Best/ Worse & What did I learn today? Chat with friend and newcomers always welcome..pop in with a “hi”

Think we will be getting your storm Den, wind is unpacking, they say it be quite a snowfall, more in Toronto than us..can hear the wind.

Glad I had sunshine for my trip to doctor’s..said my heart looks for what he expected someone my age should have..wanted me to get a stress test to make sure no blockage, saw the way i was walking and said i couldn’t do the test but he would order the injection so they can check it internally..going to try for appt in Innisfil which is between Barrie & Toronto, apparently midland has a

Almost a white out with snow. No place to go so no problem.
Well don't you know we get everything all set and planned and today they changed his surgery schedule. We spent all morning at one hospital with tests and next Thursday we will spend most of the day getting more tests. I told the office manager that when I had my bypass, I just had a few heart attacks and they just fixed it right then. Not all this hoo-ha.

Drats, screen froze

Midland has a 4 month waiting list.

Omg I went to bed early last night, before 5, can’t get ahold of my doctor to renew sleeping pills, been part of a week so took one of those gummies that says it will relax me, NOPE, sent me on a trip, i had terrible nightmares all night, almost like a tv series, had the first one and actually prayed, thanked the Lord when I woke up and realized it was a nightmare..watched a hallmark movie, fell asleep and back to a continuation of nightmare, 2nd one I stabbed Roger, another movie then all about the police station..i even put his fingertprints on knife, then #4 ..i finally woke up at 5:30a.m. Weekend time so won’t be able to get a script until Monday if they answer their phones..shaking my head.

Bad start to the day

Linda was to meet me at medical Centre and we would go for breakfast, she met me
and having chest pains, i wanted to take her to emerge but she went home..still resting, she might go to emerge during night as there might be less people.

Writing a novel. Lol

Got home at 11:30, Marie was out for her walk so came inside to chat, was here 1/2 hr when she saw Cathy coming down the drive, she brought me a plant, gerber daisy (house looking like a funeral parlour). Marie and Cathy do not like each other so Marie was at the door and Cathy came in, she stayed 4 hrs..was saying how I didn’t sleep last night, yawned, rubbed my eyes and she still stayed, kept looking at radar tracking storm, said 2 or 3 times it was soon approaching,finally she said I’d better go so I got up quickly, thanked her for the plant, almost saying here is your hat, what is the hurry.

Then while i had my bath I dialled my mom, she went on how very lonesome she is, talked 1/2 hr.

Headed to bed, finally..phone rings, because i said I didn’t listen to the news much anymore Cathy call, gabbed a good 15 minutes.

Thought I’d drop in, didn’t intend to write so much but think I’m over tired and wound up, know there will be no gummies for me tonight.

Deb, hope storm misses you as I hope it misses Dianne as well.
Glad Pat you and Sharon had such a great day, i miss those days with Linda, Suzanne and Rita.
Karen you both ok?
Lindakay how was Todd’s day?
Know Susan is busy quilting..

Can hear the wind starting to howl

I went out this morning to get my hair cut, and my friend Dianne lives right next door to my hairstylist, so I went to visit Dianne. Of course Dianne had me stay for lunch, then convinced me to go to town to play cards (Canasta) so I've just gotten home. I THINK I have a quilt walking foot, so now I have to figure out how to use one if I do.

Betty, I hate it when I have a nightmare, wake up and when I go back to sleep it just continues. Praying you get some restfull sleep tonight.

Susan, go to YouTube. Lots of videos that will show you how to use the feet for your machine.

Todd is doing about the same. His weight goes up and down. He continues to get weaker.

Betty, sorry about the nightmares. Some medications give me those reactions.

Karen, the testing and time it takes is about to drive you crazy I am sure!

Susan, happy to hear you played cards and lunch out.

Marie could not meet up with us this morning, Phil was doing really badly today. I had another talk with him about drinking his water or expect to be constipated. I doubt I got thru to him. I know Phil hurts but frankly I feel worse for Marie. She is becoming prisoner in her own home when she can't even leave him.

