STOP THE CLOCKS!!!

If this is what getting older'ish' feels like I'd not only like to stop the clocks but if it's possible could you turn them back 5-10 years? I'm getting so depressed because for the last month I've missed more time from work than I've been there because of my danged hip arthritis and siatica. If I don't get in to see the specialist soon I don't know what I'll do! OK.. now that the whining is over I'll move on.

How many lawn mowers does a person need?.. We have not two, or even three but four of the suckers. With the purchase of an electric lawn mower last weekend that meant we have one of each kind, a ride on, a gas push mower, a battery operated one and now an electric plug in one. Being that I'm unable to help with the mowing because of my bum hip that means that it's up to Ron to do that whole thing and I don't think that it's particularly safe to be using all four at one time.. he may cut off a toe or something.

And I'd like to reiterate that having a dark background with white or light print is really hard on the eyes. Since I've been off work I can't do squat around the house so I've been reading some blogs and those type of ones are pulling my eyeballs right out of my sockets people!!

My garden is coming along well and here are a couple of pictures of my new, pretty blooms...there are more kinds of tulips in bloom and little violets and stuff but this is all I'm putting up for now.. also there are quite a few dandelions in my garden because I haven't been able to get out and do some weeding.. my poor babies are getting all infested.. but then again a weed is just a flower that has fallen out of favour isn't it? That's it for now... later people.

Uncharted Territory

Today was a step into uncharted territory.. while shopping today my danged hip was bothering me so much that after shopping for around 15 minutes I had to swallow my pride and use a wheel chair. I'm not saying that people that are confined to a wheel chair should be devoid of pride, just that taking the step to that world was humbling and I didn't want to admit that my arthritis had progressed to that point. I was a little embarassed, a lot frustrated and got a teeny, tiny glimpse of the world from the angle of the disabled and it was eye opening.

While I could stand up and reach for things I realised that if I was truely wheelchair bound a large majority of items on shelves would have been well out of my reach. I'm a short person anyway, being just short of 5'2" so I know the frustration of not being able to reach the items on the very top shelves of a supermarket, but from the position of sitting in a wheelchair a good half of the aisle mocked me with the unattainable. And to ask someone to reach for me on a constant basis would have me ready to leave the shopping experience completely to Ron. And I realise that probably after seeing the specialist I may be pain free once more and able to walk with ease and I am grateful of that reality.

On a good note I was informed that I don't have the terrible Rheumatiod arthritis or another urinary tract infection that I was afraid that I was having.. I have to return to physio therapy and will be seeing the specialist to perhaps have cortizone shots.. we'll see.. anyway, life goes on.

In search of cheaper heat;

We've been looking at pellet stoves to provide our heat in the winter instead of the oil furnace and the wood stove we presently have. Our wood stove povides a good heat but it is getting pretty worn out (we have a brick on top of the inner lining because there's a hole in it. We're going to try and get a low interest loan through the government in order to get the stove and make payments. The stove itself is fairly pricey because we want to go for the higher end because in the long run it will be save us money. Presently it costs us close to $1,000. to fill our tank and we usually burn around $600 of that in a month. If we can get the loan it will cost us anywhere between $90. to $120. a month for the payments plus $5 a day for the pellets (the stove holds a $5.00 bag and that should last a day) so that's approximately $150. a month for the fuel and $120 for the payments if we get the most we can get, making our heating cost $270. Less than half of what we're paying now.

We will still use our present furnace for out domestic hot water and for a backup if we happen to go away for a few days and there's not anyone home to fill the pellet stove.

The end of this month we're getting a guy to come out and do an energy assesment on our home to see what improvements we should do in addition to the stove to make our home energy efficient. We know that there will need to be some additional insulation done in the bottom part of the L of our home. Our home is a storey and a half on one end and a storey on the other half forming an L. We also would like to replace a few more windows and finish replacing the siding.

Tomorrow is back to work. My back is still giving me problems and I have a doctor's appointment on Thursday but I have a feeling that she's going to say that I have to just suffer with it because there's not much they can do for arthritis. I find it so depressing to be in pain all the time and I've been missing so much work that I now wish that I didn't have to go back. I find I get that way when I've been off for a while.

Oh well, guess I'll just have to suck it up.

I now have 17 of the 76 Tarot cards done and they're coming along really well.. This is a sample of what they look like and I'm really excited with how they are turning out. Well, gotta go, see you on the flip side..