Thoughts from the T-Shirt Lady

Ok, so I know it’s been a long time since I posted. Really, I haven’t forgotten, I’ve just been very busy…

A friend suggested that I keep a notepad by my side to jot down ideas for posts. That way, when I can get to it, I have something to write about.

Here I sit, working on my website, adding more product lines - more about that later - and the alarm on the clothes dryer went off, telling me that the clothes my dh placed in there are supposed to be dry. Right!

Here’s my complaint - he never cleans out the lint tray. So if I don’t catch it between loads of laundry, the dryer will just spin and spin trying to dry his clothes - and the air can’t get through the lint! So once again I have to clean it out - how can someone get so much lint in their clothes between washes? That lint tray was packed.

Of course with the economy the way it is, and everyone trying to save money - I keep telling him that we will save electricity if I don’t have to keep adding time to the dry cycle for his clothes - if he will just clean out the lint tray!

Guess that’s not a really big priority for him.

Sigh….

Sandi

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Well, it’s been almost a week, since I came home from Ohio. Once my sister got home, we spent some time together, going out to eat, and taking a hike. It was nice weather - glad it wasn’t rainy.

My flight to Ohio was very smooth - even tho it was a tiny jet. Coming back was not so nice. Still a tiny jet - but we were being buffeted all over the place. Glad to be back on solid ground…

As I mentioned, it’s almost a week. I actually got home a week ago today, at 2pm. Of course I’ve been up since 2am this morning - couldn’t sleep very well and there is a good reason.

A little background - we have 2 cats, Wilbur who is 2 1/2 and Orville who is 7 months old. We love them so much!

Every once in awhile, Wilbur will want to go outside. He usually sits on the front stoop, checks a few things out, and then scratches at the door to come back in. He’s timid and doesn’t like unfamiliar people or things. He always hides under the bed when ever we have company.

Yesterday, my DH got ready to go outside - this was after lunch and he’d been in and out all morning - doing his farming thing

Wilbur dashed out the door when my DH opened it. I didn’t know this - as I was sewing in my workroom. So if Wilbur went outside and then wanted to come back in, I wouldn’t have heard his scratching at the door. My DH thought he would be back shortly and let Wilbur in the house. Then he forgot that Wilbur was outside.

Well, as of this morning - Wilbur is still no where to be found. When we finally realized that he wasn’t in the house - we went driving around the neighborhood looking for him.

So my sleep last nite was disjointed - in that I kept waking up to see if I heard him at the door. He has never gone away from the house - we are very concerned. We live in a wooded area and he could get lost since he’s not used to being outside. Also there are wild animals - stray dogs, raccoons, foxes, etc and Wilbur would have a hard time escaping from an animal tracking him down - since Wilbur leads a sedentary life!

I don’t think he’ll starve as he’s kind of on the heavy side - not really large, but not lean either. Even now, I keep going to the door, to see if I can see him. It got down to the low 30’s last nite - so hopefully his fur kept him warm. I wonder if, when he comes home, his roaming days will be over. Or will this adventure give him a taste of the wild side?

More later.

Sandi

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Over the next week, I will be staying with my Mom. She lives with my sister and brother-in-law, who are on travel to visit friends for a few days.

Mom recently had gall bladder surgery - and not the laserscopic procedure. So her recovery has been slow. Of course, she’s also almost 84 years old, so that could account for the length of time that it will take to get back her energy and strength.

I’m still gaining strength and energy myself from my last procedure - and mine was minor.

We’re here in Ohio and the weather has not been conducive to walking outside. I was just getting used to the temps getting a little milder at home, and yesterday was cold and rainy and today it’s supposed to be rainy and cold as well. So we’ve stayed indoors, read, watched tv, talked some, and rested.

It’s strange living in someone else’s house - even tho I’ve visited from time to time. At least I’m not alone. Besides Mom, there are 4 indoor cats.  These cats are on a strict diet. They are fed 2 times a day - all in different places so one cat doesn’t eat the food of another. It’s interesting - because my 2 cats have dry food that they can eat all day if they want. I guess it’s because they are not as old as my sister’s cats.

When I’m at home, we keep the bedroom door closed at nite so the cats don’t come in while we are sleeping. Their idea of fun is to jump up on the dressers - see what’s up there to play with, jump down on the floor, jump up on the bed…. you get the picture. I have trouble enough sleeping through the nite - why would I want to be woken up several times by the cats.

Well, I planned on doing the same thing here in my sister’s house. I kept the bedroom door closed on Wed nite - the day I arrived. But last nite I left the door open a crack just so I could hear my mom if she needed me. Went to bed at 10pm, got woken up just before midnight with the first cat jumping up on my bed.  And of course, this went on many times during the nite. The door will stay closed tonite!

My sister was very gracious, and precooked some entrees for us - so I wouldn’t have to come up with a menu, and figure out what to cook. We have some of the same appliances and cookware, but it’s so much easier to work in your own kitchen.

I’ve tried to talk my mom into going out for dinner at least one nite (or late afternoon - I don’t want to have to drive in the dark). We’ll see if that happens. If not - there’s food enough - we won’t starve. I don’t plan on going out anywhere too far, as I’m not familiar with any of the area. And going to the mall is definitely out!