I always enjoy spending time with Dianne, but as for cards, I am ambivalent about going out "some more". I really wanted to go home & spend some quiet "me" time. I love playing games of all kinds, but didn't feel up to being out all day. Haircut at 9am, then visiting with Dianne, followed by Canasta, so I didn't get home until almost 5pm.
I'm going to town tomorrow (another one) to pick up a box of butcher's meat - 15 lbs of 3 kinds - ground beef, steaks, and roasts. I've never used this butcher, and it's $145 for the 15 lbs of meat. I've heard that's a good price, but I feel out of the loop about prices nowadays.

I have a Brother sewing machine, and a Kenmore walking foot. It fits on my machine, thank goodness. I suppose they're compatible. I'Il check out Youtube. Thanks for the suggestion.

Well, I installed the quilting walking foot. 1 broken machine needle & two stitch pickers later, I'm not a happy quilter. The feed dog wasn't feeding the material, and all the bobbin thread was building up below the fabric. I tried to cut it away with the stitch pickers because they fit in the tiny area. Broke two, then found the machine needle was bent badly. Going back to hand stitching with my large embroidery hoop.
btw - I did find a tutorial on Youtube. yup, once the foot is on, this is how to quilt. Nothing about actually using the foot ie: proper installation. also btw - tutorial said to use smaller stitches. I couldn't figure out how to adjust for smaller stitches. I have a whole panel of stitch types to choose, but could never figure out how to get a stitch other than zig zag & straight.

This message was edited Mar 3, 2023 8:56 PM

Goodness, that was a frustrating experience! I understand why you want to do HAND quilting after that!
Aiden did a good job in the play, I enjoyed the performance. I went with a friend of mine & her autistic granddaughter. Debbie took some great pictures & when I get them, I will post a couple. Aiden was Kristoff in Frozen.

Morning, think storm has passed, hoping..

Got up at 4:30, should have checked if Marie was out in middle of the night shovelling, she was, by the looks of the banks we really got hit…i could hear her shovelling, gabbed a few minutes now I’ve crawled back into bed hoping a can catch a few hours of sleep.

Dianne, are you snowed in?

how awesome Pat - glad you enjoyed the play :)

Pictures from last night's play. My grandson Aiden as Kristoff in Frozen

He's a handsome lad!

Very handsome Kristoff.
Blizzard last night our power went off about 9. Daughter and SIL came to get us. About the time they arrived the crew was here shoveling our sidwalks and driveways. They are great about taking care of what needs doing here.Was notified about 3 a.m. power was back on. We could have managed for that long but of course we didn't know when it would be back on and daughter insisted they come get us.So nice to back here and getting all the love. Walt and I will have someone with us just about all the time.

How wonderful Karen for the loving/care you are both getting..nothing worse than power being off in these temps..we went from a blizzard to sunshine and spring in 24 hours, drive is mud city.

Oh, how proud you must be Pat, look at the costumes. How is your brother in law doing today? Hard for Marie but you are so supportive..difficult for sure..

Lindakay, sorry to hear the up and down weight issue, frustrating for sure.

Susan, sorry to hear you quilting difficulties, maybe that foot wasn’t compatible with
Your machine..hope you were able to take out the stitches.

How much snow did you get Deb? Do the dogs like the cold?

Dianne, you snowed in?

Well I had 4 kids from 9am to 1:30pm then went to town, I was on a mission, bought 6 more folding chairs, did my groceries and went to pharmacy for over the counter sleeping pills, they will have to do until next week when hopefully Doctor will send in my script… hope the help even if it’s for a few hours.

Linda just messaged me, had a fender bender, guy was in fault..she has a scratch but otherwise ok.

I have a chicken pot pie in oven, won’t be ready until 7:10..would like to crawl inside the covers, my body isn’t happy..on 4th tylenol3 and and other pain meds.

Family, those that can make it will be here tomorrow afternoon, Chinese for supper..yummy..

Before the order I’ll have them include Marie and Ted, they are so good to me they just have to be included.

Think Ziggy is ready for bed

Pat, glad you were able to see him in the play.
Karen, glad you have your power back, and that family is there to help.
Betty, be careful taking that many pain pills. They could be causing your nightmares.

We didn't end up getting anything from the storm yesterday. A little bit of really light rain this evening, but, yesterday's storm went south of here.

Glad you've got family close to look out for you, Karen. In these temps, with power outages, you can't take chances.

