Putzing Around

Isn't that a beautiful sunflower? Sunflowers are my most favorite kind of flower. This one is a photo of one of them in a fall flower arrangement I made for my dining room table...

Yesterday (Thursday) I pretty much just putzed around the house doing some things I needed to catch up on like.. Washing clothes and putting them away. Cleaning out the refrigerator. Printing out some things for my sister in law and mailing it to her and printing some recipies.

Most of the morning I was on my feet which were not happy about that, baking dog cookies.

I don't like to buy them the ones from the store because there's just too much junk in them. Their very favorite treats are from a brand called "Nudges" but those are expensive! $21 dollars and change for the big bag and with five dogs a small bag won't do. So I decided those will be bought only for a different treat here and there and I will go back to making them the home made treats which they like just as well and I know what they are getting. 

As for today, Alvin (one of my Chi mixes) decided it was a good idea to step on my stomach at about five thirty this morning so I was up and I was tired because I went to bed late. I have become addicted to this game called Bingo Blitz and I knew I should have turned the lights off at eleven last night but there I was at eleven forty still playing......yeah....

As for today, I have done my bible study already this morning and I know I should probably start working on a closet to clean out since the weather has decided it's summer again (too hot to be outside) but my brain and body are definitely not in agreement this morning so we shall see.

I pray you all have a good day full of Gods peace and love..

 

It's a Dogs Life

 

They are something else aren't they ? Such a tough life. .. We are missing one because he was inside laying with my husband when I took this photo. This was taken after everyone had eaten dinner.. Imagine that if we could all go and take a nap every night after dinner...

Today was a little bit busy, mostly emotionally busy not as much physical until later on. I did my usual morning routine, cooked hubby breakfast (bacon, eggs and toast this morning) We had coffee then I cleaned up the kitchen, washed dishes and put in two loads of laundry. In between all this the phone was ringing between my sister in law and my niece. They have a very, very sweet little dog named Sebastian. He' s a yorkie and maltese mix. In my twenty years of raising dogs I have never come across a more sweet sweet boy than him.

He also has a very serious health condition called ITP and now the treatment for that has caused diabetes. So, they are dealing with a lot up there in New Jersey and not handling it well. My family, whom I love so very dearly is , gosh I don't even know how to explain it. Let's just say if you had a room full of Italians ( Im Italian) all talking (screaming) at once you'd leave with a migraine. Well in my house it only takes three of them to give you a migraine so I was dealing with that this morning.

Then a few weeks ago I bought a kit to do gel nail polish a home. It worked and my nails looked great for the last two weeks but today it was time to take it off because they had grown out. What a mess. I can't do it. I do not have the strength in my hands. That took up about two hours of my time and I was not happy. I did finally get it all off and now my nails are ruined. So I will not be doing that again.

Tonight, I thought gee, easy night. I don't have to cook. I have left over hamburger helper (not the box kind. I make my grandmothers) in the freezer. Well it was going to be an easy night until I saw this one outside in the yard rolling around in the dirt..Soon as he came in, right into the sink he went!.

Poor baby, so tuckered out from being given a bath and pampered. We should all be so lucky. I finally sat down and have been enjoying my time visiting your blogs. I am having a dilemma and not sure what the answer is. Do you think it's best to post a blog post in the mornings or at night? My mornings always get so busy but then if I feel if I post at night about the day I will be behind one day in posting on my blog. What do you think?

 

Death Of A Garden, A New Look And A Broken Toe

 

Well it seems like there's a lot of makeovers going on for me. 

I've made over my blog somewhat which is still a work in progress and the other day I got tired of my hair and went and had it all cut off as you can see. Next I think I will change the color. I had my hair short like this some years back and swore I'd never do it again. I have always had long hair and I missed my long hair. Well when my hair finally started getting really long this year it had changed as everything does. Age and hormones are playing a huge part in that for me. Yes it was long again but it was much thinner, more dry and frizzy and it just didn't look good on me at all anymore so off it went. I wonder if Henry VIII said that when he decided to behead Ann Bolyen? As you can see my thoughts are just everywhere and no where.. Moving on...

