From Dec. 2023 to Jan. 2024
Oh yes, I know, I am a tad over
a month late with this post but,
hey, I am retired, I can do things on
my own schedule!
Plus, the thought for this
post just hit me.
haha
Funny how that works.
Adventures since moving
in Dec. 2023~
First off, before the actual
move, I was in recovery from
three surgeries (in ten days).
Nothing major mind you, but
anytime the body is put to
sleep (a term when putting
an animal down, by the way),
it takes a hit. So, three hits
in ten days.
If you remember, I was
sick leaving the hospital
with COVID, UTI, and
just fighting to feel real
again.
Less than a month after
the last surgery, I bought a
house 
(what was I thinking, oh yeah,
(what was I thinking, oh yeah,
I prob was not thinking). With that done
I needed to work on getting
my childhood home
in selling
condition, keeping in mind, I
was sick since Jan. 2023 with
those stones and the pain that
go around was horrible. Sorry,
to say, I had cleaning and
organizing to do.
Plus, the den and bathroom
was being redone from the
sewer back up that happened.
Packing, crap, how did I
get so much stuff.
Before the actual move
day, I moved things to a
storage unit near the new
house.
Finally, the day came, I
moved. That was the day that
I found my large hand painted porch
Welcome sign had been taken
off my porch.
YIIKES!
Then came
the unpacking and putting
away. Still running on a
UTI that would not clear up.
The day after the move, I
was at the docs.
Then, remember when
putting things away, I dropped
a drawer on my big toe.
Not just a normal drop flat
down, the front of the drawer
hit first. Wrapped that baby up
and kept going for a few days but
it was not looking any better.
This was all taken place with
no internet, no TV and very
spotty phone reception.
Course, it took the toe
a bit to heal
since I waited and it got
infected.
Christmas came and I woke
that morning to go to
Ambers, only to find
my mailbox had been knocked down.
Probably someone who partied
too much on Christmas Eve.
That got me putting up
a new one, only back
away from the street and
making a small pull off for the
mail carrier.
The wooden pole sticking
up became my new mailbox.
I have had to rework the
pull off a couple of times
and still need to work on it.
My first idea just did not
work out.
Spring brought the seasonal
crap, twice. Putting me down
for a week each time. Guessing
that living in a new area, there
might be some stuff out here I
have not lived around before.
Oh, and did I mention that
this whole time, I was
still dealing with a UTI and
several bouts of meds.
From that point I went
two to three times a week
to the chiro for my neck and
headaches, thanks to the affects
of living with damage
from whiplash.
I tried working in the yard,
I NEED FLOWERS.
I did get a bed made
in front of one side
of my porch. Taming the
weeds here is totally
unreal. The weeds, grew
around the ground coverings
I put down and popped up
between that covering and
the porch. Making it really hard
to cut down, even with the weed
eater. Keep in mind, I am trying
to tame what once was woods.
However, I did manage to do
an above ground bed that
did really well.
With that, I found that digging
here is a joke. Under that top
layer of dirt, is ROCK. I had
to get augers to attach to the
drill to dig a hole. I put up
ten evergreens to separate
the road and the house,
they all died.
A fence will be needed
there, but I really need
to address the area between
the road and those trees that
were there. It is a ditch
to nowhere. I think dirt and
a ground cover is what is
needed.
late spring, I found a
nest of chiggers.
OUCH!
My legs were a mess
which required me wearing
long pants all summer.
It took months to heal those
legs, my back and a couple
bites on my neck.
Thank goodness this was
not a repeat of 2008 when
around my ankle alone, there
were more than a hundred
bites.
Just as I was about healed
from the chiggers, I had
to deal with this knot.
Mind you, this was taken
after I iced it for
an hour.
This took place while
I tried to step up in my
shed, slipping and hitting
my shin on the edge of
the shed. I still have a
slight raised area on my
shin from this.
I am an accident just
waiting to happen!!
Failed to mention that in
June, my dryer went out.
It is 18 yrs old, and I could
prob have someone come look
at it but just a few yrs back,
I put over 200 bucks into it.
I have not replaced it yet.
I do small loads through the
week and I hang in the house
to dry. Before it got cold,
I hung on the deck.
Was waiting for SS money to
kick in, time to buy a new one.
But, if that was not enough,
my new microwave blew a
magnetron. Yep, I thought of
Transformers when I heard that.
Micro was about a yr old,
and like I told Amber, it could
have just been a bad part.
Under warranty, been fixed and
working fine now.
Somewhere between then
and now, can't remember
exactly when I had visitors
to the house!
ANTS!!
Had to finally have the outside
around the house sprayed.
I had several large ant hills
through the yard. I think they
are fire ants. You can see the
the ant hills sticking high off
the ground.
TERRO.
I bought to bags of this
It works, so as spring
pops out around me this
yr. I will sprinkle this all
around the outside of the house.
And repeat upon need.
Sometime around the time
I was dealing with ants,
I managed a fall outside.
I was coming in from the
store, bags in hand,
stepped up my TWO,
yes, only two steps, and
I fell back.
I deal with hip bursitis in
my right hip, some
days I have to avoid stepping
with my right side first,
esp stepping up steps.
I fell back, twisted on
purpose to avoid hitting
flat on the sidewalk.
I hit the yard. Amber
asked me later was I
okay and my reply,
"I only hit hard with my
head, so I am fine. Matter
of fact, I have a dip in
that spot now".....
Are you remembering what
I said I was dealing with?
UTI, all this time.
I had one right after the
other one, from
Sept. 23 to Oct. 24.
With that said, I had
the stone blasting surgery
in Aug. Course with the
UTIs it was found that I had
stones in my left kidney. Only
seven months from the last
surgery to remove them. Prob
there, they were not small.
With the surgery to remove
those, I found out that my
kidney itself is all "jacked up",
my docs words. I requested the
notes from my file by the
surgeries I had just seven months
before. That is something that I
will be looking into.
Wow, if that was not a challenging
year to begin with, I worked
on my financial stuff, moving
401k from the state of TN
group to a different one.
Signing up for SS and
Medicare, plus signing
up for the insurance that moves
me from a state employee,
to a different one, giving
me two insurances.
Getting all that done was
stressful in a way but
only cause I allowed it to be.
I have a financial advisor that
is amazing!
With all that, the year was
an adjustment because it was
a big move for me. I left my
childhood home where I planned
on remaining till they removed
my body. Adjustments with
lack of convenience of stores.
Wally World is not just out of
the neighborhood anymore.
I can get to two different ones
with a 30 min drive, either one,
same amount of time. We have one
grocery store, a Value Food, but if
you think groceries are high now
as it is, don't shop at Value Food.
I learned the term, Food Desert.
A Food Desert is an area where
food (st0res) are not available within
that area. Yep, that is the county
I am in. The biggest part of the
move was not just an hour and
15 mins down the road, through
Nashville and keep going. haha
Biggest was leaving the area
where I knew who or where to go for
this, that or the other like
repairs on car, pest control,
etc. And leaving my friends.
Friends have always been
a major part of my life, they
have been there, stood
with me, supported me,
and let me lean on them,
they are the family I
was able to choose.
The pluses to the move,
closer to my grands, my
great grands and my daughter.
I have been able to be a bigger
part of their lives. Which by the
way, I am to have another
great grand this yr.
My property taxes went down
almost 700 bucks a year. Plus,
I can lock that in this year
so that they never go up
again, there are some
advantages of being 65.
I know this was a long post,
so sorry. But, it is what it is.
Pam
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