Tag: Stress

Quarter End Crunch, Mom’s Ailments, and Electronic Goods

On By BackporchwriterIn Life, Shopping3 Comments
Photo by Daria Obymaha on Pexels.com

The world is at our fingertips this morning! Or is it? Maybe the world has us by our toenails. I guess it’s a matter of perspective. It’s mid-week. Big things are looming.

Quarter end – is going very slowly this time. System program failures causing things not to balance. And I’m behind on it now, having lost precious hours seeking what needed to be found, waiting on data, leaving for appointments and all. Even though the doc appt time has been made up already across the month twice over at other times. But I’m looking at some very long days for Thursday and Friday to finish the crunch week out. I have a hair appointment today which I’ve had on the books for about 8 weeks or so- maybe 12. I’m not cancelling as it’s needed and it gives me a mid-week break. But the rest of the week I’ll be trying not to work on Saturday. If I have to work on Saturday, I will be in a wretched mood next week for not having been able to do what we needed to do over the weekend. So for the sake of all of us, let there be some rest and rejuvy time. I think since the end of the month falls on a weekend, the due dates are Nov 1, but I’m only working 1/2 day Monday as the closing walk through is that date. I have to get to work by 12:30 and will only get to work on time sheets and payroll related activities before the Tuesday payroll. I am not fond of the last week of quarter end.

I realize now why diverticulitis has usually tried to occur during this time. It’s hard to drink water. I’m purposely focused on trying to get through with things and I forget to drink. I only know this as I’d been tracking it. I see what these last two weeks do to me now. I also get the crunchy munchies. I stopped and fixed popcorn one day. Crackers help. Nuts aren’t enough. I’m also craving something and can’t figure out what it is. I want to stress eat terribly. I have to figure this out – how to handle these stress inducer times so that I don’t totally forget my goals and end up eating as a reward. Awareness is half the battle of anything they say.

Photo by James Wheeler on Pexels.com

Mom

So, I get home and everything seems normal. Then Mom tries to get up and she just flat can’t walk! She winces with every step and acts like she is going to topple over. I’m thinking Is this really happening? Just days away from seeing her new house where a walk-thru is scheduled and she can’t even walk to be able to walk through it? There is something wrong with this picture. A little over a week to close and the house is hers and I’m thinking, Should she even be buying this house? It’s not like I’ve not already wondered this, but with her being able to shower herself, fix a meal, get up and down out of her chair and bed, and get about – we can sustain her in that house. If she cannot walk, we can’t sustain her there.

At the table as we ate she began shivering miserably. Horrible shaking. I wondered if she was going into shock or having a stroke or something. I got a blanket and put around her while she ate and it calmed down. She says she thinks it’s gout and has begun consuming apple cider vinegar. She says that the extra dieretic the doc put her on is likely doing it to her. I knew as did she, from the moment he prescribed these, based on what she was saying, they weren’t going to work and she wasn’t going to be able to take them. Other than being out of breath and it being a misery to move more than a few feet at the time, she was doing pretty good. Anyways, during the night we ended up having to go to the girls room at the same time. So as we passed in the hall she said her foot was doing better. If it’s gout, it can get better. This is just crazy. Everything is crazy. I guess we will see what transpires in the coming days. None of us is really in control. We are only at life’s mercies. And I guess God will make it what he is going to make it, which is pretty much a mystery most of the time. lol

Photo by energepic.com on Pexels.com

I know that God’s not going to give me any more than I can’t handle. We know we are biting an elephant one bite at a time. We know we adjust the sails when the wind blows from a different direction. But it’s these worn out days of life where I feel very much like a robot. Wake up, pour coffee down, go do anyone’s agenda, try sneak in my own in the five minutes left, sleep and doing it all over again.

I’ll be back Friday for an update but I appreciate any prayer you can give to us right now for final pushes through this week’s and next week’s hurdles.

China.

