Life on the road

Mail Call and Doctor Visit Today

I have had that style of business cards for a couple of years, but I have been wanting some labels for the things I have been making. I have been participating in the “I Made It” blog carnival from Everything Etsy for a few weeks, and last week, I found a girl who makes iron in labels through there. I don’t have an Etsy store, (I used to, but now I just have my little shop here). I DO buy supplies on Etsy, and have been very pleased with everything I have found there. So, I chit chatted via email with Marcia from Beautiful Blooms, and today, I received the labels that match my business cards. How cute they are! Now if you purchase any fabric item from my shop, it will have one of these labels in it, so you will have a “FabGrandma” original! Woot~! If you want labels, you’ll have to convo her.

So, today was the day for me to go back to the doctor for him to go over all the lab tests he ordered last week. And there is nothing wrong with me. Or so the lab results say. No rheumatiod arthritis. No lyme disease. No nothing. At least nothing that he could find by looking at my blood that could indicate why I was in so much pain up until last week, and at other times in the past. He asked me if the medications he gave me last week worked, and I told him they did. So, he wrote me a prescription to keep on hand for when it happens again. Because I was about to cry, asking him “what if I get in that bad of shape again and I am in Arizona at the Grand Canyon?” He said it could be osteoarthritis, or it could just be inflamation. He couldn’t offer any other explanation than that.

He did X-ray my pelvis to see if he could see anything abnormal about my hips that would cause them to hurt so much. He said he would call me to let me know if he sees anything there. And I am having them make copies of my medical records to take with me, just in case I have to go to that doctor in Flagstaff again. I can’t help feeling a little disappointed that they couldn’t name my enemy. At least they gave me a weapon to use to fend it off.

One thing about feeling not well, is that I haven’t been cooking as much as I usually do. I didn’t say we haven’t been eating much, hahaha. I have always been one of those cooks who wants to make things from scratch as much as possible. Like when I make chicken and rice, I have always cooked the chicken, picked off the meat, and then made the rice, etc. So, I have been using canned chicken instead, and premade chicken broth. And guess what? It tastes just as good, and takes less effort to make. And I can store the chicken in the pantry instead of taking up room in the tiny freezer. I am going to be doing that more often. The added bonus is that I have more time to do things I want to do, like sewing. Yeah. Sewing…..

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Cataract Surgery Was A Success!

Karen · 6 Comments

The weather the day before surgery was beautiful–the flowers and trees are starting to bloom here in in southwest Alabama, so I was hoping it would be a good day for driving to Birmingham the next day. But, that was not to be. We got up at 4:00 a.m. to the sound of a ferocious thunder storm. Luckily, it was heading east ahead of us, so we didn’t actually have to drive in it, but the roads were wet and the sky overcast:

We arrived at the VA Medical Center in Birmingham at 7:00 a.m., a little early for our appointment. They took FabGrandpa in and got him into his hospital gown and prepped for the surgery. They didn’t take him up to the OR until about 9:00. It didn’t take long for the operation at all. He was out of surgery and back in the recovery area by noon. They called me and asked me to come down to where he was, and when I arrived he was sitting there eating a sandwich, smiling really big and joking with the nurses.

After he got dressed, we had to go over to the Eye Clinic for the to check his eye before we left to come home. When we were ready to leave, they gave him an OH! So sexy pair of shades to wear home:

We were back on the road home by 2:00 p.m. He has to go back in a week for his post op check-up. This morning, he was already telling me how much better he can see out of that eye. And he was really surprised at how much this whole process did NOT hurt, and how easy it has been.

By the time we got on the road home, the weather had cleared up and the day was gorgeous:

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This And That And Then Some More…

Karen · 9 Comments

I feel like I have been neglecting my duties as a blogger all winter. Yes, I have been doing lots of things behind the scenes here, but I haven’t been as chatty or as informative as I usually am. Like, last winter I posted lots of pics of places we went and told all about things we did and who we saw and met and stuff like that. I did the weekly budget thing and posted menus and recipes and all that kind of stuff.

But this winter, we really haven’t gone anywhere or done anything exciting. It seems like all we have done is go to doctor appointments, either for me or for FabGrandpa, and I really don’t think those kinds of trips are real interesting or exciting–more like boring and bleh! And though I haven’t really been sick, I have not been feeling well. It could be because of all the rain and the very cold weather, but my joints and bones have been hurting a lot. So, yesterday I went to the doctor for the second time in ten years.

But the trip to the doctor for me yesterday got me thinking, and the thinking kept me awake half the night, and so now I have to write out all that stuff I thought about.

