ONE OF THOSE DAYS

Wednesday, November 24, 2021

 

ONE OF THOSE DAYS

It’s one of those days…

…When nothing goes right

GO LEFT!

LOL

The ducks really aren’t relevant to this blog…unless you might wonder if they found themselves wandering on this sidewalk instead of going to the lake. 😉

 

My day has been anything but what was planned!

One of my girls was supposed to pick me up at 7:00 AM. That turned into 7:30, then 8:00, and kept getting changed until I was finally picked up about 9:30 AM. Good thing I didn’t have to be anywhere by a specific time. Today, I’m just being their driver. 😉 So I drove to where they needed to be, dropped them off with plans to return about noon. My drive home from there should be about 5 to 6 minutes, but ended up being more like 30 minutes! Option A is taking surface streets home. Option B is taking the highway/freeway. Option B is usually faster. As I went thru the intersection that could have been Option A my mind went to, “that would be faster today” but I ignored the thought and proceeded to the highway on-ramp. At this location I must cross 2 “exit-only” traffic lanes to get to my choice of exits. Today, I cannot merge due to a long semi in the next lane. We must be thinking alike – when I speed up, so does the semi; when I slow down, so does the semi. Time runs out – I must follow the lane and exit to the ramp connecting to another highway. It is 3 miles down that highway to the next exit anywhere. I got off there and stayed on the surface streets making my way back home.

It would have been so much faster if I could have gone left two lanes as soon as I entered the highway!

But I learned at a very early age that you always give the semi the right of way! ALWAYS!

“If you stumble, make it part of the dance.”

Not that conflicts on the highway with a semi are a “stumble,” but more like a “stumble” is an unplanned change in events or plans for that day. And today my conflicts with semis on the highway changed my plans more than once today! Still, I have to give those semi drivers today a huge shout-out! It’s too much to share it all here right now. Those guys today were AWESOME! I wish I could say the same for some of the other drivers on the road with us today. I wish I could say the same about the rest of my day! One thing after another went ‘off plan’ all day long. It happens. I kept adjusting and moving on, going forward in whatever way possible.

My day might have been completely different had it not been for some very aware semi drivers!

For ALL of those semi drivers on the roads now…

You are special

YES

YOU

The one reading this!

So,

Jump up,

Wiggle your hips,

Wave your arms,

Squeeze your nose,

& have a Giggley kind of day!

May we all remember to find ways to make the best of things when nothing goes according to plan!

 

See you soon!

I CHOOSE ~ ~ ~

 Friday, July 23, 2021 at 1:53PM

Have a FABULOUS FRIDAY!
May your cup overflow with
PEACE,
LOVE,
JOY,
and
Pure AWESOMENESS!!!

We are less than 4 weeks away...
Or just a little over 3 weeks away...
Does it seem real to you yet?
That SparkPeople will no longer BE?
August 17th is looming closer & closer by the day!

I'm leaning very much toward blogging back at Blogger aka Blogspot dot com again!
Some years back I was blogging there... first one main blog for everything; then spin-offs for just things that were focused on ECO-friendly stuff, or my SparkPeopley stuff, and for a 365 daily challenge thing --- I didn't quite get to finishing that. They all pretty much stopped in the fall of 2011. Why?

At first I could not even remember!
Then...

December 2, 2011
Two things happened that day that remain significant in my life.
The first was me getting my very first cellular phone account! I still have that number! I resisted for so long... but life with 6 adult kids was making having only a landline phone more and more challenging; plus I was more actively growing my business away from home. Having a cell phone had become a necessity! And now, in 2021, I don't even have a landline phone & neither do most of the people I know.

 

My how life changes... in barely 10 years!

The second thing... happened while I was on the phone, making a legal contract with Verizon, so the call was being recorded. The phone I was on had call-waiting, but I kept ignoring the incoming calls. I had one of my daughters with me at the time. She had her own phone then, so I told her to call one of her sisters and find out what was going on. She did.
As I finished the recorded part of my call, I paused it long enough to ask her about what her sister said. Then I calmly asked the person I was talking to if we could finish up the remainder of tasks later - agreed - I hung up that call.
Then I took my daughter's phone and listened to a very dear friend who was with my other daughters tell me that ...

...

...my only surviving son...

...was in an accident...

...he was being life-flighted to a hospital in the city...

...I should just go straight there NOW ...

... and she would work out everything with my girls, my niece & my sister (they lived with us then) and meet us at the hospital as soon as they could!

It was a LONG NIGHT,
a LONG WEEK,
a LONG MONTH,
and a very long year of many, many changes!
And I never went back to those blogs...until now.