Our garden is finished and it turned out to be a bad growing year for us and the whole time I couldn't understand why. Tomato plants put forth basically nothing and anything they did put forth were small and the mocking birds and worms got to them before I did, the eggplants are still coming in but they are coming in rotted on the vine. I have to pull them out yet. However, for some reason we have had an absolute bumper crop of Banana Peppers and Shashito Peppers this year. Here's the garden in it's clean up process

I had to let most of those pots dry out in the sun. I was still stumped on what happened to the tomatoes and eggplants this year, just couldn't figure it out. That is until, I began pulling up the weed cover on the ground underneath and look what I found....

That green you see friends is mildew. Seems this plot of land in my yard has poor drainage and with having the weed cover on the ground the water had no where to go so it rotted the dirt and my plants. Well will NOT be planting here next year.

Surprisingly the egg plant plants are still producing but not anything of substance.

And last but not least, I think my big toe is broken... I was playing with my dog Toby on Saturday night. He likes me to kick his ball through the room as I am washing the dishes in the kitchen. Well, I went to kick it, I missed it and smashed my big toe into the floor which got caught on the rug as it was bent from the joint. It hurt so bad I fell over and it knocked the wind out of me. As of today my big to from the knuckle joint to the tip of my toe is now a nice blue and purple color.. eh, I like blue and purple.

Until tomorrow.....

Good Grief Let Me Off !!

 

See that photo up there? That's what my brain and body has felt like for the last few weeks. 

We've been so busy that as I sit here I can hardly even remember where I've been or what I've doing. Let me try and bring you up to date. 

We had a big seventy-five gallon fish tank in our living room for about the last fifteen years. It's my husbands 'thing'.. Personally, I'm not into fish tanks and I thought of it as a waste of space and an eyesore because when you enter my house you're in my living room and there is the huge fish tank. Well, he finally agreed to move it into the den where he spends his time and can enjoy it but it took a solid week between emptying the water, cleaning in the inside, cleaning the rocks and coral he had in there plus all the components etc.. Then moving the plants inside and the base and the tank itself. It was a job.

Then last week I decided it was time to repaint my living room because now that I finally had the living room back again I wanted to set it up as I've always wanted it and that started with paint. We had a light grey on the walls and a darker grey on the trim and to be honest, I was bored with the color. I wanted to go to a very muted kind of creamy white on the walls and an almost antique white on the trim and so we began. 

Turns out, Lowes Signature Primer + Pain isn't all that great. (knew I should have went with Benjamin Moore ) I ended up having to buy three gallons of paint to cover the walls to the tune of eighty dollars and when you live on a fixed income that's nothing to sneeze at. 

As for the trim, I had paint I wanted to use, very good paint. My husband on the other hand insisted he wanted white and we were to use the paint he had on hand which by the way, was old. Very old. I fought it and lost. So, on went the white paint. Here's where I almost flipped my lid. When the "white old paint' dried? It SMELLED like mildew! The paint was rotten and now it's on my trim!

Soooo, I ended up repainting all the trim AGAIN in the paint I wanted to use originally and sadly, I can still smell it a little bit so, when I can afford it (next month) I will go and buy a gallon of Killz sealer clear coat and use that which should take care of it.

There was lots of moving of furniture, up and down on ladders and my body has been screaming in pain and that's why I've been absent from my blog , reading blogs and most of my social media. Too tired and in too much pain.

My husband also, may or may not have a quite serious issue going of which we are awaiting an appointment for a CT scan but more about that in another post. This will be it for now, I 'plan' to be back as of today not only posting on my blog but catching up on all of yours. 

I really do hope and pray everyone is well and for those down in Louisiana I pray the Lord keep you, your loved ones and your property safe from the coming floods. 

 

I'm Still Struggling

 

I'm still fighting, I'm still battling, I'm still struggling to try and find my way...

A few months back I think I wrote that I was struggling with where I belonged anymore as far as my faith goes. I am a Catholic and have been almost my entire life but in the last few years so much has happened within the Catholic Church that I have begun to question if I still belong there.

I will say that I still firmly believe most of what the Roman Church teaches and tells us as far as dogma is concerned and the ancient Roman Catholic Church is beyond beautiful. There simply are no words for it's beauty but since Vatican II really came into play from about nineteen-seventy onward that beauty has been eroded more and more and now here we are in two thousand and twenty it's almost all but gone. 