I know I told you about that little catfish restaurant down the road, which has become our favorite spot–we eat there about four times a week, and have come to know the people who work there really well. One of the waitresses there, Anne, told us about her husband. He had a heart attack and then he had to have stents put in, and because he has had a kidney transplant, the hospital in Tuscaloosa refused to do the stent surgery. I had never heard of a hospital refusing care, but that is another story.(He did get the stints done, in Birmingham)

In the course of talking about Anne’s husband, I asked her how old he was. I was thinking he was maybe in his 70’s or older, because of all the problems he was having, so when she told me he was 62 I was really surprised. I asked her how he had come to need a kidney transplant, and that was the biggest surprise of all! She said they used to live in Indiana. One day, her husband was working underneath the house, and when he came out from under the house, his leg was itching. He went inside and dropped his pants, and found that he had been bitten 11 times by what they later learned were brown recluse spiders!!!

He spent something like three months in the hospital, and nearly lost both legs, but eventually he recovered. But, the venom from those spider bites killed his kidneys, and damaged his heart. He was written up in the local newspapers in Indiana because it was unheard of for anyone to survive being bitten so many times by those spiders.

And, the reason I was thinking about that, is because one day when I was about 12 years old, I was playing on the side of a lake in the woods with some of my friends, and I stepped on a yellow jacket’s nest in the ground. I was stung about sixty times on my legs. I ran home as fast as I could, and my mother took me to the emergency room, where I got shots–probably of benadryl or epenephrine. I went home and slept for two days. I remember my legs being swollen to two times their size and being so sick from those stings.

And I am now wondering if being stung that many times all at once could possibly be the cause of me having auto-immune disorders like celiac disease, type II diabetes, and now, maybe rheumatoid arthritis. This line of thinking started after my visit to the doctor yesterday, when he told me he is testing me for rheumatoid arthritis (among other things he talked about). Since they don’t really know what triggers something like that, isn’t it possible that that yellow jacket incident all those years ago could have something to do with it?

One of the questions the doctor asked me yesterday was “How long has this been going on?” Well, that is hard to answer. The big pain, the reason I was there yesterday, has been going on “this time” for a couple of months. I am to the point where if I try to lift a bowl up to put it away after washing the dishes, I have excruiating pain in my arm from my elbow to my wrist. If I try to open the door of the truck to get in or out, I have excruiating pain in my elbow. If I try to turn from one position to another when lying in bed, I have excruiating pain in my hips. It takes a bit to get up and get moving. And for me to actually go to a doctor, when I have to pay every penny out of my own pocket because I have no insurance, well, that right there might be an indication that I am really really in pain. Because I am stingy with my money, you know.

But how long has it been going on? That was another thing that kept me awake last night. I can remember in the 1980’s, when I was in my thirties, if I spent an afternoon working in my flower garden, my hands would hurt for days afterwards. Aching liking a toothache, and nothing I did would stop the pain. But, I loved gardening so much I was willing to do the trade off. In my forties, I had to wear those carpal tunnel splints on both hands at night if I did much typing at work during the day. I can remember driving home from work, on I-285, using the sides of my arms to steer the car, because griping the steering wheel of the car hurt my hands too much. It was unbearable at times, but you know how it is, a woman has to work to feed her family, and if you told people that you were in such pain they looked at you like you were an idiot because, well, you were young and all. So, is all that related to what I am experiencing now? And last year, the famous palpable mass incident, which improved when I was prescribed the anti-inflamatories and pain relievers, maybe the exercises that doctor didn’t do anything. Maybe it was the medicine that stopped the pain after all.

And I wonder, if I get pain like this all over my body now just from living day to day, what is my life going to be like in the future? How am I going to cope with this? I don’t want to be drugged all the time. Because yesterday, I got two shots, one in each hip. A steroid in one hip, and a pain med in the other. And I felt good yesterday and still feel good today. I have a prescription for an anti-inflamation drug in my purse that we are going to get filled today. But I can’t go around drugged like I was yesterday all the time! That is just insane. So, I guess, what was really keeping me awake last night is this: what is in store for me now?

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A New Sewing Area, And A Give Away!

Karen · 46 Comments

Ok, so not so much a new area, but a new table! I have been searching for a new sewing table for over a year. The one I had was a folding plastic table that was waaaaay to big for the space I have. I had to keep the legs folded up on one side, and prop that side on the dresser. Whenever I had to get into my drawer to get socks or underwear, it was a problem. But I put up with it because the only other solution would have been to completely put my sewing machine and other paraphenalia away every night. And THAT would have been a big pain in the butt.

I don’t have many pictures of the old set-up, because it was not such a pretty site. And you should have heard FabGrandpa fussing about it all the time! He really didn’t like it. That table was too wide, it stuck out into the room too far, in addition to taking up most of the dresser. AND, whenever I pressed the foot pedal on the sewing machine, it made the whole table jump up and down, so that it was difficult to sew a straight seam. (Now I am sure you all don’t believe that since I have been making so many pretty things, but trust me, it was a circus.)

