Reflections of My Life

peppermint said:
Why don't you right a story....And I'm not kidding...
Click to expand...
I used to write a blog that was called The Enduring Word which was an ongoing story about a couple living in my area in the 1830's. A lot of people followed it but my life got too busy with chores and things. It is gone now. But I have thought about doing it again. I was writing it like a young woman's journal. I have story I started right now about my rabbit and his own story in his words. Just for fun.
 
Yesterday and today I have been organizing my cupboards. Mainly setting up my keto pantry by putting stuff in jars. I wanted to buy glass storage jars because they make really cute ones now. I looked through reviews on Amazon and see that people say the rubbers on the lid does not hold tight so moisture gets in. For the price, they are very expensive for me. Then I realize I already have them. Canning jars of course! Now why didn't I think of that before? I have probably a few hundred of them.........if I get Sonny to drive me to my house (where my husband is still living) where they are stored in the root cellar. So thinking of doing that soon. I have enough for doing this project today though. Almost done.

Over the last couple of days, two new tenants have moved in upstairs. So now all the apartments here are rented. One of those new tenants is directly above me and so far, pretty quiet. I miss my friend who used to live in that apartment. She passed away last December. She was in her 90's but was out an about a lot. Her apartment was really nice and roomy. She said she was sorry she had moved to a one bedroom from a studio. As she got older it was much more work. She had lived here for over 20 years. Glad someone is back in her apartment again.

I went to the park across the street yesterday and it was surprising to me to see it so dirty. Littered and the garbage cans were over flowing. There was a bunch of abandoned grocery carts from the grocery store left there too. I have never seen it like that before. I am sure it will be cleaned up pretty quick this week. I still had some fun talking to about 5 crows who were discussing an apple they were arguing over. They look funny close up.
 

I am feeling so much better since I went back to following my Keto food plan. I never need a nap now, though if I am on my feet for very long (like standing in lines at stores or washing dishes, etc. in one place) I have to put my feet up so I lay down and watch a couple YouTube videos. I would like a recliner that the foot rest raises up high, but I have a wood rocking chair (that my father left for me) and I don't have much more room to put anything else in here. I hate a crowded room and this is as crowded as I can take right now.

Today I am doing laundry again. Seems like I am always doing that. Only one load so not too bad and I hang it in the shower to dry. I am making whipped cream to store in the freezer. Then trying the Cloud Bread recipe. The last few days I have been filing papers or throwing papers out. Making headway on that project. Can't wait to see no more papers sitting on top of my file cabinet. All these little jobs sound so trivial but when you have lived the way I did before moving here, they are a big deal.

I was doing laundry by hand, in warmer weather outside in big tubs. After carrying the water from the pump where I had to pump it by hand into pails. Then I'd dump it in the laundry tubs. I got where I could not carry the water and my husband would do it. He started doing his own clothing. He'd scrub it real good and his came out cleaner than a washing machine. Did I mention the washing machine? Oh yeah, we had a brand new one! When we bought it, I had the idea to buy a regular cheap one that I could fill with water by hand and run it when the generator was on. At the store though, my husband wanted a fancy expensive one that was computer driven. Never could use it! Even though our system would have run it without the generator going. If you poured the water in it, it would dump the water right out (into the bathtub where the hose was set up). That is because it had to have water pressure to work properly. Could not do it any other way. New technology at the time. I paid it off monthly and never used it. I doubt he has used it since I left since I bet he still does not have running water in the house. Did I mention I love my laundry room downstairs???? A year before I left there he had started doing all the laundry and hanging it too because I could not walk out to the clotheslines or raise my arms up to hang the stuff. I'd be out there swearing like a trooper and I guess it made him feel I needed some help.

Didn't mean to complain here. Just my thoughts on how much happier I am here with modern conveniences and living downtown.
 
Today has been a good day. I bought a used air purifier from my neighbor downstairs for 20 bucks. I ordered two filters for it and they should be here on Friday. I have a small studio apartment but still feel I needed two. Lately in the evenings, I am getting the smell of wood smoke in here and I can barely stand it. I never had problems with it before, even cooked on a wood cook stove before moving here. Been making my eyes burn and water and gets me stuffed up. My windows are not open but figure it seeps in through the are around the air conditioner. I have tried to make the area more airtight but it is coming in some way.

