Exceedingly Mundane

Once again, I’m playing catch-up here at my blog. 🙂 I haven’t blogged in about 11 days, so a lot to chatter about. I won’t talk about today’s date, although it is the 11th anniversary of 9/11. I remember that day well. 🙁

Labor Day was good this year, but quieter than in years past. We had gone to Terry’s house the Sunday before Labor Day, to celebrate Zack’s 17th birthday. Good grief, I remember the day that boy was born! He’s just about all grown up now. We got him golf stuff and money, which of course is all Tim’s idea. Zack is as “eat up” with golf as his Uncle Tim is. Labor Day, Tim played golf all morning and barely got home in time to start the fantasy football draft at 1 PM. We did the draft (I’m never happy with my team, but oh well!), and then ran to Chick-Fil-A for sandwiches. After we ate, we took out the baby back ribs I had defrosted, and Tim got them ready for the smoker. They smoked for several hours and we had ribs for Labor Day. No extended family here as in years past, but that’s ok. It was kinda nice to have a day off just for us 🙂

The rest of the week flew by. Tim is still busy at work during the day but is not working late hours any longer. His foot seems to have healed enough for him to be back to playing golf most every day (he normally doesn’t play on Tuesdays and Fridays, and plays every other day). He played most of the week, and both days on the weekend. Saturday was cloudy and cooler. So nice to have good weather for a change! Tim played golf all morning, then we went to a late lunch at a new place, Signa’s Grille. Tim got the philly chicken and I got a shrimp po-boy and we split sweet potato fries. Portions are smaller than most other places (although I’m sure more in line with what we SHOULD be eating), and prices were a bit higher, but it was good.

Sunday was busy with church, cooking out burgers, and the first Saints game! They lost (BOO) to the Redskins, and both of us are always cranky after the Saints lose. So, Tim went to the golf course and I ran to Kroger for food, and then piddled around the house. We watched Sunday night football and some tv when he got in. And checked on our fantasy teams!

Sunday night was cool, I woke up Monday morning and it was 57 degrees! Tim slept in and Beau and I went out walking. My app I use for walking (DailyMile) said that I walked 17.69 miles last week, and I hope to walk that or more this week. It’s cooler this week, so I’m trying to get more in. Yesterday and today, I’ve walked nearly 9 miles. Of course, I’m eating cookies, homemade bread and ice cream, so I need to be doing a lot more than walking!

Oh, and yesterday I had another incident with bugs in the pantry. This time, I opened a package of Gold Medal bread flour and there were bugs in it. I had bought a bag of unbleached all purpose at the same time and both were unopened in the bottom shelf of the pantry, and both had bugs in them. I went through everything else in the pantry (most things are in Oxo or Tupperware containers) and couldn’t find bugs in anything else. Thank goodness. Tim was SO sweet and took them back to Kroger for me last night, after he got finished at the golf course. He exchanged them (they didn’t complain or ask to see a receipt or anything, I didn’t want to go because I thought they’d fuss or say I had them in my house!) for me. He brought home new bags of each flour and I opened them up … and, NO BUGS! I was so glad. One is now in a tupperware and the other in a ziploc bag. I hope that’s the end of that!

and a little of that!

Today is Friday, and here’s a few bulleted things going on:

* Yesterday I went to the dentist. Glad to get that checkup over with for another 6 months! Up next is the *other* doctor, in the late fall. That’s the one I really dread!

* Yesterday was my mother-in-law’s birthday. We had to call several times to catch her, she’s a very popular and busy lady on her birthday 🙂 Beau did his singing/barking rendition to Happy Birthday on the phone, always a hit. We will get to see her Sunday after church, for a belated birthday lunch.

* Today I took Beau for a walk. Not back to daily, but better, that’s three times this week. Tim’s foot is better, since he played golf yesterday. Better enough for golf, not for walking in the subdivision with me and Beau, LOL!

* This morning, I let Beau out back and he saw a squirrel, I heard his bark. Yes, he has different barks for different things, and yes, I can tell them apart. Then I heard what sounded like the snake bark. Sure enough, he’s got a snake coiled up next to the fence, and I finally got him to back away, so the snake proceeded to slither into some shrubs nearby. I screamed (bloody murder, at the top of my lungs scream) for Tim, who came with a hoe. For a change, he actually killed this snake. Thank goodness! Usually, he says they are “good snakes” and leaves them alone.