Finding a new table was difficult because it had to fit a very small space. The opening is 43″ long X 20″ deep, but there is a folding curtain about 6″ from the sink cabinet. We can’t take the curtain out because if we have company, we have to be able to close off the bathroom area from our bedroom area, unless of course we are VERY cozy with the visitors. So, the search was on. But I found the (almost) perfect table last Saturday at Wal-Mart, and for only $34! It is 36″ wide, so it fits in the space with room to spare. And at 19″ deep, it doesn’t stick out too far into the room. The only thing that would have made it a perfect table would have to have been if it had a couple of drawers. It DOES have shelves, so that can be remedied. I can now be on the search for some baskets or containers that fit the shelves. I’m thinking shoeboxes that I can cover with fabric.

I’ve been so happy with the table that I have been sewing every day since I got it. And, it is solid as a rock, no jumping up and down while I sew, no battle with the machine to keep it from walking off of the table. It is SOOO much more relaxing to just sew and not have to work so much at it. I made that bag in a couple of hours. It is the same pattern I used to make the ones for my daughters for Christmas, but I played around with it some to make it look a little different. I love the fabric, called Naturology. I’m putting this one in my shop for sale–it will be up there tomorrow.

After I finished the tote bag–I made up some of the zipper bags to match it, they are cute, cute, cute!

And then I made some of the business card wallets, too. Someone I know wanted one of those in purple, so I made those, too.

To celebrate my new sewing area, and also to celebrate the opening of MY SHOP, I am giving away these matching little bags–one zipper pouch and one business card wallet in the Naturology green, brown and cream colors. If you want to own it, here is how to win:

1. Look at my little shop, then come back and leave a comment telling me what you like there.

2. For a second entry, tweet about this give away on Twitter, and leave a comment telling me you did.

3. For a third entry, follow my RSS feed, and comment to let me know you did.

I’ll pick a winner at random on March 30. It would be sooner but I am going on vacation for a week–going to see all my grandchildren, and can’t wait!

Check out more handmade items at the I Made It Blog Party

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A Nice Weekend At Payne Lake Campground

Karen · 5 Comments

This weekend was so nice! I saw the first sign of spring, daffodils! There they were, blooming on the bank by the spillway:

Other signs of spring: Lots of campers in the campground, fishermen in boats on the lake, and teenagers wading in the creek:

And the redbud trees budding:

We spent some time checking all the electric hookups and water faucets to make sure they all worked, because the turkey hunting season starts next weekend, and that means the campground is sure to be filled up. We picked up trash, cleaned out fire pits, and just made sure everything looks good.

I have been doing a lot of product reviews over the past couple of months, trying new gluten free things. This morning I cooked us some organic chicken sausage that was really yum! Tomorrow I’ll be trying out some sweet Italian sausage from the same company for dinner.

And as if I didn’t have enough to do, I have joined a group of writers doing a Write For Ten project. We are given a topic each day, and strive to write for ten minutes on that topic. You can see my efforts here. I’m learning that it is sometimes difficult to write for ten minutes, and sometimes my fingers just fly over the keys.

This afternoon, I did some more sewing: another tote bag in a gorgeous green and brown leaf print:

It has two pockets, one of them divided into sections with spaces for pens or pencils:

It is 18″ wide X 9 1/2″ tall, large enough to hold lots of goodies. I’m going to be making some more this week, I hope. Only 5 more days until FabGrandpa has his eye surgery, and only two weeks before I see my grandchildren!

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Pre-Op For Cataract Surgery

Karen · 9 Comments

DSCN2452 — Flags In Front Of The VA Medical Center In Birmingham

See those flags up there? they are blowing so hard in the wind they look like they are upside down! And it was cold!

We spent the whole day today at the VA Hospital in Birmingham getting pre-op stuff done for FabGrandpa’s cataract surgery. We have been working towards getting this surgery done since November 1 of last year. The appointment with the specialist was two Saturdays ago. They told us to call a week after the exam to find out when the surgery would be scheduled. When I called, they said they didn’t have any time to schedule until the end of April. I was not happy with that, because we have to leave here by April 12 to go back to work in Arizona.

The lady was nice enough but still told me she couldn’t do any better than April 30. I told her to put him on a waiting list in case someone cancelled. Luckily, she called me back in less than 10 minutes and said they had a slot to do the surgery on March 12. That means his post op 30 day check up will be on April 9, and we can get back to work on time!

Today, we had another consultation with the opthalomogist at the eye clinic, who took measurements for a new acrylic lens implant they are going to put in during the surgery. The doctor also answered all our questions about important things like how they handle pain management, how long the surgery will take, and how long FabGrandpa will have to abstain from playing “Left For Dead” after surgery.