This is all due to the wickedness of men who have been allowed to run rampant unchecked for decades and it's getting worse. We do still have 'some' good, faithful priests and a few faithful bishops but these days they are extremely hard to find. We also have had a pope for the last seven years who seems to be an idol worshiper, a heretic and a creation worshiper as well as a friend to those who are enemies of God.

There has been vileness and corruption in the Church for quite sometime but since this pope came along those who make up this camp are no longer hiding in the shadows. In fact, they are now front and center and in my heart I can't take it anymore. They have stolen my Catholic Faith. Not my faith, my Catholic Faith.. I don't want to be part of it anymore. Every day some new scandal or off the wall comment comes out of the Pope, the Vatican, a whacked out priest or a wacky bishop. Always just trying to destroy what's left of the Church and I'm tired. I'm angry, I'm fed up and I'm sick of it. 

I know in my heart I will more than likely always be Catholic but all I want is very simple. I want to worship God, love our Lord with all my heart, follow Him every day in every area of my life, I want to live His Words and Truth and right now in the Catholic Church that seems almost impossible to do that. If you don't know what I am talking about, please ask me. Don't assume. Ask me and I will explain it in other posts.

I know a lot of you who read my blog are not Catholic Christians but you are Christians whether you ascribe to a certain denomination or not. I have just joined Proverbs 31 Ministries online and I will begin my first bible study with them tomorrow. I don't know if this is the right way for me to go, I have asked the Lord to show me. If this bears fruit then I know it is. If it doesn't, then I know it isn't. 

In upcoming posts I will be elaborating on what has happened in the Roman Catholic Church over the last few years to help you better understand my gut wrenching struggle.

For now I am trying to walk a path with God that I've never walked before and I am trusting Him to lead me to the right destination.

Do any of you belong to Proverbs 31 Ministries? If so, what is your opinion of it?

Morning Pages?

 

Hello friends and family.....So there's this fad called "morning pages". It's supposed to be some kind of way to empty your mind of all the jumbled thoughts. How it works is, each morning you sit down before you begin your day and write three pages of random thoughts. 

Whatever pops into your pretty little head. There's no rhyme or reason, it's not supposed to be a story or a thought out sentence, it could even be just one word. Let me give you an example : I'm tired. It's hot. I have to run errands today. Thinking of my dog. So see, no rhyme or reason just words on a page. 

The supposed goal of this is to empty your thoughts and it's 'supposed' to make you more creative, clean up the mind clutter so you can think better etc. Well for me, this is hmm, let's just say, maybe I'm just too old to get it. I have never 'lived in my head' for long my entire life. Personally I think that's what is wrong with a lot of the younger generation. 

I tried to do it and I did it two days and they weren't in a row and the third time I tried it my brain said, "are you kidding me? who has time for this silliness.". Now please accept my apology if you do this and it works for you but my own personal opinion is I think it's just silly.

The one thing I have done in the past which has helped me actually sleep better is called a "brain dump". So many of us go to bed at night exhausted from the days activities and chores but yet when our heads hit the pillow the brain starts racing and we can't sleep.

With a brain dump you get yourself a notebook or any piece of paper and write down every single thing you're thinking at the moment. At first I thought it would just be another 'ridiculous millennial thing' but this one, actually works. It can also be exhausting writing down all the thoughts that are swirling around our heads but you'd be surprised what putting them on paper can do for you.

So what is the difference between "morning pages" and a "brain dump"? Morning pages has no rhyme or reason, no structure whereas a 'brain dump' is just that. We don't think in one word answers, we don't think without sentence structure and a brain dump is I guess like a diary and it helps. 

How about you? Do you do either of these? Have you ever tried it? Would you try it? If you have or do, what do you think of it?

 

Please Meet My Heart Sister

 

Well hello there friends and family. Isn't she gorgeous? 

Please allow me to introduce you to my sister. No she isn't my blood sister but sometimes family isn't blood. This is Debie whom I call the sister of my heart, my sister from another mister. I met Debie a few years back, oh gosh I'm thinking it's been five years or more now through YouTube and while we live in opposite sides of the country our hearts are right next to each other. We are so like minded at times it's scary.. There are just times when you cross paths someone that you click immediately and she and I did. We don't need social media to keep us connected but I am glad we have it.

