You are the busiest person I have ever "read." I'll say it, it sounds like your husband was a pill. I've heard from other people that it's a double edged sword. They were a pill alive yet you still miss them. I'm not sure if that's how it is for you. Reading your posts it seems there were a lot of things that disappointed you and were hurtful. I know there is a lot of time that has passed since your post and I just now saw it so I hope things are going well.
Here I go with another long update. thank you I am doing well. Husband had his good points and in the beginning we had a lot good stuff. When he stopped working is when things started going downhill. I spent the last half of the marriage grieving what we lost when he stopped being a partner and stopped contributing to the marriage.
It has been a summer. Time to catch up. I have posted a little as the days go by Here and there. but after the last post June 21, I broke a crown, on June 29 I had a dental visit, the dentist removed the roots where the crown was. Was not prepared for the pain this time since back wasn’t fully recovered yet. Has to love antibiotics. I think pain tolerance goes down when you get older. July 3, I was baking some goodies and right side started hurting where I get kidney stones. tried to tough it out but after resting for three hours, the pain was not going away. Went to ER at 9 pm, after getting X-ray the dr and nurses were shocked I wasn’t complaining more than I was. I had an 11mm kidney stone at the scar tissue from a botched surgery in 1995. 11mm is considered a serious stone, at 11 pm I was admitted, this was new for me. I didn’t really eat with the pain since early afternoon on the 3rd, NPO started at midnight. Then waiting on July 4 for the procedure I felt like I was starving, dr came in at 6:00 pm to shatter the stone to help it pass. Dr put a stent in to help the ureter get better for 2 weeks. When I went to dr to get stent removed the NP couldn’t find the string to pull it out. So back to X-ray to see if stent was still in. Yes it was, string was up in the bladder. Next day went back to the dr, for him to use a scope/grabber to grab the string for the stent to come out. Really don’t like how stents feel coming out. The day after the stent came out I was finally feeling back to normal.
getting back to the home improvements. July 15 it was starting to get warmer/hot weather I put priority to get new house fan installed. The main handyman I hired was called out of town to assist with a family whose house caught fire. The young man who offered to help just passing by at the other property had stopped by to check in with me to see if I needed any help with anything. Told him I had the new house fan that needed installed. he contacted a friend of his who is more electrical than he is and the two of them installed the new house fan. the current house fan was the original from when the house being built in mid seventies, the new house fan was smaller in frame even though the fan blades were same size. they needed to build an extra frame to make it fit in the space. I had enough left over scrap wood from the pool deck that was last year’s project. Didn’t need to buy anything extra for the fan install. Happy dance. Had to save the louvres from old fan to use with new fan but I cleaned them up in the shower. Paid the young men and I could live with the summer heat and no a/c.
I became behind on yard work When I was down from the medical issues. Knew it was Gonna take time to bring everything back but I have done it Before I can do it again. I spend a lot of time mowing and weed trimming when I am on my own. Battery time for weed trimming is 30-45 min per battery ( have 6 ) which grows shorter as the trimmer gets heated as each battery is used. One battery is for the shrubber tool which is used on growth where the trimmer doesn’t get to. Last year I did invest in a 21 inch electric mover (it has self propel ) which runs for an hour if grass is not moist. Loses time if grass is moist and I have to clean out under the mower with putty scrapers to keep going. Good thing I have several putty scrapers. I still have the 14 inch mower but I get wore out with it even though it is lighter than the 21 inch. It is basically a two day to three day job with lots of breaks. And I do get side tracked along the way.
Next project, was replace the electric heater and thermostat (each room in house has it’s own individual heaters and thermostats.) in the main bathroom. The main handyman had returned by this time. Thank goodness. Still needs the kitchen heater and thermostat replaced but since weather is nice, will save that for a rainy day.
Funny thing going on, I have a beautiful motorcycle, but I am so busy with projects and helping my chosen son/wife and best friend with running errands, shopping and laundry mat, that I haven’t had time to even take a ride. Wait forgot about round trip to Indiana when chosen daughter in law‘s grandfather was admitted to hospital. Oh well maybe tomorrow Or the next day.
Back home getting back on task. First fence project is the two gates to pool yard. Husband put in one gate properly like 10 years ago and never went back to install post for the other gate half. anytime I mentioned it …he said it was too complicated to do. When I showed the handyman he said yes it can be fixed. I knew it husband was buffaloing me. I am happy the gates are finally fully installed. The second task for the pool yard is repairing the west fence from the original yard worker who cut the fence in the south west corner to move chain link to the inside of the yard On the poles. I admit I didn’t pay enough attention to the work. Plus the original worker paid too much attention to husbands ideas than mine. In the meantime the current handyman studied the problem and we talked extensively on how to get the fence dog safe. Several trips to the hardware store for parts and siphoning excess chain link panel section from main house/dog yard fence, I am happy to say, the pool yard is dog friendly safe, escape free.
While working in the pool yard there was a wind storm on a Saturday that picked up the empty pool and frame one day and put it on the pool east fence. Son and his new wife came by to check on me the next day. They were in town to pick up stuff from old place to move to their new place. They helped me get pool off fence. One of the 12 ft frame pieces is bent. That will be next years project get new frame piece. Not sure if the liner survived either that is like I say next year. It looks so sad. Oh well.
