Feeling so much better...

It has been a long time since I have written anything in my journal. I haven't been feeling very good and I think it is my sinuses, it started out with a sore throat and then my nose is plugged up one minute and running the next. I have never had a problem with my sinuses, I would rather just get the flu and get it over with.
Last week was the cold water classic and I went down and checked it out just about every day. I couldn't really very much because everybody was standing up in front of me but it was so beautiful out in every once and while I caught a glimpse of one of the surfers riding a wave, I don't know how they do it.
My uncle and aunt started coming over and plain Cribbage every night before we go to bed, there's nothing like winning a few dollars before you go to sleep to give you some sweet dreams.
Ever since Teresa has started I feel like I got so much done. We only have about three more shelves in the garage and then we can start on organizing everything in my room, there really is a lot of storage but there's also a lot of stuff that just got put away without going through. I'm so glad that I found Teresa.
Of course Heather has the making some incredible dishes. Yesterday she made one that I can tell is going to be one of my favorites, bulgur wheat on the bottom, sauteed spinach, eggplant, squash topped with goat cheese and ricotta cheese. She also made some beans and sausages, a big salad and a couple of wraps.
Next Monday they're going to start building my new fences. It took a long time to contact the property owners around me but they all agreed to go in half so it's going to be so nice to have all new fences. The one at the back of the House is so old all that is holding it up is the trees behind it. The fence that runs down the driveway is the only one we don't have to replace, we are just putting a trellis at the top to guide my morning glories.
Yesterday I cruised down to Ross and Cost Plus and on the way back I stopped at a stationary store and got a couple of photograph cards of the boardwalk and the lighthouse so we could make Christmas cards.
Today is Halloween and after Teresa gets off work we are going to go downtown and down to the wharf, everyone says that it is an unbelievable sight that we will never forget.
On Sunday Teresa is taking me to San Francisco for my personal interview for my new service dog. They usually have the interviews at their campus in Santa Rosa but they come to San Francisco a couple of weekends to make it more convenient for the people that live so far away... like me. Hopefully it is going to be nice so we can make a day out of it and go to the zoo, I have lived here all my life and never been to San Francisco Zoo.

ParaCruz...

The last couple of days Brodie has been limping on her right front leg, it must hurt pretty bad, so we haven't really gone on in the long cruises. Today I have an appointment to sign up with ParaCruz, it is a door to door driving service for people with disabilities. Unfortunately I wrote down the wrong address and we ended up about 4 miles out of the way. The ParaCruz office is at the bus depot, about four blocks away. I finally made it to my appointment so it's nice to have that in order if I ever do need it.
The time I got home it was so hot here there really wasn't much I could do outdoors so I earned a couple of badges on Pogo and watched TiVo.
Heather came over and made a couple of my favorite dishes, mustard chicken, roasted potatoes and a salad, she also made a salami and cheese wrap for tomorrow. She is really busy this weekend with a bunch of benefits and she has been having to walk everywhere she goes.

UCSC and Costco...

Yesterday Brodie and I cruised through the lagoon, through the park, through the dog park and up to the lighthouse. O'Neill surf shop was setting up a big tent and a stage by Patrick and Sky's memorial plaque. Right down from the lighthouse, their favorite place to surf, there is a memorial plaque for my cousin Patrick and his friends Sky who passed away in 2000, Patrick was unknown cause and sky had cancer. Around the sign was filled with fresh flowers, I wanted to get a better look but there was a bunch of guys standing in front of it so I will try to see it again today. There is also a memorial bench for Patrick on the wharf, the first set of memorial benches on the right by the lifeguard headquarters. EVERYBODY knew him and loved him. I found out later that they are setting up for the O'Neill cold water classic, it is supposed to go on all week.
Teresa came by this morning to draw blood for my blood test and we didn't think she was going to have any luck but she finally did, she only got one vial and we are hoping that is going to be enough. It is so nice to have a doctor who will do house calls when we think it would be more convenient.
Today was a spa day for all of us. My mom and my aunt to Brodie and Tue Tue to the groomers at my mom and I went to Claudia's shop. It is always so nice to go there because it is always full of people and it's nice to get to know them. Claudia was really busy today but she is always so calm and never rushes so I don't really think anybody notices if they have to wait very long.
My uncle said that he would take me to Costco, I don't know which one of us love's Costco more. I was telling him about the flowers on Patrick and Sky's memorial area so he said he would take me to see where Skyler lived, he said that his mother grew a garden in the entire front lawn and that she takes flowers every week to their memorial spot. Unfortunately all of the roads were blocked off so we drove up to the UCSC campus and show me where defines all of his really good bargains. They have a store up there where everybody takes all of the used equipment and furniture from the college, schools and theaters and they sell everything very inexpensive. We found a bunch of stackable chairs for $2.50 apiece, these were metal and hard plastic... such a great deal. I bought eight and my uncle bought 10, we are going to have a bunch of people here for Thanksgiving and they will sure come in handy even if my aunt and my mom don't think so... they just roll their eyes and say "we are not going to let you two go anywhere else by yourself", they will be thanking us when Thanksgiving comes.
http://www.coldwaterclassic.net/