Debie has a wonderful husband and three amazing, beautiful kids. All of her children are successful adults and I credit both Debie and her husband. Debie and her husband as well as her kids are also incredibly talented. One of the biggest thing I love about them is they all have a heart as big as the outdoors and are fiercely protective of those they love and stand for what is right. What's not to love?

Debie and her husband have both started their blogs again and I can tell you, if you enjoy reading you will enjoy reading both of their blogs because both her and her husband have a talent for writing as well. So if you get some time, I'd ask you to please pop on over to their blogs which I've linked here and show them some love. I know you'll enjoy their posts! Debie's blog which is titled : Pardon Me While I live Here and her husbands blog is titled : TentacleSandwich 

Enjoy! 

Life Has Been Busy, Stressful & Concerning

 

Hello friends and family.....

I get so frustrated some times because one of things I really enjoy very much is writing on my blog and reading all of your blogs but there always seems to be something coming up that pulls my time in another direction and the last week and a half has been no different. 

People deal with lots of issue's in life, ours seems to be financial and health issue's. I've come to accept many years ago that this is my lot in life and it's best to turn it over to God and trust Him because I don't have control over much.

My brother and sister in law have one of the sweetest dogs in the world. He's five years old and his name is Sebastian. He's the cutest Maltese / Yorkie mix. Well last month he got gravely ill and was diagnosed with a condition called ITP. Basically his immune system has decided to turn in on itself. It can be a condition that just happens or a dog can be genetically predisposed too it. With Sebastian we don't know what has caused it. Treatment for ITP is steroid to suppress the immune system. 

He was doing well and so my sister in law went on vacation for a week leaving him home with my niece who is an adult and my brother who couldn't get time off work. In that week Sebastian began having episodes of uncontrollable urinating and was drinking a ton of water. I know from raising my own dogs that can be caused by steroids and or it can be caused by diabetes. Steroids can cause diabetes in both humans and dogs.

Sadly, this past monday Sebastian wound up in the hospital for four days where he was diagnosed with diabetes, pancreatitis, and a bladder infection on top of the ITP. It wasn't looking good. Well, many, many, did I say many?  thousands of dollars later, He's now home, his ITP seems to be under control, pancreatitis and infection cleared up and they are working on getting his diabetes under control. So I've been spending a lot of time on the phone with my sister in law and niece trying to help as much as I can because I have a lot of experience with canine diabetes and when you have no experience with it, it can be extremely nerve wracking. 

Hubby had to have a holter monitor put on for twenty four hours last week as he was complaining of intermittent  pains in his chest. He had a heart attack in 2016 so the slightest pain and we are either at the ER or the cardiologist. We go tomorrow morning to get his test results..

He also has an appointment, a virtual appointment with his regular GP doctor the next day. Hubby has been dropping weight for an unknown reason for a while. He's not trying to lose weight and he is eating more than he used too so this is concerning. We had mentioned this before to his doctor and he had some blood work run and it was all normal but that doesn't mean there isn't something going on. Sadly, from personal experience I know the old "everything looks good on paper so you must be fine scenario" when at the same time everything 'looks' good there's something going on in your body killing you. It 'could' be his age as well. He's almost sixty-three and I know we do lose muscle mass and shrink some. I pray this is it but my gut is screaming otherwise. Please pray I am wrong.

As for myself. I'm tired, my RA is acting up, I'm a bit stressed out and to be honest, very concerned about my husband. As for any of my other health issue's, I just try and ignore them as best I can. I know that isn't the brightest idea but right now I can't handle anymore so I give it to God and ask Him to lead me..

I Got My Answer

 

Hello friends and family.

A little while back I was wrestling with trying to make a decision about what social media if not all of it I should give up. The reason for having to make this decision was because in the last few months I have really gone down a rabbit hole with social media addiction.

So much so that I have allowed it to almost completely destroy any prayer life I had. I have allowed myself to become lazy when it comes to God. Instead of setting time aside each day to read and study scripture, spend time with Him in prayer and do some spiritual reading I was sitting on my laptop or my tablet or my phone just sinking deeper and deeper into a social media stupor. A colossal waste of time. One night a few weeks ago I asked the Lord what He would have me give up. I also told Him out of anything I would like to keep my blog but the final decision is His.