Originally there was only a 2 ft high fence from the corner of the house to the corner of the intersection, which was installed by previous owner after someone jumped intersection and hit the northwest corner of the house. My previous handyman of four years installed the 4 foot fence to the 2 foot fence which created a two inch gap between the fences that caused a lot of unwanted weeds and tree growth. I complained and complained for years but never got any results. The young man who installed the attic/house fan stopped by on Sunday when the main handyman is home with his lady, and I paid him to help pull the 2 ft fence out. I nearly cried with happy tears. Even though I still needed to remove growth connecting the two fences. I have fun tools, I can do this, and I plan on not putting my back out over it.
the young man who stop by on sundays also did a big job for me. I had a maple tree cut down three years ago from the northwest corner of the house after it was being trimmed. The tree was infected with carpenter ants. The stump is still there and so are some roots that keep beating up my lawn mower. This young man very cleverly took out many of the irritating roots killing my mower blades. It was another project on my list of things to do.
Once the fences were done it was time to put the landscape pavers along the house/dog fence to keep dogs from digging their way under the fence to catch a ground hog. My neighbor gave me a bunch that looked like the ones I had on half of the fence Already. I discovered that hers were bigger than mine no real biggie since there is a 20 ft high blue spruce separating all the pavers, I had to buy 30 more to finish the other section of fence. I cut and put down landscape fabric under all the pavers. It looks so finished.
It has been a summer of adventure. I have made new friends and gotten a lot of things done but there is still more. I did meet with the dietician for a new log book. And she gave me a site for protein foods to replace the protein bars which she says are not helping me Even if it helps me reach the 100 gr protein I need. It has taken time but I finally have my milk issue resolved. I am using chocolate and vanilla protein shakes to make protein sugar free pudding. Cheesecake white chocolate and pistachio flavors Plus regular chocolate. Second is I am freezing the yoplait whip yogurt to satisfy my ice cream fix. The dietician gave me a site to check out called bariatricfoodcoachme.com to check out for portions and recipes. The author is step something. I made recipe cards and I spent two weeks prepping stuff to be cooked for meals. Burger chicken pork chops and breakfast quesadillas plus cheesy roll ups. Been so hot I haven’t really wanted to cook yet. I will get there. I have a lot meals just one portion at a time. Yeah.
Invested in low price (under 100.00) power washer to clean north side of house. At the same time I picked up a saber saw and small circular saw. The saber saw works great on tree stumps and roots. The circular saw is for the flooring tiles. My son told his wife that when I die he is getting all my fun tools. Last really hot day was Tuesday and that is when the north side of the house got cleaned. My shopping buddy helped, the handyman fell off 6 ft ladder and ended up having emergency surgery on his back On Monday. I am on my own for now, mostly.
when you feel like life is going your way and you are feeling like life is good. Sooner or later an evil monkey is going to throw a wrench in the mix. This project started in mid July. This was my washing machine. I got impatient and tossed a couple of rugs in it. It clogged it to where it wouldnt drain or spin. Found an appliance repairman, he stopped by said he needed to order a tool and for over a month I heard nothing. I broke down and replaced the washer. Before the new washer was delivered I decided to put new flooring tiles that match the new flooring in the kitchen. I put the tiles/planks down for under the washer, I did it. I did put the hoses on like the handyman told me after taking out the old washer but I did not tighten the hoses up. The main handyman installed replacement faucets since one was leaking and I had fun installing the hoses to the washer but not the faucets. The delivery guys couldn’t install the hoses since I didn’t buy new water hoses. So after the handyman finished I started the washer we saw no leaks on the faucets, he was finished and went home while I took my other friend shopping as planned. I came home to find the hoses on the washer did not get checked which made a puddle on and under the new floor tiles. Oopps…. Since I was changing to a top load washer I decided to send my old dryer that still works great, to my chosen daughter in law( she has no working dryer). I have a second dryer that stacked with broken down washer that was never hooked up. The hook ups were on the opposite wall. Since the dryer doesn’t stack on this washer I decided to use it after giving the old dryer away. I have been getting the new dryer vent and hose from dryer to wall vent and laying down more of the floor tiles. Which is my current project.
The other news is the dogs. In June they caught a cat in their yard, they played tug of war with it. The cat didn’t make it. In July the tangled with a ground hog, but I didn’t learn what they tangled with until my son came that day and helped take the pool off the fence. I did know that Lolly had some scratches on one of her front legs which I cleaned very thoroughly. They saw the dogs chase the ground hog from under the deck. In august after the pool yard was finished they caught a squirrel while I was working on the pavers. I came to get them to take them in the house and there is Lolly carrying a squirrel body around. Yeah they caught a squirrel and it was very dead. For two to three weeks I have been treating the dogs, the yard and house for fleas. Dog baths 4 guaranteed, flea collars, not working, over the counter meds( they worked but for only a day or two) six doses three each. The dogs know their territory for sure.
I finally got the motorcycle out today and rode it to the dentist for my teeth cleaning. I made four stops after the dentist before coming home. I feel accomplished.
So after I get the dryer/flooring straightened out ….the next projects are power wash the deck and ramp to the front door and then put new coat of stain deck, also put concrete blocks under deck to keep dogs from getting hurt. Put white lattice to hide the concrete blocks. The last outdoor project is to replace the garage weather stripping on the door before it ruins the garage door opener. After that it will be inside projects as the weather won’t be as much fun. This post is not only for you as it is a journal history of things for me to reflect on too.