Then, we went back over to the main VA Medical Center, where they drew blood and did an EKG. We also visited the anesthesiologist and the people in the Eligibility. The last stop was at the pharmacy to pick up three prescriptions eye drops. All this took about four hours, but it was well worth the time spent as we have no other health insurance. So, next Friday, March 12th, is the big day.

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New Stuff In The Shop

Karen · 3 Comments

This is not as easy as it looks! I spent a good part of yesterday getting things ready to put in the shop. I think I like making things better than doing the work part of uploading them. It wouldn’t be so hard to do if the internet service I had was better, but the whole day yesterday was cloudy, rainy, overcast; and when the weather is like that the satellite internet just doesn’t work well. Don’t get it if you were thinking you wanted it!

So, I have put some little business card wallets I make with the pattern I got from Kekalou;

some more of the little quilted zipper bags:

and some jewelry I made last winter:

Thanks for taking a look!

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Technical Non Support

Karen · 13 Comments

On Tuesday, I turned on my computer just like I always do in the morning to read my email while I have my coffee. Only my computer didn’t boot up all the way. I got an error screen that prompted me to “Activate Windows Now.”

I have been using this computer since June of 2008. It is a Sony Vaio that came with Windows Vista Home Premium pre-installed. I don’t know of any ready to use computer these days that doesn’t come pre-loaded with some version of Windows, unless of course, it is a Mac. So, when I was prompted to enter the product key, I copied the key from the bottom of the computer, and typed it in the space provided.

And I got an error that said “The product key you have entered is invalid.” And in the bottom right hand corner of the screen, it said “This copy of Windows is not genuine.” That was the beginning of “Technical Support Hell ” here in the Fab household.

You would think that because Windows is a Microsoft product that Microsoft would be responsible for assisting you if you have a problem. After searching the Microsoft support pages for a couple of hours, looking for help with my particular problem, I finally found a telephone number to call. Now, I know it’s not Microsoft’s problem that I am in a remote area, and have only 1 bar on my cellphone, and if I don’t hold my head just right, or move the phone 1/100^th of an inch I will lose the call.

When I called the phone number, I described in detail what my problem was, and was told that I would have to call Sony. So, I called Sony. After holding in cue for thirty minutes, I reached someone at Sony who told me that my problem was with Microsoft, and gave me a different phone number to call. But, they told me if I wanted to pay $49 for technical support, they would help me. I said no thanks, and hung up.

I dialed the new number and was greeted by an automated recording that asked me several questions, and finally got me into a holding cue for a technical support person. This person at Microsoft went through several steps with me to diagnose the problem, although I already knew what the problem was—I needed a new product key to activate windows on my computer that is the same computer I have been using for two years. After about half an hour on the line with the technical support person, he said I needed to be switched over to the “Activation Department”. He put me on hold, and before the Activation Department could answer my cellphone dropped the call. Sigh.

FabGrandpa and I decided that we needed to go to Tuscaloosa and buy a back up drive. Just in case. I have been owning computers since 1994, and have never had any means of backing one up before. I should have, but just never did. On the drive up there, he suggested that I call my son and ask him if he knew what to do. But I said, no, I don’t think he’ll know.

By the time we got home from our shopping trip, it was late and I didn’t feel like going through the hassle again that day. So, on Wednesday morning, I started calling again. I got someone on the phone at Sony, and asked for the Activation Department. They person on the phone asked me what the problem was, so I explained it. And they said, you need to speak to the Activation Department. When the person in the Activation Department answered, I went through explaining the problem, again. And they said, “Your computer is out of warranty—we can help you with this problem, but we will have to charge you $49 to help you. And I said, “NO. I am not going to pay $49 for something I have already paid for. All I need is an activation key, or product key, for the Windows that came with the computer.” The person at Sony told me that the only way to correct the problem without paying them $49 was to use the Recovery Disc. If you know anything about Recovery Disc, you know dang well that it doesn’t recover anything. It wipes everything off your computer and puts it back like it came out of the box. No. Thank. You. I am not going there.

As I hung up, I could feel my blood beginning to boil. Isn’t it enough that these computer companies have us over a barrel when it comes to buying the products? Do they really have to suck our pockets dry for every little thing? I refused to pay because I knew there must be an answer somewhere.

I called Microsoft back, and waded through the recorded prompts again. After about an hour, I got a real live person, and explained the problem yet again. She was less than helpful. After going through several more diagnostic steps, she informed again that this was Sony’s problem because the software was preloaded on the computer when I bought it. Sony bought the license from them, so it was Sony’s responsibility to provide me with the activation key. I told her in no uncertain terms that I expected Microsoft to support their product and I didn’t care who bought the license. And she informed ME that the only way Microsoft would help me was if I paid them $59. I just hung up in disgust. Doesn’t Bill Gates have enough money yet???

And so, I decided to call my son. And he told me what to do. And the advice he gave me worked. I should have called him first.

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