My new PCA (Personal Care Aide) was here this morning to fill out some paper work so I can mail it. She will be coming here on Wednesday and Friday afternoons. I am happy about that because I really need the help. Things are working out.
 
RadishRose said:
Katlupe maybe you'd consider having the landlord look into that wood smoke smell you're getting? Just a thought.
Click to expand...
It is coming from the houses around here that have outdoor fire pits. Believe me, I have rushed out into the hall in the middle of the night to see if my building was burning. We have a pretty modern fire alarm system through out the building including sprinklers. We have had false alarms and they are scary. By morning the smell of smoke is gone.
 
I wonder what makes people think if you mention something that you want their advice about why you should not do it or how you should have done? That is the type of comments I hate that I get on FB. Even from friends. Or so called friends. I mentioned yesterday on my timeline that I was going to have a PCA (Personal Care Aide) starting next week to help me with my house cleaning chores. I am looking forward to this and badly need the help. Am I happy to be physically limited so I can't do all my own cleaning? Not really. I am a picky person and always in the past have regretted asking someone to help me do something. Even washing dishes! I hate the job but I also hate someone else washing my dishes because I have to inspect every thing before putting it away. Easier to do it myself and I know it is clean. Most of my family and friends were glad I was getting help because they know I have trouble with standing, walking and reaching. This one friend though, who is older than me, in her seventies, sends me a private message to say she would never want someone doing her cleaning and messing with her things. Why not just say it to herself and not send that message? One other person commented on my post about watching out for the aide because they don't do a good job or talk too much. Good thing I am such a positive person because their rude remarks will not affect me.

I will still be doing much of my own house work here. I really just need someone who can change my bedding (I don't even have the bottom sheet attached to the bed, just on top of the mattress on half of the bed where I sleep), and do the cleaning that I cannot do. Jeez, it's not like I am going to be laying around eating chocolate and watching soap operas all day while she is cleaning.
 
Today is Sunday and my boyfriend, Sonny is picking me up to take me to his house. He is about 45 minutes away. He is making our dinner, which is going to be hamburgers, salad and maybe strawberries. I don't have to do the cooking and I might make the salad but I think I remember him saying he made it last night so it would be ready. I have a good time spending a day in the country. It is a change from living here for me. I definitely don't miss how hot it was at my house, where I lived before moving here. It was a very pretty place to live, but in July and August, the heat really got to me. With no air conditioning or fans, for many years, I dreaded summer. I used to worry about the forest catching fire and having 3 horses to rescue from that would be difficult.

I found out that the pool at the YMCA is not going to be opening any time soon. So I needed to find a different way to get some exercise. I would do the walking, if I could. Using my rolling walker. But I cannot do it right now outside due to the heat. Maybe in the fall. I have a couple of the Chair Dancing videos, so I am going to take a look at them tonight to see if they are something I can actually do now. And maybe I will check out Suzanne Somers' Thigh Buster. I bought that awhile back and it is pretty light and easy to use. I need to do something and right here at home. I will at least try and put some effort into it.
 
Today I finally got through that pile of papers I had on my file cabinet. Took all of five minutes. I have a pile of books I am trying to sell on FB but I want to get rid of them so bad, I am thinking of throwing them away instead. Same with a box of food I have that nobody seems to want. I have never been one to waste stuff but right now in our building our free table in the community room has been closed till this quarantine is over. I am beginning to think it never will be.

I have two bookcases that my father gave to me. He built them for his own books and it was just a quick thing he threw together with scraps of lumber he had around. I had them at my house and I brought them here because I needed storage but mostly because my father made them. They are both brown and look yucky. So I am going to paint them with chalk paint and see if I can improve the way they look. I will be painting them the color, lilac. No sanding or priming needed. If I do good on those, I might also do my vanity. It needs it too. My apartment is decorated in the "Boho Chic" style and I need to spruce things up a bit.
 