Well George sent an email yesterday that if I needed anything electronic – might not be able to get it soon and if you can – it’ll be expensive – to go ahead and order it. I considered ordering my lighting kit I’ve had on my list (it’s a light with white umbrella diffuser) but was waiting til Mom left as it can take up some room. And I’ve chosen to just put that on hold and I hope I can get it next year. I may reconsider. I think it’s either $59 or $69. I have been using sunlight and floor lamps and a ring light. It’s worked. But as you know I want to get better and better. And want to look better on screen. But I guess this can wait. I don’t want to spend a lot of money on me right now.

But I went ahead and ordered my Rode microphone and dead cat (wind muff) for my camera. This seemed a bit more urgent because I have others that have used this particular one that I know will fit my camera shoe and works well with vlogging. I also don’t know how much longer my particular camera will be a thing ya know? So I went ahead and bought that on Amazon yesterday for $59. George was happy to have another Christmas gift.

I teasingly told him lots of clothes come from China that I might need to stock up! lol. Our country is going to have to gear back up to supply ourselves or be able to get in supplies from elsewhere. Our global supply issue is in a crisis right now and with China’s issues – not only in another virus crisis but with their economy and policies shifting – things are going to be changing it seems. You can read about it in the news articles. Or is this just a ploy to get us to spend more money sooner. Who the heck knows.

Christmas.

We are in full mode Christmas prep already. Not having much time to be able to do a lot of shopping over the months to come, and worried over the economy and supply and demand, it seemed the right thing to do. We are not finished by any means. And life is pretty expensive right now. I just try to remember we’ve not done much in the last two years but we are spending a lot right now across the board. Plane tickets, hotels reservations, two trips, Christmas, blog upgrade coming up. And our Christmas gifts are not cheap – new iPhone, electronic recording things for George, new upgrade to Final Cut Pro for videos (that’s my birthday). So yeah, the spending is on overdrive right now.

And I need to head on out of here and turn my day over to someone else for a while.

I hope you all are doing well. And I’ll be back on Friday. Lord willing. I may have to go in to work early and if I don’t get back Friday I’ll get back when I can. Prayers please for all at hand. Anything you need prayers for? We can pray for each other.

Meanwhile in Texas.

I’ve not posted in a while about Little Roo. He is crawling fast! And pulling up. He’s likely to walk early. He is chasing the family dog and he and the dog both love it. He’s playing peek a boo – learning to hide himself and hear his Mom say Peek a Boo. And he laughs. He’s learning so much about his world and how it works. I’ve ordered some Christmas and Birthday things from Carter. I hope we don’t all end up getting him the same things, lol.

I’ll get to see him soon. Still haven’t heard about Christmas but waiting. We’ll know soon.

The Irony of Eating, Big Bad Wolf BBQ, and George’s Birthday

On By BackporchwriterIn Food, Restaurants, Uncategorized11 Comments

Oatmeal and Chocolate – Fighting the Stress

There’s such irony in our eating decisions. Mine especially. I go to great ends to find oatmeal that has no sugar content, only to throw chocolate in my cart as well. What can we do with ourselves? We just have to keep trying and recognize we WILL have inconsistency and splurges and urges, especially prompted by stress. Lets just call it a “delta variant” purchase and also blame it on George’s birthday week????

It’s so hard to find just plain oatmeal to take to work without it having loads of sugar in it or various “bad” ingredients. The regular oatmeal I guess I could put it a baggie, and take but it doesn’t do as well as the instant does. I’ve NOT tried this yet, but was happy to find it at the DOLLAR STORE amidst their bare shelves. I usually try to find the Organic Oatmeal by Quaker, but it’s hard to find. And I end up paying a lot for Bob’s Red Mill on Amazon. Have to order an entire box of it but it’ll last a long time as I don’t really eat it but about once a week. I like a variety of things for breakfast.

