February 24, 2009

• Ouch!

  I say, “ouch” because my back pain has returned.  I did well until late yesterday afternoon.  It’s not as bad as Sunday night’s pain, but still enough pain to make my sleep restless and broken.  The knot has moved from my left shoulder blade to my neck – all the way across.  I still can’t do much with my left arm without producing that “ouch!” of pain. 

  Whether I expected it or wanted it, today is turning into a fairly busy day.  Don came early to paint.  I thought he was going to work in the foster room, but he surprised me by choosing the den, next.  My den looks like the summer home of the Kennedy’s in the middle of winter.  All furniture is draped with cloths!
  
  The dark object on the left side of the photo is Tango’s cage.  After she finished her initial shrieking, she repeatedly whistled parts of the Andy Griffith Show’s theme song.  Enough is enough, Tango!  Chirper has busied himself under the plastic on the sofa and is quite sure Don made a tent solely for his use and play!  Sushi has licked Don to death and has finally lost interest!

  Speaking of Sushi, she dug under the fence yesterday afternoon and ended up in the neighbor’s yard.  I guess Jesse will have to put logs or cinder blocks along the base of the fence.  I finally bought her a name tag with my phone number and replaced Chirper’s (girl pink) tag for a small silver one.

  The girls are banned from the kitchen cooking & table areas as well our den.  I don’t want them causing problems for Don as he paints.  He is working very quickly. 
  
  Don handed me all of the things that used to be on top of the cabinets for decorations.  Some of the stuff looked like it had a coating of dryer lint on it.  You know?  Those big hunks you remove from the dryer’s filter???  It was pretty thick and in need of cleaning, anyway!  I hate when other people see how filthy I live!

  Those items are now on the bar (yet another mess on my never-clean bar!), washed, and just waiting for some to help me put them back up on the cabinet tops.  I still have to wash the silk greenery.
  
  My stash from the cabinet tops!

  This bunny is something I’ve had forever and still like to look at.  I wish blue & pink hadn’t gone out of style – I still find the color combination appealing.  I’m slowly moving to red & black in my kitchen.
  
  
  This morning, Rissy mixed some brownies in a small patch of space left on the counter top.  As I said, the girls have been banished from entering any of the painter’s areas and I will have to fix them lunch.  School will be in the formal dining room again.  I’m seriously considering leaving the protective table pad on the formal table and using it for teaching.  The windows (3 of them, all skinny & long) offer a cheery light in the dining room, and the chairs are definitely more comfortable.  The dining room table offers a larger work area AND the white board props up securely against a chair.  The kitchen table tends to jiggle and the white board frequently crashing down on the table top.

  

  The girls and I ate a quick breakfast of cold cereal.  I usually mix 3 or 4 different cereals together – some with sugar and some with no sugar.  That seems healthier to me.  I notice the girls picked out the fruit flavored cereal (Jesse bought the knock off brand of Fruit Loops for them – gag!).  They are either saving it for last or they hate it, just like me.  I hate the fake fruit flavorings.  The Fruit Loop Wannabes taste yucky to me and I feed them to Sushi!

  

  Jesse set an appointment for someone from Home Depot to give us a bid on putting new windows in half of our house.  Either nine or ten windows will be replaced first.  Then, the next time we’re “rich” (LOL!!! whatever!), we’ll have the remaining windows replaced (eight or nine windows). 

  Like I said, like it or not, I have people here all day AND school to do.  Yesterday was a rough teaching day.  The three week break was hard on the girls and no one listened to me.  I felt like I was teaching 3 lamps (that didn’t light up!).  If it goes the same way today as yesterday, I’m afraid I won’t have the usual amount of patience because my back is pretty sore and uncomfortable and the pain pills make me . . . floaty.

     

  Today’s To Do List:
  *  Finish knocking the dust from the den’s “dry clean only” curtains, which are in my dryer
  *  Do one of the children’s basket of laundry
  *  Teach (it’s Bible, science, health, & history day) the usual topics AND the new character trait lessons
  *  Maybe play the new game I bought the girls called “Great States!” – helps with facts and placement of the states
  *  Meet the “window guy” at 2pm (probably listen to his sales pitch)
  *  Maybe wrap some of Rissy’s presents (I like to get stuff like that out of the way)
  *  Start my Mexican soup early so it can simmer and I can relax
  *  Take it easy and reach and bend as little as possible
  

  I took a hot bath around 5:45am and almost couldn’t get myself up out of the tub.  Jesse had had a rough night sleeping (his cold & breathing) and I was afraid I was going to have to sit in the slowly getting colder water until he woke up!  As it was, I was able to struggle up (using my right arm) and then I heard him up.  I tried so hard not to wake him up – I even used candles instead of the bathroom lights.  It would have been romantic and relaxing if I didn’t hurt so bad!

  Be Blessed  ~

  • 12:00 pm
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