Pumpkin Sunrise

  Can you believe the crazy weather these days? Yesterday was 80 degrees and today is going to be higher than that. It's too soon! My dogwoods are starting to bloom and it feels a bit early to me.  I've been thinking about how I give myself grace. Sure it's easy to give grace to others and it comes easily.  I wonder why I'm so hard on myself especially if I am not feeling well. Living with a chronic autoimmune disorder (Sjogren's Syndrome) and trying to come up with the best ways to manage my symptoms and eliminate triggers, I lose sight on accepting my reality and just giving myself grace. After battling sinus issues for most of this week and a runny nose for three weeks, I saw my doctor and now have some medicines to get me back to feeling healthy. Phew! I'm doing my best! So how do I give myself grace? Being mindful in each moment is helpful. Journaling my thoughts, feelings and pouring my heart out onto the paper with a favorite fountain pen, the best free t

  This morning my husband and I were planning a trip to Indiana to attend our sweet grandson's first birthday party. I wasn't feeling that great last week and early this week went to urgent care for a salivary gland infection and am on meds. The healing has been slow-going (I'm extremely impatient!). I'm seeing a specialist next week thankfully. Anyways, whenever we travel my dry eye and dry mouth symptoms (due to Sjogren's syndrome) are worse. I can only guess it's something to do with the long car ride and the dry air circulation in the car. Besides not feeling the best, I knew the car ride would not help me continue to recover. So we canceled. I haven't done much of anything this week except drink lots of water, finish reading a book or two and of course put in a few rows of knitting here and there. 

  Good morning! How was your weekend? Well mine was just fine! I have recovered from the whirlwind impulsive trip to Indiana and so far feel 'healthy' may it continue. Saturday and Sunday I hibernated inside my house only doing whatever was necessary. I pulled out my paints and paint-doodled and I also swatched all my graphite pencils in my pouch and sketched a bit. I am rusty but it felt so good to get lost in what I was doing. In the evenings I knit but I didn't photo any of that. I impulsively bought a bullet blender over the weekend and a smoothie recipe book because why not? There is a local smoothie place that I go to once in a while but wouldn't it be great to make your own? Now keep in mind that it will be some time before I get all the ingredients together. Plus the book has tons of info to read. How was your weekend?

  On Monday afternoon we spontaneously decided to go to Indiana to help our son and daughter in law as a virus (not covid) was shared in a staggered fashion and surprisingly it was two different viruses. How is that possible? Our grandson was fully recovered and as happy as can be. Our son was well until we left on Friday when he started a fever. Our daughter in law had the worst of it the whole time we were there. I did tons and tons of laundry, cleaning and cooking. My husband trimmed hedges and installed five smoke alarms in their purchased home. Since we live near a BIG city we were unable to board Frodo at the kennel (I miss living in the country, I never had that problem) so we packed up Frodo and brought him with us. He did surprisingly well! He acted like he loved the adventure. He's not a fan of riding in a car but if he sits on my lap for SEVEN hours straight he manages his dismay. Let's just say I did not knit, draw, paint or do anything creative, unless you count co

  Good morning! Here we are another Friday and here I am writing another post about everything and nothing at all. This time around I'm going to be musing about simple pleasures and what I take for granted on a daily basis. Grab your tea, coffee or juice and join the meandering. When the nasty summer cold was at its worst, I romantically thought about all those days I could breathe through my nose. Seriously, we should all sing praises to nasal breathing. When I sat around and read my book, I thought about all the exercising and walking I do on a daily basis effortlessly. I have walked this week but golly it was an effort and I was so glad to get back home to sit. I am grateful I had the time and the luxury to sit at home and recover, there are many who cannot do that. I am feeling so much better! I am grateful for that.  Simple pleasures:  knitting, as always - thinking about a pumpkin hat for the grandson - buckets of hot green decaf tea - logic puzzles and sudoku puzzles - summe

  I've written about my morning routine many times but I thought why not touch upon it once more. I love to get up early in the morning, drink my tea and journal about the day before. Mostly it's about events, thoughts and feelings. Sometimes I rant but try not to very much. At the end of each entry I write my gratitude list. Frequently it's about family and friends, coffee and tea, quiet pockets in my day. The more ordinary the gratitude the more I feel peace. The past two to three weeks have been wonky here. I've been having health symptom issues that I thought were medication changes for my blood pressure. An EKG was slightly abnormal which referred me to a cardiologist. While waiting for that appointment I visited ER to make sure I wasn't having a heart attack (I was NOT). I met the cardiologist last week and he thought I was 'fine' but ordered a stress test anyways. I did the stress test on Monday and thought I passed! But then I got a call from the off

  Good morning! How are you? The last time I posted I mentioned that my husband had the stomach bug last Saturday. After diligent sanitizing, social distancing in our house, I was blessed with the same virus on Tuesday (ugh!). I am feeling better every day but this virus has taken a lot out of me. Yesterday was the first day I was sitting upright and able to read and comprehend a book. I haven't done much knitting or anything else this past week. Eating food is a chore as well. I am getting too old for this! The above photo of me knitting maybe 4 rows on a second sock before exhaustion sets in once again and I set aside the knitting and resume reading a book. Frodo has been my constant companion, he is a funny little guy. The older he gets, the more clingy he becomes. He mainly sits beside me most of the time but does like to sit beside my husband as well. However he has to see me and gaze at me lovingly while fighting sleep across the room. And while he shows his age in some ways