So I add my wellness programs stress formula which if in hot water by itself tastes like hot apple cider (to me anyway). Often I just have that. But I’ve found it quite pleasing to add to oatmeal and it gives it a sweet taste. But it has adaptogens in it and other things that calm me down. The stress formula is called “Ionix”. I no longer use the name of the wellness company on my blog b/c they had asked me to remove their name when I typed a paragraph with the “illness” that has been going around. As you know there has been an attack on our free speech lately. It made me mad so I vowed no more free advertisement for them. If they want it out of a paragraph, it comes out of the blog entirely. I spent hours removing their name from my blog of several years. I still love the products and I know they were being pressured by those in society that throw their weight around, but still. Stand your ground or lose it. They lost their grounding on my blog by letting fear get to them. But yeah, I still love the products and although pricey – it is pricey anywhere to get your hands on true nutrition. I get enough to alter whatever has gone on with my body from a auto-immune situation. (Always tired, random pains, random low grade fever). And now with pre-diabetes and high blood pressure it has been wonderful to offset those with good quality supplements and nutritional food types). I’ve just worn it out during the years on the snacks, shakes and breakfast bars but I still use the supplements and in a big way and the shakes occasionally.

All that to say…..I found some oatmeal for on the go! 😉 I’m a wordy sort, ya know? Gotta tell you EVERYTHING I know about a subject and then some. Which is usually not much but I can dredge it out. lol

And also all that said…..there is this side of me when stressed:

Mom and I went to the Dollar Store again as she needed some things. The first time I went by myself and passed over the candy. The 2nd time I was not as strong. I love a bit of something sweet after lunch – or around 3 p.m. but I really don’t need it. And those M&M’s are tricky. there are 120 calories on the bag but there are about 3 servings in that bag alone right there. And I almost ate the whole bag yesterday. I just cannot quit eating them. Then I had to drink butt loads of water so I didn’t have some kind of sugar attack. And then at dinner time I was not very hungry. Don’t worry. I was able to eat. lol Now I feel bad for eating that many this morning and vowing to have my “greens” for breakfast.

Don’t overlook that chocolate wafter in the right corner. I LOVE THOSE! I allowed myself to get them. I had that for breakfast yesterday. Yesterday was a bad sweet tooth day. Now I have to detox myself. lol Someone HELP!

George’s Birthday Week, Day 1, The Actual Birthday

We were so excited to get to go to The Big Bad Wolf yesterday for George’s Birthday meal. We have tried off and on for years to get here, usually with friends. And they are only open at night on certain occasions. They do a BIG catering business. So usually when we are wanting to eat out they are closed. And sometimes they don’t even follow their hours very well. If they get a big catering event, they will close the restaurant. So it’s spotty. But it’s so good.

It was great. I got the ribs. And I kinda wish I had known they had salad. I didn’t see it on the menu but Mom’s salad looked good. I got beans and potato salad as that seemed to go with ribs but I realized later – more starches that turn to sugar. I had a really bad day yesterday and I need to do better than this. Let’s chalk it off to George’s birthday. I’ve blamed his birthday before, lol. But seriously need to do better. I really need to try and detox today and have my greens and get this sugar out of my body.

We posted this yesterday on social media. It was very popular, lol.

On the way home we saw two Bambi’s in our neighborhood. We had about 5 deer in our yard. They just come and hang out and stroll through. Sometimes we have days where we don’t see them, but I think that is just a timing thing. But they are all around us every day. We love seeing them.

So tomorrow, I’m hoping to give you a list of all the Sailing folks that I follow on YouTube. I don’t want to include it on this blog entry. I want it to be its own entry, for the most part. This is my plan anyway. If today contains a lot of blogworthy content that needs blogging tomorrow morning I will delay the Sailing entry.

Today I get off early as I take Mom for her eye injection. We have a busy weekend ahead also it’s George’s “birthday weekend” and we are heading out with Kevin and Susan. We are also eating burritos tonight at a new place in town with just Mom, George and me. And then Sunday George wants to have an excursion out to a brewery. So we’ll have a lot of pics and then Monday I’ll be complaining that I need more time off b/c I won’t have been able to get my weekend things done. lol. But what is life if you don’t have fun and celebrate birthdays. We just celebrate several days in a row.

So this is what George wanted from me for his birthday. I also gave him some random extra things like flair pens that he likes, expensive beer that he won’t buy himself, and some gourmet food items. But this is “The Who” box set. lol lol

This photo pretty funny as Mom’s feet is in the upper left corner and my messy hearth in the background (top).

