Tag Archives: Life is good.

Progress in baby steps

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Ah, the canes. The candy canes are gone, the cookies (almost) eaten, the candy cane infused peppermint ice cream is history. The only canes remaining are the ones in the corner.

cane collection in a corner

Amigo’s is the long white cane with a red tip. Mine is the shorter support cane. It may look black, but it’s actually a dark green that suits my personality. I use the cane almost any time I leave the house — work, shopping (not often), appointments, etc. It’s good for me in many ways.

The news, if it’s news, is that my left side is showing signs of recovery. The neurologist (with the cool shoe wardrobe) checked my reflexes, and my left leg actually kicked. It didn’t move as much as the right does, but it moved. The last time she checked my reflexes, the left leg didn’t move at all. It just sat. This is improvement – significant improvement.

Doctor Shoes reminded me that recovery from an episode like mine, similar to stroke, can take a while. Healing a broken bone may be measured in weeks, but when nerves are healing, it’s more likely to take months. I think she saw my deep sigh at this one, because she told me to keep up PT and hang in there.

The deep sigh, however, wasn’t one of disappointment. Resignation, maybe, but also relief. Slight recovery means progress, and progress leads to more progress. Her tests confirmed what I was feeling; I feel a little stronger now than I did two weeks ago, when I felt stronger than I had two weeks before.

The cane is still my accessory, my tool for getting around. It will remain by my side and in my cubicle and in my corner. Add that to the medical pros in my corner, and I think I stand a good chance of walking to work again – sooner or later.

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More reasons to enjoy teaching fifth grade

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My students send me work in envelopes decorated with stickers.

Who can resist getting the mail when the mail looks like this?

They are old enough to create detailed work that demonstrates their learning.

The assignment called for an “appropriate image”.

The written portion was detailed and accurate, too. I sincerely enjoy grading fifth grade work. These students are awesome.

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RIP, refrigerator

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Maybe you’ve seen – or maybe you haven’t – this simple Haiku.

Refrigerator. Of course.

Our refrigerator stopped making sense, too. Thanksgiving weekend the freezer continued freezing while the refrigerator quit refrigerating. Thanks to the Internet, we found and implemented a fix. As we got closer to Christmas, the freezer started warming up. Losing cold? Whatever. The ice cubes were still ice, but the ice cream was getting softer. Chuck asked (rhetorically, of course) “Why do our appliances taunt us whenever it’s a major holiday?”

Don’t answer that, people. Just don’t.

This time, at least, we had two advantages. 1: Chuck and I did the homework at Thanksgiving in case we needed to buy a new refrigerator. We knew what we needed. 2: This month, Mother Nature gave us an alternate storage place called Snow on the Deck. Storing the frozen food was easy. Some went in a cooler, and a few of my frozen market goodies went right in the light and powdery snow.

Getting it out was another story.

But wait – there’s more! I used a broom to brush away the layers that had accumulated overnight and found strawberries and blueberries, also frozen last summer.

Not stepping stones: tops of coffee “cans” full of frozen berries.

All is calm, and all is cool, at least for now. If I forgot anything, it’ll show up in the next thaw. Next: clean the oven.

 

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And so it goes – a review of the First Days of 2012

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2012 was an incredibly eventful year. For better or for worse, here are the first posts from each month on Compost Happens.

January 1st: Last year’s retrospective, looking back at a very eventful 2011. Read ahead for links to the first of each month in 2012. One year from now, you’ll be reviewing 2013. That thought is both frightening and exciting.

February 1st: In a year fraught with conflict, I wrote many letters. Some were real and landed on desks in Madison and Washington, D.C., and others landed in cyberspace on Compost Happens.

March 1st: Writing is therapeutic. Blogging and email fit the category, too. Last March I reminisced and quietly rejoiced in my new-found state of normal.

April 1st: I didn’t post on April 1st, and April 2nd featured pictures of my cubicle (cute, but not exactly thrilling content). Instead, I give you March 30: the power of refusal and the word No.

May 1st: The strength of grass-roots organizing – the 4 by 10 method.

June 1st: 2012 was an eventful year in the political realm. As we geared up for a gubernatorial recall election in Wisconsin, I spent a little volunteer time as a Holder of the Lights on a local overpass.

