Here and There, Bits and Pieces

Boy, working a second job keeps one busy!  Let's see-what have I been up to.  Well, first I've been working quite a bit at Macy's-last week was 30 hours in addition to my work at the church.  My knees are complaining loudly so I'm not sure if I'm going to make it through Christmas or not.  Don't think I'm going to go on after that, I have too many fish to fry.  I did buy some support socks yesterday from the "As Seen on TV" shelf at Walmart.  I put them on when I got home just to see how they would be, and I think they'll be a welcome addition to my work wardrobe.

There is some sewing and knitting going on.  I'm still working on Stan's goose decoy bag, can't forget to take pictures of that, plus I still have the Christmas blankets waiting to work on.  Then yesterday Stan asked if I would make him a polar fleece stocking hat for goose hunting.  I got the fabric out, but after black Friday weekend at Macy's I was too wasted to whip anything up.  Hopefully today.

I did make the treat bags for the church Christmas program.  I took over for the elderly lady that did them for years.  I wanted them to be done early just in case I got backed up, which is pretty common for me, ha ha!

Fun and quick!

Trying again to finish this post-I got rid of some pictures and resized the ones I wanted to share.

Uno before Thanksgiving dinner.

A beautiful place setting!

 

I finished the hat order.  I made five and my friend picked out two.  I have three left that I think I'm going to post on our town's Facebook page.

I got the goose bag done, but the straps aren't long enough, so alterations are in my future with that one, and I made him a reversible hat-one side brown and the other snow camo for when he's goose hunting with snow on the ground.  Not the prettiest but he says it works very well.

I'll finish this post and move on to another.  Still haven't decided what to do about the picture thing, but I'll figure it out.

Holiday

We had a busy weekend-a housewarming party, a graduation party, church, and I fed the workers at the church on Saturday.  So today we took it a little slower.  I fixed waffles for breakfast, then we drove to the cemetery to put flowers on our parents' graves.  Then I called the boys-Millie is in New Orleans this week, so Jim is alone with the kids-and invited them all over for a burger.  Steve did most of the cooking, something he loves, and we just had a nice leisurely evening.

Lounging around eating burgers.  Note Isaac on the exercise ball!  And see the doggie cleanup crew?

Then-after Jim and his kids left, Syd got on our little bike and yay, he rode it for the first time!  That's two grandkids that learned to ride their bikes in our driveway.  And with the same bike Stan got from the neighbor that had a "free" sign on it.  It's been a pretty useful thing to have.

Look at the utter joy on his face!

Now for some Monday night TV and early bed.  Still fighting the back thing, but it isn't as bad as it was.  If the chiropractor doesn't do the trick, I'm going to get acupuncture.  My massage therapist and the neighbor have both recommended the same guy so I think that's who I'll go with.  I'm going to lick this if it kills me!

Hanaukka!

There is a group of Jewish families that have settled in our small town.  Super neat people-as a deacon I have worked with the rabbi on various situations involving the homeless.  At one time one of their group ran a shelter in Bozeman.  Now I must tell you that this group is Messianic-which means they accept Jesus as the final piece in the puzzle.  They observe all the Jewish holidays, Sabbaths and traditions, but they add the worship of Jesus as Messiah.  About four years ago, it was decided to add a menorah to the Christmas decorations downtown.  Some of the men went to work in their shops and made this beauty:

I don't know if the glass lights were hand made, but they kind of look like they might have been.  Very nice!

On to other things-Millie is doing well.  She had a reaction to one of the pain meds so they've changed it to something else.  She said this one works better.  She should be able to go home tomorrow.  Now comes the hard work and the long healing process.

As for my recuperation, I had an MRI and they found a ruptured disc.  I had one set of pain injections two weeks ago that did absolutely nothing.  They tried another drug that gave me some pretty interesting side effects-my hands and feet went numb.  I have the number to the orthopedic office memorized!  I had issues with some of the schedulers in the office-one made me wait three weeks for those injections.  And the knee doc's scheduler was condescending when I called and asked for a referral to the spine surgeon.  This is someone we've known for years-he repaired Stan's back, Millie's neck, and my nephew's femur after a nasty auto accident.  He calls me "Mrs. Santa."  The scheduler acted like I was too stupid to know what I was talking about and why would I want to go to a "surgeon?"  I told her to just pass the message along to Dr. LeGrand, and sure enough yesterday he called me and said he had gone over my MRI with, of course, the spine surgeon.  I need another set of injections that should relieve the pain and give us a definite diagnosis.  The hint was that eventually I'll have to have back surgery.  Not something I really want, but when you have that much pain you become willing to do anything.  Then a week after the shots I will see the spine guy's PA to see what my treatment will be.  While I had Dr. LeGrand on the phone I complained about some of the schedulers' behavior.  The next two calls I got were back to back-griping works if you reach the right person!

Oh yeah, and the guy that I had so much trouble with?  When that office called, I talked to a woman and she told me she just started working for Dr. Slocum yesterday.  Hmmm-wonder where that guy went-do you suppose they got rid of him?  The only downside is the soonest I could get in to get the next shots is next Thursday.  I don't want to wait, but any port in a storm...............

What a Weekend!

Here it is only Saturday but I am whipped!  Wednesday was physical therapy which usually means I am worthless for the rest of the day.  I managed to get some cranberry salsa made, but the "safe" dessert I wanted to do for Thanksgiving never materialized.  Then Thursday was church then dinner at the Senior Center with Stan's family.  We were there from noon til 9:00-wayyyy too long for this girl.  I did crash on the couch for a while, but sitting has been hard anyway and I was toast.  I tried to get Stan to take me home 2 hours before he actually did, but I don't think he got it that I really needed to.  He wanted to pitch in to help clean up, but nobody would have resented his taking me home.  When we left, we went straight home, I took my pills and went to bed.

Then yesterday, Millie came and picked me up.  Jo-Ann's had pajama flannel for $1.49 a yard so she agreed to stand in line for me.  I always make the grandkids Christmas pajamas.  Gracie went along too, and we had a good time even though the Jo-Ann's line took 2 hours!  We went for coffee, got Gracie's ears pierced (a story in itself), had lunch at the Community Co-op, and went back to Macy's to get Gracie a beautiful Christmas dress for her children's choir concert.  Then Millie dropped me off to meet Stan at my niece's 50th birthday party.  We were there for a couple of hours, then Brother-in-Law and his wife suggested we have dinner, so we went to our favorite place, Fiesta Mexicana.  I spent too many hours on my feet.  Today Brother-in-Law and his wife came to the house to help Stan cut up TWO deer.  Sister-in-law and I spent the day in recliners watching Debbie Macomber Christmas movies on the Hallmark Channel.  They've left and as soon as Stan rests for a bit he'll make some hamburgers.  I'm not moving far from my chair tonight.  My leg is a bit swollen, and I'm sore so I think some rest is in order.  I need to make a trip to Walmart but I think I'll put that off til after church tomorrow.

Hope everybody had a great Thanksgiving!