clue to spelling the word geography – George Elliot’s Old Grandmother Rode A Pig Home Yesterday).

Also the data from a computer program that my first husband was writing, a program for blind chess.  Blind chess is a whole other story.

It takes three people and two chess sets to play blind chess.  Each player has their own chess board and set of pieces, neither player can see the other players board, the third person is a referee. 

We found a TV tray tipped up in the middle of the table was pretty good to keep the players from seeing one another’s boards.

The referee can see both boards.  When a player makes a move the referee blends the two boards in their mind and says either “white has made a valid move, black to move” or “white has made an invalid move”.  If the move in invalid white has to keep trying until he makes a valid move. Sometimes the call was “white has made a valid move, pawn captured, black to move” and then the ref has to remove the pawn.

Don’t ask me why anyone thought of this game – why do college kids do anything.  Being referee made me dizzy but it was usually my job.  I was glad when they thought a computer could do that job.  I don’t think they ever perfected it.

The geography book is politically incorrect as it says “The caucasian, or white race, is superior to all others, and is the most numerous.”

It also says “ The United States is a Republic, consisting of 46 states, 4 territories, and the District of Columbia.  One of the territories, Alaska, is not organized.”

The whole book is interesting. 

Maybe I could slip some more stuff into that trunk before they come to get it on Sunday.   HAHAHAHA (evil laugh).

Later….

 

Chemo Pills and Trash Day

Today I stayed home so I would be here when UPS delivered my next round of chemo pills (Xeloda).  They came just after 1:00.  I washed dishes while I waited. 

So far this kind of chemo seems to allow my hair to grow and I have more appetite.  Food even tastes better.  Is this good?  I don’t know.  Does chemo have to make you miserable to work? 

Only time will tell but I’ll take these improvements while I have them.  The next PET scans aren’t until the end of September (I think).  So far the scans have been about every three months and June 27 was the last one.

I finished the second round of these pills this morning so now I have a seven day break before starting the next two week round.

I’ve been getting small tomatoes from the garden.  These should be large tomatoes.  Maybe it was the excessive heat that is making them small.  They are very tasty and they have made a small sore at the corner of my mouth.  They are worth it.

This is trash day and I got mine out to the street.  I walk very carefully as the bottoms of my feet are red and sore.  That is the major side effect of Xeloda.  I haven’t figured out how to get along without walking.  I use the Udder Cream that they recommended and it does seem to help. 

The weather has been beautiful for several days now, nice warm days and nice cool nights.  I even left the storm door propped open so the dogs could go in and out in the evening.  At least I did until the flies started coming in.

later….

 

Fun Overdone Thursday

Thursday was the beginning of the Butter St Barn’s monthly barn buster sale.  Lory and I took a carload over to the sale. 

I helped a little with the set up, not much.  Mostly I sat and chatted with people and drank some of my ginger ale that I had carried in my purse. 

Susan came by from her work and we went to Subway for lunch.  About then I realized that the ginger ale had leaked in my purse.  Those water bottles they give you at the hospital are crappy.

There were almost no customers so we brought our stuff in after lunch and I came home and took a nap.

I took everything out of my sticky purse and wiped it off and rinsed off the purse.

After the nap I remembered I was supposed to go pick up a prescription.  So off to the drug store.  I went thru the drive in window as I didn’t need anything else.

On the way home I passed a huge church rummage sale.   Actually I didn’t pass it.  I stopped.

I found a manikin of just the top half of a female, but cloth covered.  I dealt for that but didn’t have that much money with me.  After all I was just going to the drug store and my purse and contents were all still wet.

I went home and got more money to pay for the manikin.  Went back and looked around some more to be sure I had seen everything. 

I found one more thing I wanted.

It’s a very old jack-in-the-box.  It says Germany on the bottom.  Three of the corners of the box are split and I think jack was holding something in his hands originally.  There is no crank or music box.  Must be you just opened the lid and he popped out.

I’m afraid to try to glue the corners.  Jack is leaning on the side and he would probably push that side back out anyway.  So Lory & I put a rubber band around it. 

That face  is very scary.  We used to scare kids – maybe we still do.  That’s not a bad thing.  The world is scary so they need to get used to it.

After all that running around I pretty much stayed on the couch today.  My feet are sore.

later….

Usual Stuff

Nothing much happening around here lately.   Just the usual stuff – like Bandit in the bathtub because there was a dark cloud overhead and some rain fell.

It had just started when I was feeding the dogs.  Bandit left half his food and started the pacing back and forth that he does just before he gets in the bathtub. 

Since Teddy was done eating his food he thought he would help Bandit finish his.  When Bandit saw this he decided to reclaim his food bowl. 

Teddy produced a sound that was very much like a large cat purring – that’s his growl.  I had to put food bowls up on the counter to prevent a dog fight – or at least more purring growling.

Only my apple fritters can get Bandit up onto the counter. 

My lockbox for the door key arrived.  I had to read the instructions to figure out how to set the three letter code.  I think I got a very good deal when I bid on it on ebay.  I paid just under $14.00 including shipping.  It is new, made in Taiwan.   It is now hanging on the front door knob. 

That is much better than picking various places to hide it outside.  In winter it is pretty obvious where your tracks go when there is snow on the ground.

Actually a little snow sounds okay right now, it has been so hot.  I know I’ll wish for some of this heat next winter.  Some people are never satisfied.

later….

 

Chemo & Diet

Apparently my appetite is coming back as the scales show I have gained a couple of pounds.

I have started my Xeloda chemo pills again.  All this chemo would make me an expert on telling if someone was being poisoned.   Tired?  No Energy?  Messed up digestion?  ETC ETC.  Enough pity party.

In managing my diet, trying not to mix protein and starch in any given meal, I tried salmon patties and meat loaf by using ground up dried peas and  agar in place of bread crumbs.  That was edible.  Well, it got eaten.

The next experiment is using ground up dried mushrooms in place of bread crumbs.  My sister sent me some white powder (ground dried mushrooms).  The four small meatloaves are now in the oven. 

I make small loaves and freeze them.  There is just one of me after all.

While I was at the doctor’s office yesterday Bandit, the short, long bassett dog, did some counter surfing.  He ate two large pastries I bought as my reward for shopping. 

When doggy supper time arrived he got the empty box for his supper.  Teddy got his regular dog food.  I had to intervene to keep Bandit from bullying Teddy away from his food. 

Poor old Bandit who can barely get in and out of the house can stand on his hind legs and get food off the counter.  HAH!!

I’ll let you know how the new recipe for meat loaf turns out.

later….