The last time I was here was with my DH when my mom had her 80th birthday. It only took him one trip from hotel to my sister’s house for him to have the directions down-pat. Wish I could be the same… 

Sandi

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Want to learn how to get better sleep? Buy a new bed! Oh, wait - did I say get better sleep? Maybe I was mistaken.

A little history. Right before my DH and I got married, we both had water-beds. They were both wave-less, and had a box spring. I guess you call that soft sided.

Once we got married we decided to change a little, and went with a water-bed, again with a box spring, but this time, with water tubes. Ah… you can have your amount of water and firmness, instead of having to put up with a firmness or softness that you don’t like. Great idea!

Over the years, of using the tubes, it’s worked fine, except that I like a lot of water and firmness in the tubes on my side of the bed, and my husband likes a lot less. Picture this if you will - a nice half of the bed, level and firm, and the other half, a much lower, softer feel. If you looked at it from the end of the bed, there was a definite dip in the center. Now what fun if you rolled over the center at nite - you feel like you are going over a waterfall. I kid you not!

Add to that, we were sleeping on wedges that took up almost the whole bed - one for each of us - this is what you have to do as you get up in age, to prevent acid reflux!!

Making the bed was a pain - because not only did I have to change the bottom sheet on the bed, I had to change the cases on the wedges too. I had made what looked like pillow cases for the wedges, to keep them from becoming uncovered as you slept on them. My DH is a very restless sleeper. Not only that, but the bed was so low to the ground, even with the box-spring - that I had to bend down to do anything with the bed.

Enough!! We decided once we got our tax refund this year, we would go out and look for a regular bed. We went shopping at our local Mattress Discounters, and must have laid down on every bed in the store. We were really hoping to get a temper pedic - but it was so expensive… we decided on a pillow-top, firm Sterns and Foster. It was a little high to get up into, but I wanted the extra height.

It was delivered the next day - and it was even higher than it was in the store. I think the difference was the fact that the frame they were using in the store didn’t have wheels, and ours does. So you almost need a step stool to get into bed.  No problem! Now for a good nites sleep.

On our water-bed, I found that I would wake up at 3am, 4am, and 5am or so every nite - can’t figure that one out, I don’t have to go to work in the am, so why would I care what time it was?

Well, as you can imagine, we needed a few nites to get aclimated to the new bed, so I fully expected not to be able sleep well for awhile. We’ve had the bed for more than 2 weeks now, and guess what? I’m still waking up at 3am, 4am, 5am…. but at least the bed is higher, I don’t have to bend down to make the bed, nor have to stand up from the bed in the morning when I get up. Now I just slide off the bed and I’m upright! Anything to help me in my ‘old age’!

Sandi

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It’s been a busy two weeks, since last I posted, so I have lots to tell you.  Our son is now out of the hospital, and on his way to fully recovering from him accident.

He was in the hospital a little over 2 weeks. The last couple of days that he was in the hospital, he was back on the feeding tube, since he couldn’t swallow - probably because the ventilator tube was in for so long and ulcerated his vocal cords.

He came over to visit us - his sister drove him - on Sunday, and he is beginning to perk up. He has a long way to go, to be fully functional to be able to go back to work.

His shoulders - one is dislocated (time will heal it) the other is separated. Since he works for one of the cities locally as a landscaper/trash man - he will not be able to go back to work for quite some time.

He is definitely lucky to be alive and in as good a shape as he is.

We thank God every day for this blessing.

Sandi

I was writing a little note to my friend to let her know I was thinking about her. She is the one who recently lost her husband.

I’m not really good at writing terrific sentiments, but then I don’t guess they have to be terrific, just heart felt.

I mentioned in my note that we are all in God’s hands and we have to trust that he will take care of us.

I’m not a very religious person, but as I get older, I know that I’m not alone in taking care of my family and friends. There is a higher power at work.

Why do I mention the note I was writing? Well, finished the note, put a stamp and return address on it and took it to the mailbox.

A little later the mailman showed up at our door with our mail - seems we had a package that was too big to fit in the mailbox. He left and everything got quiet again until the phone rang. This was about 11:30am on this past Tuesday.

One of our daughters called and said she just got a call from the hospital that our son was in ICU, in critical condition from an automobile accident and was on a ventilator. My God! She was hysterical and I became quickly the same. My DH got on the phone and got as much detail as he could. We hopped in the car and raced to the hospital.

The thought on both our minds was - on a ventilator - that’s not a good sign - maybe he was on it to keep him alive until his family could gather.

I’m glad my DH did the driving - I couldn’t have done it. It was about 45 minutes of waiting that was agonizing.

We got up to the room, and was relieved to see that while he was on a ventilator to help him breath - he was not as critical as we thought.

He rides his bicycle to and from work - was struck by a car - this was about 4:30am on Monday morning. Remember, we didn’t find out about this until Tuesday.

He was rushed into surgery on Monday and had his spleen removed. His lungs are so bruised and battered, that he was put on a ventilator to help him breath and help his lungs heal. He lost a lot of blood, and is heavily sedated to keep him from worrying about all the tubes going in and out of his body.