* I’m knocking another item off my to-try list this morning. I’m going to try to make homemade flour tortillas. I hope they turn out!

Got a semi busy weekend ahead. Tim is back to playing golf, we have a Saints preseason game on TV, and then the family birthday lunch for Linda on Sunday. Then Tim has to work all Sunday night on a big project. Busy bee!

I don’t know if I just took a long break, or more likely, I had nearly given up on blogging. Either way, it’s been a while since I updated my blog.

The last time I posted was late March, which was when I developed tinnitus. I went to sleep one Friday night and I was fine. When I woke up Saturday morning, I had this loud screeching noise in my head. Well, actually, at first it was a loud pulsating noise, like I could hear my pulse pounding inside my head, very loudly. After several doctors visits, and being treated for what they said was a middle ear infection, it changed over to “traditional” tinnitus, a loud buzzing or screeching sound in my head. I took decongestants, mucus thinners, a Z-pack, a steroid pack, and finally they said the fluid was gone, but the noises remain. And apparently will for the rest of my life. I saw an ENT (who I disliked immensely, she was cold and uncaring and had the worst “bedside” manner I have ever encountered) who told me that I probably had Meniere’s Disease and that is why I have tinnitus. Except that my father-in-law has Meniere’s so I know all about it. I do not have vertigo, which is one of the hallmarks of Meneire’s. I just have tinnitus. Every second of every minute of every hour of every day. I’m getting better. And I’m trying lots of things on my own. The doctor said “learn to live with it”. When I told her I was having trouble sleeping, she said “turn some music on”. That was the extent of her helpful medical knowledge. HA! So, I’m doctoring myself and taking vitamin and herb supplements. It is better, but it has not gone away, and probably never will. I will have to learn to live with it, and I have somewhat, but I still have quite a long ways to go. Luckily, I have an awesome God on my side, who loves me, and the most loving spouse on the planet. So I know I’ll be fine, one way or another 🙂

Hearing the loud noises in my head and trying to cope with it consumes most of my days! I no longer read much, because it’s hard for me to read with the noise. I am getting better, but my reading pace and the number of books I have read is way down. I won’t come anywhere near the number of books I used to read in a year, this year. But I am enjoying most of the ones I do read, so I guess that’s good!

I’m walking 6 days a week. Most mornings, Tim gets up and goes with me, and we take Beau. We walk anywhere from 1 mile to nearly 3 miles. We don’t walk on Sundays, because we go to early church. In April, I got pretty sick and was having so much trouble sleeping and eating, that I lost 6 or 8 pounds in a couple of weeks. While I was ecstatic over the weight loss, I didn’t feel well. So once I got to feeling better, I got back to eating, and I’m happy/sad to report that I’ve gained all of that weight back!

I’ve gone back to scrapbooking, at least on a smaller level. I can turn music on when I scrapbook, which helps to mask some of the tinnitus. I’ve finished my Disney album (I won’t even tell you how many years ago we went to Disney World) which is way overdue. I’m working on pages for my Christmas album and also some in my regular chronological albums. I’m way behind, so I won’t ever come close to catching up. In addition to working on pages, I’ve also gone back and gotten a few pictures printed out. I’m about, oh, 6 or 7 years behind on printing pictures. To say I’m totally digital now is an understatement. I didn’t even know where to start at looking for places to print out photos!

I’m trying to stay busy, because when I’m busy or out in noisy places like restaurants, stores, etc, I don’t hear the tinnitus as much. Tim is great about getting me out and keeping me busy. I was always such a homebody, and it’s been so hard, such an adjustment for me, not to be able to enjoy being at home, enjoying the silence, being quiet and content. We’ve been going to a lot of movies this summer (although this is hard on me, the noise bothers my ears badly now, so I try to take ear plugs, which helps, but my tinnitus always spikes after we go to the theater). We go out to eat some, and get out and about whenever we have time.

Tim is still playing a lot of golf. He changed golf clubs a few months back and now has two courses that he can play at. The bad news is that he can no longer take Beau to the new place he joined (it’s a country club, not a golf club any more). When the weather was cooler, I was going with Tim and walking some at the golf course. It’s been really hot lately, though, so I have not been going. Tim still goes when it’s outrageous hot, but not me, I like my air conditioning! We had triple digit weather a week ago, and he was still out, on the days it was 103, with a heat index of 112. Yikes!

Anyway, this is not a very interesting blog post, nor am I promising any interesting ones in the future. Just thought I’d do a long, boring update! 🙂