Good Saturday to you from our corner of Iowa where chilly temperatures have arrived along with our first dusting of snow. Fall is definitely waving farewell here in our world. Yesterday morning I sat in the living room with the fireplace on while Joel took his coffee out on to the porch where he enjoyed watching our three young resident squirrels play in a balmy 32 degrees. Joel loves his morning porch visits, in just about any weather.
Speaking of Joel he did get the Christmas lights up this week before the weather changed. We have a mum and geranium still holding on, which he puts in the garage every night. He did some tree branch trimming too which means he was up on a ladder, which means his wife was worried and watching out for him just in case he took a tumble. What IS the age men quit climbing ladders?! Watching him reminded me of when we had this narrow 30 foot tall antenna in our yard in The Philippines and Joel would climb up and sway with it. And then their is the ceiling of this house that is 30 feet high over the stairs where he used an extension ladder at it's very top to paint when we bought this house 17 years ago. Of course I knew nothing about that at the time! Not afraid of heights for sure...but again I ask, when is too old for extension ladders just that ~ "too old?"
Our neighbor asked Joel if we wanted our yard to be free of leaves via his big John Deere that gathers them. We came home on Thursday to a yard free of leaves. Of course there are more to drop later, but that was so nice......and he had the people he hired do the neighbors yards, too. Such a kind, generous thing to do. Being this is World Kindness Day, it makes sense to share the kindness of our neighbor, John! Now it's my turn...........our turn to be kind!
Last Monday we headed back to Mayo and received good news. The volume of fluid in my arm had gone down 50%....yippee! It had us wondering if the machine was malfunctioning. But every measurement was down 2cm. We are still bandaging 2x a day and have added foam to target an area that is too firm (fibrosis?) and that seems to be helping some. I have learned to eat with my left hand or use a long handled "ice tea" spoon to get food to my mouth when using my right hand. We have had these spoons for 53 years and they are still some of my favorites. Now more than ever. Tomorrow we move to a sleeve and glove during the day and bandages at night, keeping an eye on things. So thankful we are seeing progress in managing this stuff. As time goes by I learn more about it and know that it has to be taken seriously. It is one of the pluses of Facebook...people have pages that give info on Lymphedema and just what it does and how it affects the whole body. So helpful.
Thursday I told Joel I felt like shopping..........now here's why that is a big deal. I don't really like to shop at all so this was a surprise to us both. We headed to a 50% off Christmas sale at Hobby Lobby for an hour and had such a good time. Came home with a couple new fun decorations and a Christmas themed puzzle. All half price so you can't beat that.
Friday with the wind blowing snow around we decided it was a good day to make a stew. We dug out the slow cooker ( once known as a crock pot) and made pork stew our style with pork, sweet potatoes, carrots, garlic, and peas. It was yummy.
Speaking of yummy we are once again watching the new episodes of The Great British Baking Show. It keeps us entertained although we really find the humor a bit over the edge and just plain annoying.
The day we went to get our booster shots we had a good laugh. We have lived here 25 years, so we kind know where things are.......we drove right by the drug store a couple blocks before both of us said, "Did we drive by the store? Where is it?" Then we turned around to come back and before we got there we both said, "Did we miss it again?? Where is it?" We had a good laugh before I told Joel we should not tell anyone about this.....and so here I am putting it out there~!! Hahaha
Thursday we went shopping for a few groceries and learned that we were getting 15% off of our total bill because Joel is a veteran! What a nice surprise.....Joel spent 8 yrs in the Air Force, first as an airman working with radioactive testing on planes and then after applying for and getting an education program he graduated with a degree in meteorology and spent 4 years as an officer meteorologist forecasting weather for pilots. We have always been grateful for our years he served our country and how our lives were shaped. We are also grateful he did not have to go to Viet Nam as part of his service. As close as he got was to forecast weather for the pilots flying there from The Philippines.
Yesterday the books I ordered with my last Amazon gift card arrived and I started right in.....My favorite is the book, "Sweet Like Jasmine" by my long time online friend Bonnie Gray. We connected when we were both bloggers years ago and she has now gone on to write books. God has richly blessed others as she shares her own story, broken, healed and so beautiful. Way to go Bonnie!
So today I am grateful for the fireplace that flips on with a remote, the porch for Joel to still enjoy, the improvement in my arm and hand, a fun shopping trip, new decorations to enjoy, Bonnie's book, Sweet Like Jasmine, a neighbor's kindness, our years while Joel served, phone calls, texts and emails that connect us, laughter, Hallmark Christmas movies, the British baking show, Christmas lights up, pork stew, the power of prayers, and so so much more!
Enjoy your weekend!
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