I had a YouTube channel that I had ideas about really putting time into and then of course there is Facebook, Instagram and my blog. I also knew something or all of it had to go. So I waited and waited for Him to respond and this week He did. I put up two videos on my now defunked YouTube channel and, the views had plummeted. A few weeks ago I was getting two, three hundred views per video. I know that isn't much but for a small channel like mine with no niche it wasn't bad. The last two videos I put up, the views absolutely tanked. I think each video only got about seventy views each. 

My Facebook posts also have not been getting many views in the last week either. So here I am. I will be keeping my blog, my instagram (which I don't spend much time on at all) and the facebook page for my blog. The Lord doesn't always answer quickly and I think that's for a few reasons. He teaches us how to wait on Him and be patient while doing so and that He will always answer and maybe not in the way we would like but, He will always answer. 

I'm Sorry and Life Updates

 

Hello friends and family! I wanted to begin this post by saying I am sorry in advance. What am I apologizing for? Because I've had to do something on my blog I really never wanted too. 

I've had to add the "captcha" to my comment section. What does that mean for you? Well, each time you leave a comment you'll have to check a box so it shows you're not a spam bot and, I'm sorry for having to add this but it seems I had a spammer come to my blog and leave a massive amount of spam comments all over many, many posts on my blog which took me some time to delete.

Time I don't have to waste doing that!. So in order to stop that I added the Captcha in hopes that will stop anymore spammers. 

Now that, that is out of the way let's move on shall we?

I know it's been a hot minute since I posted but I had some family come in out of town and it was shall we say, a 'rough week'.. I still think it was the vacation that shouldn't have happened and know I say that with love. Things just didn't go, 'right'..

 

My family members arrived on Wednesday morning. We spent most of the morning and evening together. On Thursday my husband and I were not feeling well. I already knew what it was and also knew it would require a doctor visit. I'm so thankful for Telemedicine these days. So we both had our televisits and we both had raging sinus infections. We were both put on antibiotics and rest. That took us out of action Thursday, Friday and Saturday. 

Sunday evening I was on my way down to the condo my family was staying in when I got a phone call telling me my nephew and his girlfriend just got back (they had been on a fishing boat all day) and they were both burnt to a crisp and my nephew was sick as a dog from the boat and went to bed. So, that took out Sunday Night. 

On Monday, my nephew calls me all upset, his air conditioner went in his SUV and he has some kind of a massive Chevy SUV and he had to find a dealer to take it too. Well, that took ALL day. At the same time, one family member lost another family members debit card so an argument ensued and no one was speaking to each other and there was no way I was walking into that!. So, that killed Monday.

Finally, we spent time together on Tuesday and on Wednesday and they left to begin their long drive home late Wednesday night. So yeah, it was just the vacation that never should have happened but I am grateful for the time we did get to spend together. You may be wondering why I haven't shared any photos and as much as I'd like to I do not want to put my nephews photo up because he is a police officer in a dangerous, popular inner city and the others aren't really wanting to have their photos on the internet so I must respect that. 

There are some other things going on in our lives but this post is long enough and if you've read the whole thing I thank you and I will post more tomorrow..

The Sea Heals

Hello there friends and family........

Yesterday some of my family arrived, those that were able to come this year and I'm missing those that couldn't.... We spent some time at my house in the morning and then I headed down later on in the day to their condo. I took some photos and a short video to share with you. The photos I took were taken from the condo which is ocean front but on the bottom floor. It was a last minute booking so they couldn't get the condo on the third floor they usually stay in but this one is just as nice with the same beautiful view..

I don't know about you but I always find the sea healing in so many ways. For me, it always lifts my mind and heart directly to God. I find much peace just sitting on the beach or anywhere watching the water and listening to the waves crash into the sand. Feeling the warm water on my feet and the sand between my toes. 

Last night was exceptionally beautiful at the beach. The sun dipped down around seven thirty and there was a gorgeous breeze so it was a beautiful night to be there...