I don't know how you can take tylenol3's like that Betty. Just one of those makes me so nauseaous, I can't keep anything down. Don't over do it on the meds.

T3s? HA - I used to take T4s (with codeine) before I got my knees replaced. Hydromorph & Oxycodone didn't cut it for me. I stopped taking them because they were useless. Yes, they put me to sleep, but weren't effective against the pain. Friend warned me about becoming addicted so I asked the Dr if they were addictive, and he took a long hard look at me & said "you won't become addicted". I suppose because I asked. Anyway - when my pain starts, it becomes severe, I take pain killers (Dr said to the nurse, in the hospital - "double her meds") a lot, for a short time, then I'm done with them. Hit the pain hard & fast & it's done with - that's ME though. I understand that others can't even take aspirin because it makes them sick. I just don't take many meds - hospital staff & Drs comment on it, and I tell them "why take what I don't need?" I spend about $170 / Year on prescription meds, so not enough to even get refunded by Health Care.

btw - apparently my Kenmore quilting walking foot is NOT compatable with my Brother sewing machine. I don't know where to get a Brother quilt walking foot. Certainly not around here, in rural AB.

Phil is doing better, thanks for asking. He had a bowel movement, took Tylenol and the pain has lessened. I hope I made a believer out of him about drinking water. He will ALWAYS be constipated if he doesn't get more water down!

Karen, I am grateful you have loving family near to help with stress and be there for you when you need it.

Sharon came over this morning, we cleaned up and took out old 8 x 10 area rug and put in new smaller one. The new area rug will likely go in the computer room when I have my house back. We also unloaded the big armoire, put it in the garage. I double checked with Kevin that they didn't want the bigger one, rather than the smaller one I had bought earlier for them. Nope, smaller one.

My teaching partner called, she has Covid so I need to round up another person tomorrow. We don't teach children without a 2nd adult present.

I am tired, I wish I could go to bed but it's only 8 PM and unless I want to get up at 2AM and stay up, I guess I had better find something to keep me awake.

I'm glad our power was back on fairly quickly and we are back home. Walt doesn't sleep well away from home. Also our bed is adjustable and he needs to have the head of the bed up now to sleep comfortably and easily. Right now all my focus is on Walt. All that matters is his comfort and getting safely to his surgery date. All our life together he has pampered and cared for me. Now this is what he needs.

You are so right Karen! You both are so blessed.

My internet comes and goes, very frustrating.

I have been so blessed by great neighbors across the street from me. We have found friends and help in each other. Although, "the help" part is in many ways more one sided. Her husband has come and helped with several different things at the house. I have sewn costumes when Marlyn ran out of time before leaving town. They have "kid & grandkids" here VERY locally and never want for company or assistance if needed, but it's nice to have someone even closer when you need hot glue sticks, milk or some other last-minute ingredients.

We have just met our immediate neighbor.We cannot understand each others language but we manage and they have helped us and made us to understand to call on them at any time.

Always nice when you get along with the neighbors.

Our hummingbirds are back for the year.
We have blackchinned hummingbirds.

That is way cool Linda! I have not done anything to encourage birds here. I have always had inside/ outside cats so didn't want to lure birds to their death. My Stanley is strictly indoor and Adam's cat is dead so I guess I could do it now!

Karen, that is a beautiful thing!

Afternoon, sunshine day here, spring it teasing us.

finally, sitting a few minutes, been so busy the past few days so thought I’d come while I’m sitting to see what you are all up to??

It is good to have neighbours who are willing to give a hand when needed.

Dianne are you out walking the dogs, sure hope you are having same kind of day?

Sharon, is your weather back to Las Vegas standards, working in the gardens.

Only see squirrels and blackbirds so far, I as well don’t encourage birds as Ziggy is roaming around, would hate the encourage them then he catch them.

Aren’t those hummers beautiful Lindakay.. they get here around May/June.

You are like me Susan, you have to take so many meds and still function well.

Had a wonderful birthday gathering yesterday..everything was ordered in so no work for me.

Jeff walked in, gave me a kiss, picked up the ‘to do’ list and got all he could do on it.. he was waiting for Greg to finish off the list but as Greg was in Timmons snowmobiling and got here at 3 pm loved ones started to come in so he didn’t get his part of the ‘to do’ list done.