July 1st: Why my life would make a lousy reality show.

August 1st: Perspectives on trees and pondering fortune cookies; the two are related. Trust me.

September 1st: What does a progressive blogger post during the Republican National Convention? Analysis, that’s what. Here’s a brief analysis of some of the worst prime time moments of the RNC’s gathering.

October 1st: Busy? Did I say busy? October is typically a wild month here at the O.K. Chorale, and this year was busier than most.

November 1st: Encore posts can come in handy. On November 1st of 2012, I was experiencing scary symptoms of a possible stroke. I set this encore to post so the blog wouldn’t be empty. November 2nd explained what happened at the hospital as I lay on the gurney hooked up to all kinds of beeping machines thinking “Thank goodness I voted early!”

December 1st: Sandwiched between a rant about the Clinic That Shall Not Be Named and pictures of construction vehicles in the front yard, I pulled up an encore post to remember how much my young ones have grown and matured.

Here’s hoping 2013 has more achievements and happy occasions and fewer tragedies than 2012.

 

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Flu – You can prevent this misery.

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My dear friend’s husband is sick: sicker than ever, it seems. He suffered through a cold followed by a sinus infection and now is down for the count with (did you guess?) influenza. He’s not a complainer. He’s more likely to take care of himself and tough his way through these things. But this time, his wife is out of town, his kiddo is a teenager – a good, responsible teenager, but still a teen – and the man is miserably ill. A few of his updates will help describe the situation:

OK, a month of cold/sinus infection, just think I am over it and BOOM!!! hit with a full body aching influenza! Shoot me now. That might hurt less.

Been up four times last night. Muscles ache, head hurts feverish….. yep, still have the flu! Booooo!!!

Auughhhh! So tired of….(cough cough) being sick….<Achoo>. Sigh.

I have fought the good fight today but the plague is winning. Time for at least a two hour nap!

We offered the poor guy some help because we only live a few blocks away. He told me he’s well stocked with juice, soup, white soda, NyQuil, and pain meds. I hope he can rest enough to recover.

I don’t know, however, if he had a chance to get the flu shot. If he had, he might have had a less serious case of influenza or even fought it off completely. I know, I know, I hear you — “Time! No one has time!” Folks, it takes less time to get immunized than it does to be sick, and it’s a lot less painful.

The Center for Disease Control asked me to publicize this one more time: flu shots are still available! It’s not too late! Seasonal flu is off to an early start. With the exception of H1N1, which hit throughout the summer and fall, this is the earliest start to the annual spread of influenza since 2002.

If you, like me, are a reader and a researcher, you can visit the flu page published by the CDC. They have basic information and links to more specific subtopics. But first, I mean it. Get the influenza vaccine. I got mine at a local pharmacy. So did my adult children, with almost no prompting from me. Get the flu shot, and then you can stock up on white soda, soup, juice, and anti-inflammatory meds. You can always share your supplies with those who do get sick.

This is not a sponsored post. A representative from the CDC contacted me and asked if I would post a reminder that it’s not too late to get the vaccine. If you have any doubts, readers, call your doctor. Between the two of you, you’ll be able to make an educated decision and get the shot quickly and efficiently. 

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The Bean Bag Cousins

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What happens when two cousins both get bean bag chairs for Christmas?

“It’s on my arm! I can pick it up!”

One bean bag is carried around by its new owner.

Togetherness is sharing bean bag chair space.

Amigo and Little Cousin test-drive the new seating.

Trade?

Little Cousin sits on Amigo’s bean bag chair. Little Cousin’s bean bag chair sits on Amigo’s head.

Preserving for family history – and for Facebook.

And the full view: this includes La Petite, bunny slippers and all, photographing the whole scene with her phone.

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Cane, not candy

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The physical therapist rattled off several reasons why using a cane would be a good idea while I’m recovering from the stroke-that-wasn’t that weakened my left side. I promptly forgot most of the reasons, but I did remember how to properly size the cane and how to use it correctly. Here is my version of the top ten reasons Daisy should use a cane. I’m sure you can figure out which reasons came from the PT and which came from my own mind.