Talking about my wood cook stove made me remember something. I looked in my file cabinet and found my copy of the November/December 2009 issue of Hobby Farm Home magazine. I had received a message one day to me at my blog, Homesteading on the Internet (not there anymore) wanting to interview me for their magazine over the phone. I said yes. And this is the article that was published in their magazine a few months later.

It was also instrumental in getting my husband to buy me a good brand new digital camera! The reporter called back and wanted some digital shots of me using my cook stove. Well, I did not have a camera like that. I had a good camera but it was not digital and her editor was kind of nasty replying to me because I said I didn't have the money to buy one (I didn't). So they had to use some other photos to go with the article. My husband saw my missed opportunity so a couple weeks later he told me to pick the one out I wanted and he'd buy it (well......charge it is what he meant!). I still have it and I love it!

hobby.JPG



hobby0.JPG










hobby2.JPG




hobby3.JPG
 
katlupe said:
Talking about my wood cook stove made me remember something. I looked in my file cabinet and found my copy of the November/December 2009 issue of Hobby Farm Home magazine. I had received a message one day to me at my blog, Homesteading on the Internet (not there anymore) wanting to interview me for their magazine over the phone. I said yes. And this is the article that was published in their magazine a few months later.

It was also instrumental in getting my husband to buy me a good brand new digital camera! The reporter called back and wanted some digital shots of me using my cook stove. Well, I did not have a camera like that. I had a good camera but it was not digital and her editor was kind of nasty replying to me because I said I didn't have the money to buy one (I didn't). So they had to use some other photos to go with the article. My husband saw my missed opportunity so a couple weeks later he told me to pick the one out I wanted and he'd buy it (well......charge it is what he meant!). I still have it and I love it!

View attachment 113649



View attachment 113650










View attachment 113652




View attachment 113654
Click to expand...
What an interesting experience! I don't see why they couldn't have loaned you a camera .. but, it's nice that you bought one that you still enjoy using.

When I lived in Niagara Falls, an older couple across the street had a very old stove that they had kept for decades, and someone I knew in Australia also had one that was set into a blue and white tiled area. It was in immaculate condition.
 
Pinky said:
What an interesting experience! I don't see why they couldn't have loaned you a camera .. but, it's nice that you bought one that you still enjoy using.

When I lived in Niagara Falls, an older couple across the street had a very old stove that they had kept for decades, and someone I knew in Australia also had one that was set into a blue and white tiled area. It was in immaculate condition.
Click to expand...
Mine was dusty and dirty because I used it almost daily. It was already old when I got it and had a few things wrong with it. I babied it for years. I was so sad when it could not be repaired anymore. Was another sign to me that it was time to move on.
 
katlupe said:
Talking about my wood cook stove made me remember something. I looked in my file cabinet and found my copy of the November/December 2009 issue of Hobby Farm Home magazine. I had received a message one day to me at my blog, Homesteading on the Internet (not there anymore) wanting to interview me for their magazine over the phone. I said yes. And this is the article that was published in their magazine a few months later.

It was also instrumental in getting my husband to buy me a good brand new digital camera! The reporter called back and wanted some digital shots of me using my cook stove. Well, I did not have a camera like that. I had a good camera but it was not digital and her editor was kind of nasty replying to me because I said I didn't have the money to buy one (I didn't). So they had to use some other photos to go with the article. My husband saw my missed opportunity so a couple weeks later he told me to pick the one out I wanted and he'd buy it (well......charge it is what he meant!). I still have it and I love it!

View attachment 113649



View attachment 113650










View attachment 113652




View attachment 113654
Click to expand...
Wow. What a memory. That’s really impressive. You must be a great cook. It’s a total skill cooking and baking on those wood stoves but the end products of doing so are well worth it. When I was younger I was a personal cook for two opera singers. They lived in a beautiful restored old house that danced with character.

One such feature was an amazing wood stove/oven. It was beautiful . Soups and stews on the stove and homemade bread in the oven. The house itself had such a warm feeling about it. Anyway I loved that wood oven/stove. It warmed the house through the winter and the smell of things cooking could be intoxicating. Fresh pies. Yumm.
PS. I like that boho chic style.
 