When we got to his room, he was actually trying to talk - and relented to write on a pad of paper - that his dog needed to be taken care of at his home. The fact that he was as alert as he was, is a good sign.

We spoke to the doctor on Tuesday, went back to visit yesterday, and will be going every day until he is out of the woods. This morning at about 4:45 - the hospital called to let us know that he was going to be given blood. I guess they need to get authorization about that? I don’t know but I’ll ask.

His backpack that had been brought in with him at the time of the accident wasn’t found until late yesterday afternoon. Thank goodness for that - all of his personal belongings including wallet, driver’s license, and credit cards were in there. His house keys are missing - probably because they had been in his pants pocket and who knows what happened to his clothes - probably thrown away after being cut off him!

More later - need to get ready to go soon.

Sandi

A few weeks ago, right before Christmas, a dear friend’s husband - Lewis - passed away.

I had been doing craft shows for years. We moved out to the country about 11 years ago, and I wanted to get a feel for the local craft market.

The city library had a book sale every month that was well attended. They decided to invite local crafters to set up tables inside the building where the book sale was taking place, in the hopes that crafters would do well, and it would attract more customer for the books.

Met a really nice couple who made baskets by hand. Both of them worked on the baskets and did beautiful work - I have several of their creations. We’ve been friends ever since.

Over the years, we traveled together in caravans to other craft shows around the state and beyond, and had a really good time - even if the craft shows were not real successful, we had the companionship of friends.

Lewis was over 70, had diabetes, but was in good health. He was scheduled for knee surgery. After a few days in the hospital, he came home. About a week later he passed away. They seem to think it might have been a blood clot. 

We keep hearing about things happening when you go to the hospital, it’s just never been so close to home. We will miss Lewis very much. He was always so friendly and ready to help in a minute.

I don’t think that his diabetes had anything to do with it, since he seemed to be very healthy and strong. He wouldn’t have had surgery if he wasn’t in a strong condition.

My friend had a memorial service for Lewis - he was cremated, so no funeral. Many of their friends, whom they had known for years, attended and told stories to those gathered about things they remembered. It was very moving. A video was created and shown - with pictures spanning his life.

All in all, it was comforting to know that Lewis was loved by so many people.

Sandi

It always seems that I want to write something, but either I get busy with other things, or I forget what I wanted to say. So I’ve started keeping a little notebook with me, to jot down those ideas and thoughts in the hopes that I would get the chance to write them down.

Maybe I’ll get the chance to write a little something every day - instead of writing a really long post about everything! 

Sandi

What a nightmare! I’ve started my spring cleaning in January.

Here’s how it happened…

I took down the garland and artificial wreaths from our Christmas decorations on the front porch. (Well it’s not actually a porch - but that’s another story!)

Found pillow cases large enough for the artificial wreaths - actually they had been under the bed with no covering for the past few years. Figured it was time to put them in something to protect from the dust. You should have seen the layer of dust on one of them. Will probably never look like it did when I bought it

Anyway - figured there was too much stuff in the bathroom closet and wanted to use the top shelf for these decorations. So proceeded to take everything off the top shelf and on the floor - since I was in the re-organizing mood.

Well - everything on the floor was wet! Quel nightmare (I love that phrase - it was used in You’ve got mail.

Actually the sections of the items that were wet had been up against the back wall - which is an outside wall. And the wall was still wet - you could actually see the water back there.

I called my DH immediately. Of course he was out hunting - but water on the wall? Panic time. ‘Its condensation’ He’s so smart and has an answer for everything.

Now we have a big fan going to try and dry the wall, don’t know how long it will take all the ’stuff’ to dry - and that’s why I’m re-organizing - moving stuff from the bathroom closet to the bedroom closet (only those items not wet).

And of course I needed to re-organize the bedroom closet to make room for the moved ’stuff’!

At least my Christmas decorations are now on the top shelf in the bathroom closet… the main objective - no more under the bed with all the dust bunnies, etc….

Sandi

My girlfriend and I planned a day of movies and eating on the 21st of this month. Her birthday was the day before and she, another friend and I had lunch. Then on the 21st we decided on a movie to go see and then have lunch afterwards. I can definitely say that the lunch was much better than the movie!

My girlfriend loves Johnny Depp - seen everything he’s been in and we’ve see the pirate movies which are my favorite. So we decided to go see Sweeney Todd - it started this past Friday. I have to tell you I have never been so grossed out by a movie in my life. At least with war movies and action movies you kind of expect to see some people get killed and some blood. But Sweeney Todd was so bad - I had to cover my eyes for quite a lot of the movie. I guess I should have read the synopsis first. I would have known (as my daughter has informed me) that this was a very gory story. And the theater had the sound cranked up as loud as it would go - so needless to say, I was deaf, and sick to my stomach on the way out.

Of course, I’m sure you are asking yourself - why didn’t we just get up and leave. I guess we were hoping it would get better, not worse.

IMO - not one of Johnny Depps’ finest. And certainly one that can be missed.

Hope you don’t waste your money like we did.

Sandi