On a side note, I am sorry I haven't been to your blogs yesterday or today but with family in town it's a little hard to find the time but I promise I will make a visit soon. I hope you all understand..

Checking In

Well hello there friends and family.. I hope you're all well and healthy.

I haven't written in my Corona Diaries series in a while and thought I'd check in and share some thoughts and opinions. If you're the 'sensitive' type you may want to skip this post. Those of you who have followed me on my social media platforms know I don't pull any punches and I speak what's on my mind. I am not from the "politically correct' era and I never will be. So having said that, let's move on..

My first question is, how are you all doing?

As for me and mine, we are .....doing... In the beginning of all this I was like most were and sadly some still are. Scared, wiping down everything, staying home as much as possible and in general freaking out.. Then...things changed for me...

What changed? My spirit, my emotions, my thoughts.. I stopped freaking out.. I turned to the Lord and now I can share with you. Here is how I am looking at this virus itself. Most of you know that my doctors are almost positive I had this virus in January which lasted until approximately mid March. I can also tell you that yes, it exists and kills people. I can tell you that I was so sick I thought I would be one of those people. I can tell you I had my husband get my life insurance out just in case. That, is how sick I was. If you would like to me to tell you about my experience with this let me know in the comments and I will make a post about it..

Here's what I also know. No one can tell us if we can be infected again and no one can tell us when we will die or what we will die of. And that there is my whole point of this post. 

Many months ago I gave all my anxieties and fears over to the Lord. I handed my life over to him completely. Every single area of my life I gave to Him. In return he helped me to understand that even before this virus my life has always been in his hands from the moment I was created. He knows when and what I will die from. As humans we all think we have control over everything when in reality we don't have control over much of anything. 

So how I live each day is, I don't worry. I pray each morning to keep my loved ones and myself safe.. I take some, precautions and I live my day knowing that no matter what happens in this life, the Lord will be there to see me through whether that means in this life or He decides to lead me to the next. Now does that mean I want to die? Of course it doesn't... What it does mean is I trust Him completely and depend on Him for everything. He is in control. Anxiety and fear do not come from God. Once we learn to let things go that we have absolutely no control over and trust Him with everything we are free and so I am free. Does that mean I do not have some concern for my loved ones and myself? Of course it doesn't but knowing He is there and handles everything brings great peace and freedom. 

I watch people run around in a panic since this began, scolding others for what "they think" is correct, worrying about every, single, little thing and I realize they live like this because they have no faith. You can't possibly have faith and still live like this and so I pity them and pray for them...

Hurricane Update and More

Well hello there friends and family.....

Just wanted to pop on real quick this Tuesday morning and give ya'll an update. It seems God, being the good and merciful God He is decided to spare us. Thank you Lord. Hurricane Isaias for us was really nothing more than a long rain storm with a few major gusts of wind here and there. I think even our local weatherman is surprised at how docile this hurricane came in and went. In fact it was so mild I turned the light off in my bedroom and went to sleep at ten thirty pm, never heard the rain, never heard the wind, nothing.. We didn't even lose power. The electricity flipped on and off a few times but that was it. Now I know in other parts of my county and state there were many people who lost power for quite a while but I believe as of nine am this morning everyone's power across the state had been restored. God blessed us very much..

I slept until five forty five this morning. Mr fell asleep on the couch last night so he was still sleeping and so were all the dogs. I love the silence in the early morning hours because in my house that's really the only time I get any. I made some eggs and coffee around six thirty am and afterwards I spent some time reading the daily scripture reading and writing in my journal.

Mr had his three month follow up appointment with his pain doctor so while he was out I fed the dogs, washed the dishes, finished and put away the laundry I began yesterday, changed the sheets on the bed. Don't you just love fresh sheets on the bed? If I had the energy and enough sheets I'd change them every day but I guess once a week will have to suffice. I cleaned out one of our junk drawers in the dining room hutch and made myself a big batch of home made egg drop soup. See the picture above.

For the rest of the day I think I am just going to take it easy. My family comes in tomorrow morning and I think I am dealing with a sinus infection for the gazzilionth time so I may do an online visit with the doctor this afternoon. I think that's why I've been so dang tired lately and wanting to go to bed at eight pm every night...

Hope you all have a wonderful Tuesday!