Welcome Back!!

It's been a while. Sometimes life just gets in the way. 

My last couple of posts were about my husband's cancer. I am thrilled to say that he is 2 years out now, and remains cancer free. Every time he goes back to follow up with his surgeon he (the surgeon) says "You know, you should have died!"  Honey is truly a miracle, and we know now that every day is a gift, and we are determined not to squander it. 

So what's been happening in my life? We welcomed our second grandchild last January, a little brother for Miss T,  and he just turned 1 year old. He is the happiest baby, much like his dad was, although a little quieter and more laid back!! We enjoy them both immensely and spend as much time with them as we can. 

I spent the first part of last year laid up with pretty bad sciatica. I just woke up one day in January with this incredible pain that went all the way down my leg to my foot. I couldn't stand up straight, couldn't walk more than a few steps without feeling like I had an ice pick in my bum. And to make matters worse, our doctor of 40 years became ill and had to retire suddenly, so we had to find a new doctor in the middle of it all, which meant I had to start all over with conservative treatment before I could get an MRI approved. Pain meds didn't work. Physical therapy made it worse. Finally, in May, I had an MRI which showed a herniated disc and I got an appointment with a neurosurgeon ... in July! Strangely, while I was waiting for that appointment, after 5 months of no improvement at all, it started to slowly get better, and by a week before the appointment, my pain was completely gone and has been gone ever since!!  I can't tell you how many times that has happened to me, where I fool around trying to treat something by myself and when I finally decide to see a doctor, it goes away!  I'm not complaining though. No pain is good!! 

Last summer, my firstborn and his wife moved back to Michigan from Florida after 11 years. They decided they wanted to be closer to family. They're glad to be back, but they are suffering through their first Michigan winter in many years ... and it hasn't even been that bad a winter yet!! It's nice to have them here though.

After being stuck in a chair for nearly 6 months, Honey and I decided that maybe it was time for us to take better care of ourselves, so we started trying to lose weight in late June. We don't call it a diet. We call it eating like we should have been for the last 50 years!! So far, Honey has lost about 94 pounds and I've lost 45. (I just hate it that men lose twice as fast as women, but that is the reality, and we just have to deal with it!) It really hasn't been that hard. We are basically eating fresh home prepared food, staying away from processed pre-packaged stuff, trying to make healthy choices and watch our portions and that has done the trick. There really isn't anything we can't eat and if there is something we really want, we have it and get back on our program afterward. We go out to eat occasionally, but we check the menu online ahead of time when we can and try to choose something that is healthy and not loaded with fat, sugar and calories. 

All of my clothes are too big and I look like some kind of a bag lady most of the time, but I'm not spending money on new clothes until I reach my goal. I've bought a few things at local thrift shops to get me through, and was able to alter a few of my things, but mostly, I just wear stuff baggy!! 

Now, the next step is to get some exercise. After years of being mostly sedentary, that's easier said than done. My kids keep telling us we should join a gym. They don't get that we need to work ourselves UP to a gym!! I'm trying to be more active around the house, now that I'm able to stand and walk a little more, but I really lost a lot of strength and endurance those months I was laid up, so it's slow going. I no longer groan and the prospect of having to run upstairs or downstairs, and I can stand up long enough to prepare a whole meal, so I'm doing some cooking again, but I'll tell you, it takes a lot longer to get it back than it does to lose it!! . I bought Honey a bike for his birthday, so come spring, we're going to try to do some bicycling. I expect we won't be able to do much more than ride around the parking lot at first, but hey, you have to start somewhere! 

I took up crochet a little more than a year ago. I took a class from our local community education department. I like it better than knitting and I've made amigurumi animals for Miss T, baby afghans, hats, scarves, slippers, dishcloths, table runners, baskets. I am accumulating quite a yarn stash, and even learned how to make T-shirt yarn to make baskets and rugs with. 

 

I've been trying to organize and set up my sewing space in the basement the last few weeks. While I was laid up, my sewing space got turned into the junk room ... the place where everything got dumped when we decided to "put it in the basement." I couldn't get down there very easily, so I didn't realize how bad it got, until I went down there to try to catch up on the laundry. It took me several weeks just to get to to where I could set up a sewing machine again. 

And then, of course, as soon as everyone figured out I was sewing, I got a slew of new and old mending to do!! While I was teaching my boys to cook and clean and grocery shop growing up, I should have taught them how to use a needle and thread too!! 

I got a serger for Christmas and a new sewing machine in January and I'm itching to get back into it. I'm taking an online serger class, but I had to put it on hold because while trying to make the first project, I the upper knife blade broke on my serger, so it's in for repair now. I also took in my 1971 Kenmore (my first love, and a real workhorse), and another Kenmore I got in the 1990s for tuning up. Soon I'll have 3 working sewing machines and a serger! I have so many things I want to do ... make doll clothes for Miss T, clothes for myself, curtains for the house, pillows, quilts, purses, In the meantime, I'm sorting through UFOs, and trying to get things organized. Oh, and I have managed to do a little quilting!! 

Honey and I semi-retired last year. We both still work part time and probably will as long as we are able, but we have more time to do the things we love, and spend time with the people we love, and life is good. 

So that brings me up to date. I'm hoping to do a better job of keeping this blog up. Not that anybody reads it any more. But it's fun, and who knows, maybe I still have a follower or two. 

Until next time ... 

Terri