So you're not left hanging:
My son, in his little Ford Taurus, was T-Boned by a DUMP-TRUCK (not loaded) estimated to be moving at 45MPH on impact. The little car was shoved over 100 yards into a nearby field.
We lived in a very small town of less than 10,000 people & almost everyone knew everyone.
Over the next few days we heard about the crash from everyone, all stating in one way or another that they didn't see how anyone would have survived it - the car was unrecognizable, just a bunch of crumpled metal. Even the tow-truck owner said that. EMTs extricated the driver with the jaws of life & he was transported to the local hospital where efforts to stabilize him for air-transport began; then they waited for the chopper to come get him.
In the city - at the Level 1 Trauma Center - he was 1 of 2 choppers coming in at the same time - literally one hovering while the other landed & unloaded.
Both were from truck vs car accidents
Both were males
Both had first names that began with the same letter & had just 1 syllable & sounded similar
Both had last names with same initial too!
Both had family members in the same waiting area!
And NO ONE realized this until a staff member came out asking for the family of M--- D. AND EVERYONE STOOD UP!
It was confusing & frustrating at the time, but one of the lighter moments of the next week or so... for both families.

For my son - he arrived - was quickly assessed & we got a few minutes with him before the first of many surgeries began.
For the other young man - it was similar for his family. He was able to go home 4 or 5 days later.
My son had 3 surgeries lasting into the early morning hours and was in a coma for the next 5 days. A week in ICU. A week in a regular room. A week & a half in rehab. 4 days home. Another week & a half back in the hospital in a regular room - due to blood clots in his lungs. From January to April he was home and we were driving twice each week into the city for more rehab therapies.
When he was first awake he had very little memory - struggled to recall his own name. But in time that improved - to a point. A year later he still could not recall much beyond age 10 or 11. He was 20 - had graduated high school with honors - loved playing football & was really good at it - excelled in math & all things related to numbers - and loved cooking & experimenting with foods. This accident left him devastated & depressed. From May to August we worked at finding the right program to continue his healing.
The more we sought help for him, the more we realized we did not have the means to pay for it! The brain injury also left him dealing with hard to control emotions, which made life at home even more challenging. Ultimately we decided on a program at the University of Wisconsin in Green Bay (about 3 hours driving, from home) that was willing to take him in as a regular student based on grades prior to the accident and work with him remedially to see if he could "catch up" again. That first year was "touch & go" by anyone's standards! More than once, we ALL wanted to quit - and just bring him back home as he was! But we didn't - we all worked together to help him stay involved.
He spent 5 years there - went from C's & D's in the first semester to all A's in his last semester. He was able to do a season with the GB Packers, working with the team's nutritionist. He advanced through various levels of Student Ambassador ~ Advisor ~ Counselor ~ and so on. He earned 2 degrees (Dietitic Nutrition & Physical Therapy)!!! Went on to post-grad studies in Ohio for 2 years! And he is now working full-time as a Registered Dietitian Nutritionist where he also provides guidance on physical fitness.
Oh, and he's married now too! 
There are still years of his childhood he does not remember & returning to the area he grew up can still be traumatic as he can run into old friends who remember him but he has no clue who they are.

One of the lessons here is this: LIFE GOES ON

We can either choose to mourn the changes & losses ~ perhaps indefinitely
Or we can choose to GO ON and see what exciting things could be happening in the future!
Change is hard!
Loss is hard!
Moving on is hard!
We all do HARD THINGS all the time, really! It's just some things are harder for others than for us; and some things are harder for us than for others.
We can choose!
We can choose to do the hard things now & see what we can turn those into in our future!
We can choose to just sit it out; wait until there is no choice left & see what happens.

Doing nothing is easy,
That's why so many people do it.

BUT ~ ~ ~

Marriage is hard, Divorce is hard, Choose your hard.

Obesity is hard. Being fit is hard. Choose your hard.

Being in debt is hard, Being financially disciplined is hard, Choose your hard.

Communication is hard, Not communicating is hard. Choose your hard.

LIFE will NEVER be EASY.

IT will ALWAYS be HARD.

BUT we can choose our hard!

CHOOSE WISELY!!!  

It's been awhile

Yes, it's certainly been a long time since my last post! :)


My list of links is growing - so I may just create a post soon that puts them all in one place and then more slowly I will add some info about them. Sorry, there won't be any with this post.


This is just a huge update of all sorts of things.  


First - the new kittens (born June 17th) and their mama got really sick in July and finally in mid-August (just before they would be 10 weeks old) we lost them all.  It's been a hard blow for all of us as we worked so hard and put so much into caring for them in efforts to save them all. :(


Second - in the ever-changing lives of my kids we have been having one crisis after another with different kids.  Of course, they are all adults now - but four still live with me - and just because they are legally adults doesn't mean they aren't still my kids. lol  Cars breaking down; jobs changing - cutting hours, laying off, or just being challenging in new ways; searching for jobs - first jobs, new jobs, different jobs; new health challenges developing; old health challenges getting worse; all in all, it's the same ol' - same ol' - never really changing status of needing more money than we have to care for all the things that come up.  It's not unlike a dog chasing it's tail - totally futile to attempt; but having done so, IF one should catch up then suddenly you find yourself getting bitten!