10. Amigo is no longer the only cane user in the family.

9. I can wrap red ribbon around it for the holiday season.

8. Using a cane will provide support and limit fatigue.

7. A cane is a handy defensive weapon.

6. It lets me rationalize using the elevator.

5. The cane prevents me from developing an odd gait that favors the weak side.

4. Along with my adorable new vintage hat, it makes me look “professorial”, according to at least one coworker.

3. It’s a great prop – allows me to break into a softshoe dance in the middle of the halls.

2. It reminds me to slow down, I might be moving too fast. I’ve got to make the morning last!

1. It’s a great fashion accessory.

 

 

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The view from my front window

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The tree in the front yard survived. I was ready to let it go, but the crews worked around it. They dug up the street, replaced the huge pipes that go underground, filled the trech with gravel and eventually covered it with blacktop. The road will be resurfaced next year. While the road was dug up, we had some basic plumbing done, too. We had our sewer lateral (the one that was being destroyed by tree roots) replaced. It was expensive, but less so than if we’d done it at some other time – namely, when the street wasn’t already dug up.

And so it goes – the road work provided entertainment in the form of trees and city council meetings, opportunities to both spend and save money, ecological and not-so-eco-logical events, and an interesting view. View? Here it is, folks: my front yard during the sewer work.

 

 

 

I guess I can’t tell them to stay off my lawn.

Just stay away from my campaign signs, punks.

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Homecomings – an encore presentation

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My “children” are now 25 and 20. This post remembers a weekend evening a few years ago. Was it only a few years? Oh, my.

The thing about kids is that they grow up.

Homecoming Week at Amigo’s high school just ended. A chronological recounting won’t do; the impression of the week is more of a scattered collection of events.
The bonfire had a perfect night — that is, the rain date had perfect weather.
Spirit Days! Must discuss spirit days.
On “Dress Like a Pirate Day”, Amigo wore a bandanna on his head and someone gave him an eye patch to go with it. Substitute his white cane for a peg leg, and there’s one cool pirate.
Decades day? He chose the 80s and wore a shirt featuring the Packer quarterback who preceded Brett Favre. Okay, trivia buffs, can you name the quarterback?
At the football game, Amigo sat with us, but he was never alone. Kids kept walking past and saying hi and calling him by name. The homecoming king himself, the most popular boy in the entire school, sat and watched the game and talked with Amigo for quite a while. Husband joined us after work, bought supper from the concession stand and bought a sweatshirt from the booster club as the sun went down and the temperature dropped.
But the most glaring sign of growing up was the dance. I picked him up at midnight, tired, hoarse, thirsty, grinning from ear to ear. We came home and found La Petite had caught a ride home from college with her boyfriend to spend a night here with us and with her bunnies.
And that’s where it ended: my two teenagers, one 19, one 14, sharing homecoming stories on the couch after midnight. The high school freshman and the college sophomore chatted and laughed and compared notes. I don’t know how long they stayed up talking about pep rallies, football games, dances, and spirit weeks. I’m sure they didn’t even notice my absence when I went up to bed.

I guess the great thing about kids is that they grow up.

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Another Reason to be Thankful

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This could have gotten lost in last week’s holiday posts. It could have been mixed in with my friends and their Facebook “Thirty Days of Thanks” memes. It could have been buried by the busy-ness of a holiday week, when few regular readers have a chance to keep up with their favorite blogs. This piece didn’t get lost because I shared it initially with a small number of people. Now that the first in a long stream of holidays has gone its merry way, I’ll share this item with the rest of the world.

Background: I composed the first draft for our national blog last year, but it wasn’t really suitable for what was needed at the time. The marketing folks who run the web sites contacted me on Monday and said, Hey, Daisy, can we run it this week? With a few minor changes, it will make an excellent post for a Thanksgiving theme.

Of course I said yes. The revisions were, as they said, few. My content was still mine and still sounded like my voice on paper. So, folks, don’t be shocked by the picture (I’m not a smiley coffee mug in real life) or the real name. Follow the link below for my most recent contribution to the Connections Academy national blog..

I’m thankful for a wonderful job in a rewarding and evolving field. Read the entire story here.

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