Awesome Halloween party...

Thursday was a pretty typical day, I haven't really been feeling the greatest so I decided to stay in bed and rest since everybody around me seems to be sick and I don't want it.
On Thursday morning I got an e-mail from Stanley asking if we would like to have company for the weekend, him, David, Zach and Corinne were going to come here and say the night, of course we always want company. Heather came over and made some asparagus ravioli with sausage, man was that killer.
On Friday my aunt took me to get some of the last minute things that I needed for my Halloween costume. We found some really long red eyelashes and some thick poster board for Brodie's costume and the think you sign for Woodworm party store. We also found Styrofoam balls to use as egg sacks for my spiders on the porch. We found everything, I love when that happens. Stanley and the gang got here on Friday night and we watched TV for a little bit and then went to bed.
On Saturday my mom and I had an appointment with Claudia to get and manicure/pedicure and although it is only a few blocks away there was no way we were going to get there. I think every high school marching band in California was in Santa Cruz that day, apparently they were having some sort of compensation and we are right across the street from the high school so every road was blocked off. Stanley took the boys, Corinne and a little neighbor girl Corinne is friends with to the boardwalk. Teresa came in at 1:00 p.m. to help me get into my costume so I wouldn't have to wear it all day, I will probably where it all day on Halloween. It was so cool because everybody was helping me. Autumn came over to do my makeup and I think she really did a great job. Before the party Theresa took me and the two boys over to the Woodworm shop because they wanted to take a picture of me and Brodie in our costumes so I got to meet the daughter of the owner of the store, she is such a sweet lady and working world she is eight months pregnant, it was starting to get cold so Teresa took me to her house and let me borrow a cape and a scarf and that sure did help a lot. Autumn and Alex's place was decorate so cool and the food was awesome, of course Heather helped, and the DJ played great music. I got to meet a lot of their friends and saw some really cool costumes and when it started to get too cold by brother and I left, the rest of the family had already bailed except for my uncle who was sitting on the porch talking with the security guard, my uncle just loves and gets along with EVERYBODY. My uncle made a huge batch of spaghetti and brought some over to the security guard and made a new friend.

A long overdue outing...

Yesterday I had my first doctor's appointment with my new primary care doctor, she is really great. She is brand new and doesn't have a lot of patients yet and I like that. My aunt found her for my mom and they were so impressed with her but they couldn't wait to introduce me to her. Her nurse, Teresa, is my new part-time caregiver. I had an appointment there yesterday for a Pap smear and a Depo shot and I was trying to tell Teresa out hard it was going to be to try to do a pap smear in my chair and she was going to ask the doctor to come here to do it but I didn't get a phone call so I went up there in my chair, I made sure to wear a skirt so it would be easier. Since I have one last year and they have always come up clean she said that I only need one every two or three years so I decided to wait until next year. A usually do all those yearly tests around my birthday, not a really good birthday present but at least I remember to do it. Dr. Owen said that she would be glad to make a house visit any time I needed it, how cool is that? Teresa gave me the shots, Depo, Flu, Pneumonia and Tetanus so I won't have to worry about those for a while and when she comes on Thursday she's going to draw blood to test my cholesterol, she couldn't believe I have never had my cholesterol checked.
After the doctor's appointment my mom and I went grocery shopping. All of the grocery stores around here are so small all I can do is try to find a place where I'm not in everybody's way, people shopping after work really have no patience left but they really try to be polite.
Today Brodie and I went on a extra long walk, the last three days because of cleaning out the garage and the doctor's appointments I haven't been able to take her for a walk and she is really getting crazy... acting more crazy than usual. We cruise the wharf AND down to the lighthouse. It was a beautiful day and everybody must have been at work so it felt like we have the whole ocean to ourselves.