Went into town this morning, picked up some shelving and brackets, will have all supplies Greg will need to get his part done, know he leaves Thursday morning for Timmings again snowmobiling so let’s hope one night he will drop in. Sad, weather situation here is so bad if you want to snowmobile you have to drive that far north to snowmobile when a decade ago we were in the snow belt.

I am searching on Amazon for new curtains, picture hanging for wall over bed, decorative items with birthday $$.

Doctor called this morning and will no longer be doing injections, will refer me to someone who does, here is hoping she will accept me as a client and is willing to give me same injections, if not don’t know what I shall do. I asked him to renew all meds, haven’t had a prescription in for meds since last time, been 4 days no sleeping pills, i go the pharmacy, he ordered Tylenol 3 but no sleeping pills, drats, now i have to wait til he calls back grrr

DRATS, DRATS DRATS, I am so angry with doctor..I’ve been trying to reach him to order renewal of scripts, order my injections, he called me this morning and said he did not get my online request for appt and med renewal, well I have copy of it being
done, then when you vocally into office it has a long message, i.e. wear a mask, can’t go if you don’t have appt, book appt online, if emergency call 911 so instead of listening I just press 0 to bypass that, then it says I AM EITHER ON THE PHONE OR WITH A CLIENT so I keep trying, eventually when I try I will get someone right?

Spoke to receptionist about the booking for injections in shoulder and hip, says it doesn’t pay him enough so he has given up doing them..isn’t that nice. So we talked awhile, after our conversation I said I badly need sleeping pills, pain meds etc and I know we did.

Go to pharmacy and no sleeping pills, so i call back and get reception and say I need sleeping pills.

Doctor calls me back and says he would like to book me a cognition test because I am very confused. At first I said o.k. Then it hit me, i told him absolutely no test..that i have family, friends who come during the week and at no time have I been confuse since my accident and yes I have difficulties finding words but not confused in any way. I asked him other than these past few days had he ever seen me confused, he said no. I went on that very little sleep, no pains meds and ready for 3 month injection it’s not a wonder I kept trying his office so no, NO cognition referral.
i went through the appts we spoke about
1. On list for belly hernia operation with Dr. sacks
2. Specialist said that heart looks ok but wants to do the injection meds to determine
if no plaque. Specialist was to advise him that perhaps he should book me for a
Scope
He was to also refer me to dr. Jones via a referral to see if she would accept me as a client, i asked is this correct? He said yes

I said you can slap my finger Re listening to long message but not to the extent I need to be diagnosed for confusion and lack of memory.

Gee I am just fuming…

I have had to have cognitive test the past 2 years with my family physician. She says Medicare requires it.
Glad to hear you had a good gathering for your birthday.

Well he was suggesting I was mentally confused because of calls etc
I did not like the suggestion..

One of the young girls I had after school brought me eggs from todays picking..I always put eggs in the refrigerator but she told me they were not washed and if I left them on the counter they would last double the time, i did not know that.

I remember going under the bridge a trestle for years, trucks had to take main highway, could not use hwy 12, one way traffic

I would be angry too. HIS office is the one that screwed it up, not you!

I was supposed to go to Marie today so she could go to MD appt and they changed her appointment time without telling her. Thank goodness I was already loaded and ready to go when she contacted me that I needed to come NOW so she could be on time!!

I got a new quilt on & off today. I need to get the binding on, it's just 66 x 47. I think I showed a picture of this one MONTHS earlier, before it was quilted. I don't know why the colors are not showing up properly.

I don't know if I am having some kind of fixable issue with my phone, but the colors are AWFUL.

this is lavender and turquoise, not pink & blue!

Linda, You do NOT have to take that coginitive test. Medicare wants you to have it for their statistics and they put pressure on Drs. to convince you to take it but you can refuse and there is nothing they can do about it. All you have to do is say no and they have to accept that. I pinned them down about it one year and they finally admitted It was my choice. They will even get tricky about it and try asking the questions without saying they are giving you the test. When I realized it, that's when I refused to take it any more.

that is soooo wrong! I administered cognitive tests every year to my client's. It was part of the assessment, and it impacted their approved hours of assistance, but I NEVER tried to deceive anyone about what I was doing! It was a valuable tool for me. It helped me track when a client was stable or gradually declining. It was always the first statistic on an assessment I looked at, followed by the diagnosis list. For a MD to imply to a patient that is is required, or to sneaky about administering it, is unethical.
On the flip side.... when my sister does something silly, I start asking her the questions until she catches on! It's our personal joke.