Random Thoughts Over Coffee

Well, I suppose I’ll head out soon. Need to get another cup of hot coffee which seems so good right now. But at least it’s Friday. I’m so glad to at least have a day to sleep in – in the morning. We still have church on Sunday. So as of right now it looks like it’ll be very hard to get anything done this weekend but maybe I’ll get some time at home to do *something* at least. I’ll just do the most important things first. And I’m hoping to at least have the morning tomorrow.

It’s kind of been a stressful week in some ways. I’m trying to shake a few things off as “not my own” worries – especially on the work scenario. So far so good.

George got his 1st shot yesterday and I’m proud of him for finally doing that. And he did it on his birthday! His 2nd one is Sept 9th. Mom was telling him to stay away from her because now he has germs in his system. She is anti-V I guess you’d call it. She is afraid of it. It’s a personal decision but she still went on the birthday outing and we can’t oust him out of the house, lol. (She has a way of making a person feel so special sometimes with her honest assessment. lol lol. I guess its her way of letting him know she is not happy with his decision to get the shot.) But it wasn’t her choice to make. None the less she made it very clear she is worried she’ll get the “illness” from him getting the shot. Some have said that has happened. Don’t know for sure what is fact of fiction. But we are doing the best we can and it appears we are soon going to have to show proof to be able to do things so…..

Meanwhile in Texas

Little Roo’s day care teacher is out with “the illness” – yes THE variant illness. And so my Texas family has been exposed. I also have been exposed where I have been. So there’s that. Also Katy went for a root canal yesterday and had to be stopped because it wouldn’t stop bleeding. I’m confused as I don’t know why that happened. Is that normal sometimes? She hadn’t taken an aspirin. Or did the dentist do something wrong? So she has to go back in a month after it heals. Has anyone heard of that before?

Anyway, I need to get out of here and get more coffee.

More tomorrow, Lord Willing!

The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly of Monday

On By BackporchwriterIn Uncategorized6 Comments

Sneaking a blog entry in this morning but I took my shower last night. Still going in early to work.

Storage dilemma.

Sometimes the early bird gets the worm and sometimes it doesn’t. Yesterday I called to check on the storage place to make sure the guy is still moving out of it on the 18th as we were to take possession on the 19th. I had not gone out to sign anything as they said they couldn’t til he was out. I had a funny feeling. You know I’ve lived life long enough to know that this guy was probably not going to be out right. So it never hurts to follow up and plan. It averts surprises later.

True enough, I call and the owner says “oh I was about to call you”. Oh no. “The guy is not going to be out of the unit yet as his house is not ready”. I say “oh no”. She said “what are you gonna do?” I said “find another storage unit I guess”. I told her I figured that was going to happen and that is why I’m calling. I actually said “good thing I’m efficient, huh?” lol

Anyway, I made a call to another nearby storage place. It’s actually a little closer to Mom but still on the way from our house. We got the one big unit available and I have already given them the account number and they are mailing me the papers. They don’t have an office. The owner runs it by his phone but the boat/marine place next door that he used to own, helps him out if there is an on site problem. George went to Lowe’s and bought a disc lock which is recommended for storage units.

Sunglasses dilemma.

I drive several miles away to Hermitage to drop off my sunglasses to see if they can fix them. I’m asked if I have an appointment. No I’m not being fitted but dropping off broken glasses to be fixed. I’m met with “oh with Covid though you have to have an appointment”. “Just to drop off my glasses? I took off work and drove all the way from Nashville as you all are not open when business people are off in the evenings and weekends, can’t I just talk with the optical folks and leave them my glasses?” I had to leave them at the front desk with a girl named Shaundrette. Who put a sticky note on them with my name and number. They had orders but I had a few of my own. I paid dearly for those sunglasses that broke right after my warranty and I said “can you please put a rubber band around that so it doesn’t fall off. I don’t want to lose my glasses!” Since they would not let me hand them to optical myself, I asked for her name and told her I was holding her responsible for my glasses. I don’t like leaving them at the front desk of the big place. I later thought I was probably ugly, but then I thought no I wasn’t. I didn’t have a tone. I was just letting her know I expected my property to get where it was supposed to go. Later, the Optical place called back. I was going to give them a couple of hours and call and make sure they got my glasses. But they called me first. She said it was out of warranty. I figured that. Funny how my old pair lasted over six years. (I’m having to go back to wearing them so I can drive in the sun.)