  Good morning to you! How have you been? Are you almost ready for Christmas? Around here it's been a little full in the days with running around but I continue to find my pockets of peace whenever I sit down and knit. I'm grateful for that always. The house is decorated and most of the shopping is done. I finished my Christmas gift knitting (yay). I saw my new rheumatologist again earlier this week - I adore her immensely, she is kind, funny and oh so knowledgeable. After a multitude of blood tests and asking questions I've never ever been asked before by any of my previous arthritis doctors (the questions were long and mighty), she has diagnosed me with Sjogren's Syndrome . I first presented arthritis symptoms in 1997 but was never in a specific category. I was told back then I did mostly rheumatoid arthritis and a little bit of lupus. Back then the blood tests weren't specific either compared to current bloodwork being done. This new doctor is switching my medici

  Right now I'm sitting in the kitchen before dawn writing this post. I've been reading many books at the same time about mindfulness and taking notes. My sister and I are reading together Full Catastrophe Living by Jon Kabat-Zinn. Since October, I've been reading and learning about being mindful in my everyday movements and meditating daily. I'm learning I have a lot to learn.  My husband and I were discussing that this new house does not feel like home ... yet. We feel like we are on an extended vacation. He thinks it's because we eat lunch on the patio daily weather permitting and that's something we would do on vacation. I think it's like a condo rental with all of my 'stuff' in it. When I go to cook it's weird trying to remember where everything is, just like vacation. Yesterday the electrician was here updating the original electrical panel (eep!) and the electricity was turned off for five hours. That then felt like we were at camp. We are

  My husband and brother in law worked all day Tuesday removing overgrown bushes and trimming trees. Now you can see the front door. There's a large resident toad that is unsure what has happened lucky for him they left a few bushes. I like how the house is shaping up inside and outside. I know I'm not supposed to wish for Fall but that's where my mind is going these days and if I mentally stay there it's going to be a long time for mid-September to show up.  On Tuesday I met my new to me family doctor who is newish doctor and seems young (but I'm 'old'). He was the doctor I saw at express care the Friday before who sent me to ER who then sent me home saying I need to see my primary care doctor which I didn't have until mid September. One of the downsides of moving is establishing medical care, the appointments are scheduled 1-2 months out. Anyways, my new primary care doctor just joined the practice and got me into the schedule (I was his first patient)

  Good morning! How is everyone? I've been chipping away at setting up my new studio/office and it's quite the challenge. Even though I decluttered like mad, I have too much stuff. It's funny, our new home is slightly bigger in square footage BUT we've downsized considerably because of storage space. The closets are so small which isn't a bad thing. My decluttering journey has not ended but begun. I am determined to thin out what I own regularly. I've saved tons of cards, programs and other memorable events for years for the kids growing up and for myself. I stuffed them in shoeboxes. My Big Plan is to go through them and toss what isn't necessary and maybe scrapbook or capture significant events or achievements. Ideally I want to be down to one box per person - the size of the box is to be determined. I also have some of my mother's memorabilia that needs attention. We are nearly done with unpacking. My jobs are done - I have a few boxes here and there

  Tuesday morning I received the Xray results from my tumble last Thursday (I spilled a bit of water and forgot to clean it up then WHAMO) and mostly it's a REALLY bad sprain but I managed to pull off a teeny bit of ankle bone. I was so fortunate to get an orthopedic appointment on Wednesday and the doctor ordered this lovely (not) boot for ankle stability. I am so grateful! I can now zip around without any pain whatsoever. I just need to be careful not to re-injure my ankle.  I only have to go back to the doctor if I am not healing or having issues.  I am accident prone and feel like this could have been way worse. I'm thankful that it's an ugly boot and not a cast. Also what's really nice is that this ugly boot decreases pain and swelling. Sweet. Now that I'm new and improved and somewhat invincible, I  resumed the Great Declutter and tackled the dining room. Sadly my husband snatched up the lawn ornament I thought we were donating. I also did most of the hall clo

  Good morning, how are you doing?  Today is looking to be a sunny day and that is a welcomed sight since it was overcast and blah for two days not to mention rainy as well. As you can see by my photos we still have snow on the ground but I'm confident that pile will disappear over the weekend.  I've been knitting only at nights now instead of during pockets of my day. Can't say why but I've been trying to read more in the afternoons and not multitask while I do my reading. My other reason to read more during the day is because when I read at night I fall asleep so quickly! I don't think I read more than a page or two and I have trouble remembering what I've read. I've decided to decrease the sugar I put in my coffee (again) and decrease the amount of salt I add to my food (again). Yesterday was a slow going morning drinking sad coffee. Today the same coffee tasted happier. About a year or so ago I worked at decreasing and eliminating the sugar I put in my g