No more silver fillings...

Teresa came back over on Sunday morning to get me up and do some more clearing out of the garage. It was looking so good and I was so excited to get going on it, the weirdest things get me excited. We got most of it cleaned out and the two trips to the Gray Bears, the Gray Bears are an organization here in Santa Cruz that help senior citizen with just about everything. A lot of the stuff that I wanted to keep came into the house so it kind of feels like it did when I first moved in but the garage and looks great and my cousin is going to be able to put up the remaining shelves without having to maneuver around everything. There is a lot of stuff on the left side of the garage but now that I have Teresa to help me I'm excited to get it all sorted and put away, I think a lot of it is medical supplies.
On Sunday afternoon Heather came by with a Chinese chicken salad and a Turkey wrap. Sunday evening we went across the street to my uncles to play cribbage, my mom and I kicked butt. My uncle made some chicken and potato soup and my aunt made her famous wedge salad, both were delicious.
Monday morning my uncle came over to see if I wanted to go to Noah's bagels to get a bagel, of course I did. We were only going to bring back about six but I think we ended up bringing back about 10, by the time we finished naming off the kind of bagels we wanted we were way past six. In the afternoon I had a dentist appointment. I had three silver fillings so they took those out and put in white ones, to me it looks a lot nicer and the silver ones were done a long time ago. I decided to leave Brodie at my uncles because my dentist appointment was about a half-hour trip in my chair, she's really getting old and it is harder for her to keep up. I'm not sure what she did but she broke into the house that my aunt and uncle are redoing so they brought her back here. Heather came by with prawns to set me up for a couple of days. She cooked the prawns with zucchini, tomatoes, onions, cilanto and tequila, it was SO good. She also made some rice and of course some spinach. She also made me some more of her musterd chicken, red roasted potatoes, some baby broccoli with garlic and a chicken and avocado wrap and a salad. It is always a great adventure when Heather comes over.
Both of my automatic doors started acting up at the same time. I got them from the same place that I got them when I lived in San Jose, a place called Open Sesame. I have a garage door like button that I keep in my chair and by my bed and I can also open it through my computer program using x10. The front door won't open or close all the way and the one in my room makes a noise and jumps but won't open, it is very frustrating because that is the way I let my morning caregivers in. When I e-mailed him to come and fix it I was so frustrated and in the subject line I put "won't Open Sesame", probably not very nice but he is coming out this morning to fix it.

Cleaning out the garage...

Friday Heather brought over some chicken that she cooked with mustard for Saturday and guess what... I ate it, it smelled so good I could not wait. We were supposed to go out to eat and then play cribbage at my uncle's house and as it ended up it was a good thing that I ate because nobody was hungry so we just played cribbage until about 8 p.m. and it had a sandwich, this probably sounds weird but my uncle got me hooked on liver worst sandwiches. Teresa got off work and came over to put me to bed about 8:30 p.m. and she said that she would help clean out the garage.
We decided Saturday, today, to go through the remaining stuff in the garage and either decide to keep it or take it to the Gray Bears. I had a three-bedroom house and my mom had a two-bedroom and when we moved over here we had to try really hard to downsize everything into two 2-bedroom houses, not easy for a couple of pack rats like us and even though we did get rid of a lot of stuff we still had a garage full. When we started it looked really hopeless but now it looks great, but really got rid of a lot more stuff and even though I don't know what I'm going to do with two huge boxes of clothes that are sitting in my bathroom we did really well. My cousin Rich is going to come back on Tuesday to start building shelves in the garage and he is going to be so surprised how clean it looks, when he left on Thursday he was pretty frustrated thinking that I was going to have to work around all the junk... well joke to everyone else.
This morning I had one of Heather's killer wraps and some awesome chicken soup that she made and for dinner she made me as shrimp Luis salad, man was it delicious. Teresa is coming back over after work to put me to bed, she is going to work out so great.

Queen for a day...