The last few days I have been changing my apartment around. I want to get a recliner that will recline back enough so my feet can be up high. I have seen some that are small, which would be good for my apartment, but I need to have my feet up higher. I hate piling pillows up. Even though my apartment is a one room studio (with separate kitchen and bathroom) I have created three distinct areas. My bedroom is open but very private. Someone can be at my desk/table (my desk is a dining table) and not even see into the bedroom area. The area where I would put the recliner has a cedar chest (with family pictures on it), a curio cabinet and a rocking chair. I want to keep the rocking chair because it was something my father had put away for me. I want to keep things easy to clean and easy to move around with the walker or mobility chair. So today, I really worked on this. Rabbit loved it once I started moving stuff around. I had to pick up my two large rugs so I could clean under them and then I put them in a different area. Well, my little bunny boy got excited about all that action! He was all over the place and a few times I had to shove him out of my way.

Yesterday, Sonny and I went riding in the park, him on his scooter, Scamper and me on my mobility chair, Jazzy. It was fun but we couldn't be out too long because a storm was brewing. His scooter comes apart and he can carry it in his car. I would like to clean out my storage area downstairs and then he could store it down there. I know he doesn't use it except to come here and ride around town with me. So it would save him a lot of work and I could bring it up here to charge it. But right now, my storage area is over packed. I need to work on it.
 
katlupe said:
The last few days I have been changing my apartment around. I want to get a recliner that will recline back enough so my feet can be up high. I have seen some that are small, which would be good for my apartment, but I need to have my feet up higher. I hate piling pillows up. Even though my apartment is a one room studio (with separate kitchen and bathroom) I have created three distinct areas. My bedroom is open but very private. Someone can be at my desk/table (my desk is a dining table) and not even see into the bedroom area. The area where I would put the recliner has a cedar chest (with family pictures on it), a curio cabinet and a rocking chair. I want to keep the rocking chair because it was something my father had put away for me. I want to keep things easy to clean and easy to move around with the walker or mobility chair. So today, I really worked on this. Rabbit loved it once I started moving stuff around. I had to pick up my two large rugs so I could clean under them and then I put them in a different area. Well, my little bunny boy got excited about all that action! He was all over the place and a few times I had to shove him out of my way.

Yesterday, Sonny and I went riding in the park, him on his scooter, Scamper and me on my mobility chair, Jazzy. It was fun but we couldn't be out too long because a storm was brewing. His scooter comes apart and he can carry it in his car. I would like to clean out my storage area downstairs and then he could store it down there. I know he doesn't use it except to come here and ride around town with me. So it would save him a lot of work and I could bring it up here to charge it. But right now, my storage area is over packed. I need to work on it.
Click to expand...
My recliners are large, but they don’t go back far enough to raise my feet above my heart which I sometimes need to do. I take the large incline (senior moment, forgot the name) pillow thing I use on my bed and put it on the recliner so it raises my feet up.

This way it does double duty, keeping my upper body lifted at night to make breathing easier and help with reflex; and feet lifted when needed for swelling due to water retention. You might consider one of these. They are 20 dollars at Walmart.
 
Aneeda72 said:
My recliners are large, but they don’t go back far enough to raise my feet above my heart which I sometimes need to do. I take the large incline (senior moment, forgot the name) pillow thing I use on my bed and put it on the recliner so it raises my feet up.

This way it does double duty, keeping my upper body lifted at night to make breathing easier and help with reflex; and feet lifted when needed for swelling due to water retention. You might consider one of these. They are 20 dollars at Walmart.
Click to expand...
I will check them out. For now that would work. Usually I retain water all summer during the hot weather.This year I haven't at all. Not sure if it is because I am not going places as much. Or maybe eating better.
 
I finally got my area, that I call my living room (not a room since this is a studio apartment) arranged so I can fit a recliner in it, IF I decide to get one. For now, I am using my rocking chair with a foot stool (that my father made). I sit there in the morning with my first cup of coffee and if I sit there too long, it is not comfortable. I cleared off my dresser so I can turn the flat screen toward the living room or the bedroom. Easy to do. The key is to remove all clutter and only keep on the dressers what has to be there. So yes, I most likely will be getting a recliner.

tv.JPG​
 


Back
Top