The optical lady said she is calling the manufacturer to see if they will fix it or replace it or have a replacement part. If not she is looking for similar frames the lenses will go in. If not I’ll have to buy new ones. I don’t want the frames of my old ones b/c I like the style of my new ones. I just wish they were more durable. I want what I want especially when I’ve paid dearly for them. And of course they did not last. I may find out what brand they were so I don’t buy those again. I don’t abuse my glasses. I always take care of them. So I am NOT a HAPPY camper. I even thought about using a different place but I want to see if they can give me a deal. I will let them know that I’ve never had a pair of glasses that broke so quickly and that this was my first time to use their company’s glasses. Things are too expensive to have to buy prescription glasses every year. No ma’am. That will only happen once, I say.

YAY. No Masks at Work – Finally

The dawn finally came. We got the memo we don’t have to wear masks. It came with two pages of disclaimers and FAQ’s. We still have to wear them to go in the building and take our temps. If we don’t have a temp then we can take off the mask. ok. So somehow I can make myself wear it for the 15 seconds to walk in the door and take temp. So I am wearing make up today, full on. I’ve noticed most employers have relaxed their requirements as well. Except for doctors offices. But that is understandable. Well maybe not the optical place, but….whatever.

How to Like and Subscribe on YouTube

Several people have asked how to like or subscribe. I guess you probably have to sign up, to subscribe and like things, but I could be wrong. It’s been so long since I joined. No cost. I think you just have to have an email and a password- it’s just like anything else on the internet. If you sign up, though you can subscribe or like away for sure. Then you find things you like and subscribe and get notifications when they have new content. Here is what it looks like on my phone. Keep in mind this is going to look a little different as it is MY channel but it will look similar on your phone or tablet. You select the video you want to watch or like or leave a comment on.

And it has a place to give a thumbs up, subscribe, or leave a comment. If you don’t see those options then try signing up and I bet you will!

Hope that helps. I have a couple of new subscribers this time. So I appreciate that. And I think it had 48 views in the first 48 hours, so that is good. I will take it. It’s nothing compared to most but if 48 of my friends / blog buddies checked it out, that is at least something! 😉

A little Bit of Good, A little Bit of Bad!

Unloaded my work bag full of goodies for the week. You can’t see the peach.

My office space is below. Not sure what made me want to take the pic. I am hearing we will be moving in January ish to a new location that is a further drive. My guess is it will take me an hour or so. I’m not a happy camper about that. Not sure even how long I will be able to do that. We’ll have to see how it goes. I have no desire to spend that kinda time on the road twice a day nor deal with that dangerous interstate down there. So I’m really not sure what will happen when that happens.

Why things have to get all mixed up – I don’t know. One thing is certain right? Change happens. And when it does it changes more than just a few things. Adjustments have to be made as does decisions and so forth. You figure out what you are willing to adjust or settle for and what won’t work at all. And go from there.

Mom got to See her Grandchildren for the fist time in two to three years.

My sister’s husband, my nephew and niece and the nieces boyfriend went to get the desk my sister wanted that was my father’s. So Mom got to see them. I was so happy that I actually cried. I’m glad Mom got to see them before she left town. It’s sad what family squabbles can do. It breaks my heart. I think what if I wasn’t able to have had my own grandparents in my life, how sad it would be. I was so close to them.

I was stressed after the day’s struggles last night so I fixed my comfort food, spaghetti and listened to a nice YouTube relaxing music channel. So nice. I took a pic and cropped the scene on my phone. I think I will clean house to this next time I get a chance. I think it’s been almost 3 months since I’ve been able to dust, lol. Seriously. We have not been home! Ok maybe 2. But it could be 3. I did a nice cleaning around Easter. Dead serious. I’ve only had time to do laundry and blog and make videos, LOL. Not willing to give up my creative time. It keeps me sane.

Better go to work. I’m 20 minutes over what I meant to spend doing this. So gotta hurry now.

Ya’ll take care.