Today was such a cool day. I met my new urologist who is actually a doctor and very knowledgeable. I was a little nervous but it turns out that he not only has several patients who are in chairs but gave me several pamphlets on people in chairs who got together and opened up by company and they also give advice. I seem to always have a problem with my SP tube or the tape making blisters on my tummy so my new caregiver brought me some tubular gauze and it seems to be working great so I told the doctor about it and he said that he is going to forward the information to a couple of his patients that have the same problem.
After we left the urologist we went to Woodworm party store. Since I'm in a chair I decided to be a queen for Halloween and convert my chair into a throne. My aunt went by the party store to see if they had a queen costume and they said that they didn't but they took my number. A couple days later a lady called and said that they had ordered a costume for me and that it was in and that the owners would like to give it to me, no charge. When I got there and saw it I just couldn't believe it, it was so beautiful... I couldn't help but get a little teary eyed. That was such a sweet thing to do. The only thing that they asked is that I give them a picture of me in the costume.
My cousin Rich is starting to build shelves in the garage. I feel bad for him because it is still kind of cluttered but I'm really going to try to go through some of the stuff this weekend so he has room to work. He is even going to make me a little workbench that I can put my toolbox under, I love my tools.
My uncle and aunt invited us over for lunch and of course it was a great and then Brodie and I took a trip to the lighthouse, to me it still is breathtaking.

Halloween

Today was the day of my wheelchair evaluation, I have been waiting for this for a long time. I actually got my new chair about eight months ago but have only been in it about six times. Every time I turned it on it starts beeping constantly and then shuts off and when I called Rehab Specialist they tell me it needs to be charged, make sure the charger is plugged into the wall and of course make sure the charger is plugged into the chair... I have been injured or 13 years now and I think I know how to charge of chair. It wasn't until my nephew ran it into a parked car and I had to take it in to get fixed but they finally saw for themselves. While the guy was moving it around the shop it started beeping and shut off several times so he called the manufacturer and they told him how to fix it so he fixed it. When my mom went to pick it up the guy was driving it out of the van and it started beeping and shut off so they decided to keep it and found out that the driving mechanism was faulty so they ordered a new part... why does nobody listened to me?
I saw my new rehab doctor yesterday and she said she would be at the wheelchair evaluation, she wasn't there. We were told that a representative from Rehab Specialist would be there, he wasn't there. Luckily the OT showed up so we got to do the pressure mapping and she recommended a Roho cushion and wrote down everything else we wanted to change and we will go back and a couple of weeks when she can get somebody out there from Rehab Specialist.
After my appointment on the way out of the hospital we just happen to run into Roger. Dr. Jet told me about Roger the day before, he has the support group. He said that he had a support group that was really going strong but that he really hasn't had time to keep it going strong so it kind of fizzled out but he said he really wants to get one going again, I told him I would be glad to do anything I could to help and he was really excited. He's going to call a bunch of peers to get together and decide how to go from there.
Teresa came over tonight and got my Halloween decorations out of the garage and we sorted them and she's going to come back on Saturday so we can decorate, I LOVE Halloween.

My new rehab doctor...

Today was a very productive day. I had an appointment with my new rehab doctor and she recommended a urologist. I also found a primary care doctor, my new primary care doctors nurse is my new part-time caregiver, and I have a wheelchair in evaluation for my new chair tomorrow. They are going to write me a prescription for a new bed frame, the one I have right now is not compatible with my rotating air mattress. During my appointment with Dr. Jet I mentioned that I used to go to a support group at Valley Medical Center and that I really miss it. She told me that they do have a support group at Dominican and she gave me the number of the guy that runs it. She said that there's not a lot of females but that was a good group, I always seem to get along better with males anyway, I'm really excited about the fact that I might be going to support groups again.
Somebody told me that they had computer classes at the Senior Center so I want to find out more about that. My aunt happened to be going by so she stopped to talk to them and found out that the computer courses were only for seniors but they were looking for volunteers to teach them how to get on the Internet and maneuver their way around, I think I would like to do that so I am going to go down and see when they need volunteers.
Heather came by today with some kind of fish called Cobia that she's that you cannot buy and it sure tasted good, I looked it up and said that Cobia mostly feed on crab so you know if it has good taste it must taste good. She also brought some prawns and made some rice and some mixed sautéed vegetables, I can not brag about this woman enough. She made me another veggie wrap and she said she will be by tomorrow.

My new Journal

A friend of mine told me about this site. They close down the AOL journals but I still have been able to write in it for a couple of days, I'm waiting for them to throw me completely off-line. Meat while I was playing on Pogo and I heard that familiar sound that you hear when somebody at the comment to your journal, I was so excited when I heard it. I didn't realize how much I began to care about these people that make a comment on my journal and how much I look forward to reading their comments every day.

I'm kind of Leary of getting into another journal and then having my heart broken again when they take it off line but I'm going to give it a try. Thank you Betty.