Third - we're into a decluttering mode - more now than ever.  It began when my sister moved out - and it's taking on a whole new meaning after attending our district convention at the end of July and then our circuit assembly at the beginning of September!  Now, it's not just get rid of things we're not using or haven't used in over a year; it's become get rid of things we don't really need. In other words, let's take a close look at every single thing in every single room of the house, including closets, porches, deck, garage and yard and let's see if we REALLY & TRULY NEED IT for survival. :)


This has become a huge project. One we hope to finish by the end of September. :)


I'm still working on building my business - ecomomandee.blogspot.com and I'm still working on my weight loss goals - sparknearthlybest.blogspot.com/ and like always I'll keep working on all these.  I'm not one to give up!

Day 18 Comes to a Close

OK, we're now 18 days into my new plan... living greener, getting healthier, etc.

HOW ARE WE DOING?

UGH!!!

Change is never easy!

But we are making progress!

We are trying to remember to use the cloth tote bags we've gathered when we go shopping - but first we must come up with a plan to REMEMBER TO BRING THEM with us!!! LOL It's about 50/50 right now.

We have all agreed that we will not buy anymore chemical cleaning products. The little bits of the few we do still have will get used up unless I can find someone else who might want them. We don't feel it's right to just throw them out. But I do feel like I really don't want to use them anymore. Aside from the chemicals not being good for the environment, and not being good for us, I have some personal issues with how those chemicals affect me and my health as well as the health of some of my not-so-healthy kids! Maybe I will just dispose of them!

Some of the things we're using instead of those chemical cleaners:
Basic H2 - 1 dilution for windows and glass cleanings, a 2nd dilution for average household cleanings (counters, sinks, toilets, tubs, etc)... and even a 3rd dilution formula for the really greasy messes! We made 3 bottles (16 oz ea.) and have done lots of cleaning with them, we even made a 2nd bottle of the #2 formula, but we have only used about 2 teaspoons of the Basic H2 so far (and it's been a month since we started using it). I even wrote the date on it so I will know how long it lasted. (I'm keeping track of expenses - how much we spend on the products we're switching to, how long they last vs. how much the other stuff cost & lasted)
Vinegar
Baking Soda
Borax
We're learning lots of different recipes to combine those three ingredients with plain water to do all sorts of things. I'll try to post some of those here soon.

I also want to mention that we deal with lots of health problems here in my household. We talked some about how to handle this. My business kit came with a month's supply of Vitalizer - a basic supplement strip that includes vitamins & minerals, antioxidants, omega-3s, and even probiotics! I've been taking them for the last 3 days. I have to say they must go to work pretty quickly as I've been under tons of stress and had to do so much more physically than usual for the last several days and 4 days ago I thought I would end up with the whole weekend in bed unable to move, but that didn't happen! We'll see, I'm still skeptical of new stuff - especially if I'm swallowing it! BUT, I trust these supplements more than what I get at Wal-Mart! LOL

Sometimes I dream that coming back to this company will be a really positive thing for me. Though, after ten years of dealing with constant pain and seriously reduced mobility, I don't hope for anything to really reverse that, but it would be nice to find a way to lessen the pain, increase the mobility AND not be worried about side effects that all my prescriptions have! As I build up my business I'll add more of the supplements to my routine, replacing the ones I now get at other places. It's like I'm going to show everyone, personally, by my own experience, that these supplements work better for your body and even faster so you won't need as much of them as you do of the cheaper stuff you get at the discount stores. :) Who knows? I might even get really brave and try weight loss program too! Yes, like practically everyone I know, I need to lose weight too... but I'm even more leary of "weight loss plans" than I am of new supplements!

The other thing we've been working on is a garden!!!
Let me first say that I have the world's brownest thumb... the most success I could have in growing a garden is with a rock garden! LOL
However, we have to find a way to cut costs. We have to find a way to eat healthier. We have to eat organic produce as much as possible. SOOOO... We HAVE TO GROW A GARDEN!
My kids, my sister, my niece, everyone here wants to do it! So I figure if any of them might have a green thumb (we have no idea yet) then maybe we'll have more green thumbs than brown ones and that will make up for my really brown thumb! LOL
So to this effort - now that the snow is gone (except for just a few spots in the shadiest areas) we've been raking up all the debris from fall and winter. Right now it's just in big pile - that's getting rained on tonight. :( Guess we're going to try composting too! Hmmm... something else to work on.
A friend is going to loan us his tiller soon - after we decide exactly where in that back yard we're going to turn the ground over/under! He's at least grown a garden or two - so he's good for some advice too. Maybe he'll teach my kids while his wife & I go out for some sorely lacking girl time we've been missing! ;-)

Well, time to sign off for now. I'll try to post a little more often.