Betty I am aghast at the Dr's implication! No one answering your calls and you being your best advocate to get the medication & care you need & deserve is NO reason for him to make such implications! A saying comes to mind "Physician, heal thyself" He needs to look at the care he gives, and not put his incompetence on his patient.

I almost have the Log Cabin quilt 1/2 quilted. I admire those of you who have the long arm quilters so you can do a quilt in an afternoon - wow. Ah well, those who know that I'm handquilting think the quilt is worth more $ for the raffle because of the hours (weeks) they know I'm putting into it.
I'm going to see about getting a Brother quilt walking foot. Nearest quilt shop is 37 min drive from here. I've never been to that town, but I understand the quilt shop is nice. It's called "Never Done Quilting". I'll call them & see if they have a Brother quilting walking foot. I have to be 12 min drive away from there on Wed morning. I found out, from their website, why it's called "Never Done". She looked at her stash one day, that she'd never done quilting of, and decided to quit her job & open her own shop lol

This message was edited Mar 6, 2023 11:17 PM

Susan, try ebay or Amazon for the walking foot.
This is what they look like.

Pat, that quilt is beautiful.

Beautiful quilts Pat, she are getting the hand of quilting on the longarm, have you been doing freehand quilting or pantograph?

Good name for a quilt shop Susan,we could say same “never done”
Remember to check is a short shaft or long shaft but guess they can tell by make and model.

On hold with Rogers, tv, phone,internet provider, my bill was almost double these past couple months, she says “i see here you ordered puss &boots twice @ $24.99” excuse me I’m a senior in my home, no one lives with me, why would I ever order this show?? Big sigh, takes hours to get through, she is off checking why I owe so muck so here I am listening to their elevator music for 20 minutes so far, it’s putting me asleep..thinking of hanging up but then I’d have to start all over again..Rogers is not the best provider but neither is Bell, right Dianne?

I slept so good last night with the sleeping pill the pharmacy gave me yesterday.. need to head out shortly before Giorgi comes to sew at 4 to pick up my script.

Weather was nice today, guess each day it’s nice is a bonus day away from winter.
Turning clocks Saturday will give us more sunlight.

we will hit 60 degrees today and I am so ready. We have had our March winds. I finally got the 40 bags of leaves mulched with a lawn mower and spread throughout the landscape. I didn't do it, my garden helper did it. One afternoon I spread some Mills mix and chicken manure by hand in the front landscape. Wind was slight but I ended up totally covered by both. No one was home, so I stripped in the laundry room and rushed to the shower. You would think by the time you reach my age, I would know better. But I wanted it spread before the rain the next day and the rain did come, so it was worth it.

Betty, your doctor is lucky he did not have me on the phone. They would have sent the white jackets for me. I am so pleased you got your sleeping pills. I take a 5mg every night or I would lay there all night.

Linda, I wish you could find a health advocate to help you and Todd.

Pat, your quilt is lovely. How is your weather? My grandson in Spokane had no school for two days last week because of heavy snow.

If any of you are on Instagram, they have unbelievable reels on the California snow. They also have adorable animal reels. Some times I get stuck on there for a hour.

I forgot about turning clocks on Saturday. There is a bill in Congress to do away with time changes in the USA.

Oh my goodness, I certainly missed that Saturday is the time change. They normally would have announced it in church last Sunday as a reminder.

We are having BEAUTIFUL weather at the moment, 50 F with no winds, could not ask for nicer weather at this time. Last week, NOT so much!

Betty, we have been doing pantograph, but it is all programed. I LIKE freehand but feel I must master the edge to edge programmed quilting.

I spent this morning helping Sharon sew a skirt. She has not made clothes in forever and was clueless about the size in patterns she wore etc. We measured and sewed up a simple elastic waist skirt and altered the pattern so now she has a working pattern for herself. We started it at her house but moved over to mine so we could use the serger to finish all the seams & hem.