Ahhhh

I have really been enjoying my weekly massages. I consider them to be my best medicine these days. My long-time pain management doctor told me years ago that in all her years of practice she'd never met anyone who had "tighter" muscles than I did. The impact of what she was saying never really set in. I knew I was in a constant state of tense and pressing a spot was often hard instead of pliable.

When my neck started stiffening beyond my control my troubles got worse. These days I can actually feel the piano-wire-like pull from my neck column down through my shoulder. Occasionally I get my old sling out from a past surgery, to aid in taking the pressure off.  In late February the good doctor set me up for injections; they didn't work and no relief was found. After that disappointment I went to the Reed Manning Salon to cash in my Christmas present.

See, Hubster gave me a massage for Christmas. Ahhh...Ooh...it hurt a lot, but it a good way. It took 3 days for me to get over it because of all the muscles that needed help. I later found out that you can get a package price for getting massages more often. Of Course, I want them more often!! They are my only hope now for any kind of relief!

My gal, Chris understands my difficulty. She understands how it's all connected under the skin. You push on this to release that, you pull on this to make the other work better. It's a slow process, but I think it's working. I continue my exercises at home from my many therapies for back, neck, shoulders and whatever else has been neglected for so long. It's all working. If it doesn't, then I'm to the point of wanting surgery, because I can't live this way.

But you know what? Even if it didn't work I'd still get the massages. That relaxing moment in time, in the dim light with the most lovely classical music in the background, is priceless. It's my time to forget everything and just BE ME. I definitely think that alone makes it good medicine!

I Can See

The other day I was out on the deck when I spied something moving across the ditch in the corn field behind the shop. What on earth?

We decided this might be an Eastern Painted Turtle. This was no little turtle either. It was about a foot long and almost as wide! No wonder I could see it from that far without my glasses on! Danny took the camera over the big ditch to take some close-ups for me. You can see how big the corn is around him...maybe 3-4 inches. We thought maybe it was our long-lost "George" coming back home. But he only stopped by for a minute or two. He was heading to the woods or maybe he'll start living in our new big ditches they recently dug out.

Ok, now for my Spring floral updates:

This last picture is showing the Wren's nest to the left of the base of the pole. This is all in the large flower pot to the right of the greenhouse door (see puzzle) that has the purple Clematis and the wooden parrot in it.

Church Yard Sale

We had a great time last Saturday participating in the Relay for Life Yard Sale at church. The morning rush was a little bit discombobulated at first, but that’s to be expected with everyone rushing around. But after we figured out what the plan was it all fell into place. Vendors staked out their little spot of real estate and we waited for the onslaught of customers.
The morning was brisk and being at such a great location we had lots of people who stopped by who hadn’t actually planned on doing any yard sale hunting, although the many motorcycles enjoying the beautiful day simply passed us by with hardly a glance.
We didn’t sell everything…didn’t expect to. But we went home with less than we came with. As we packed up the leftovers we sorted things into Keep or Go boxes. I believe tomorrow may see a nice little donation to our local CHKD thrift store.
Several things that sold I was woohoo-ing over were the skeet thrower (very hard to store such an awkward item) and his grandma’s old tables. Yes, they’re gone!!!
Click to enlarge the photos.

  

  

The only thing missing from this event was more vendors. I think everyone made a little money at the sale and we all enjoyed the sunshine and time chatting with each other.
Now, let’s start planning for the fall sale!

Day Late

I just a day late or two. It's been busy lately. But first I must share the wonderful news that Daddy got yesterday. His Prostate cancer numbers have dropped from over 160 to less than 6! It's so incredibly good, we are all beside ourselves with joy! He is still very tired and having a little shortness of breath, but he seems to have a 'new lease on life' now and is still the chipper guy we all know and love. He phoned me this morning, thrilled and so upbeat...makes me happy just thinking of how he sounded...He was definitely 'wound up' as we say around here.

Dan & early customer Rob

Now let me back-track a moment and tell you that we finally had our long awaited yard sale last weekend. It was my first two day event, having always gotten my fill of personal selling in one day before this. It was very tiring for me, going up and down the stairs so many, many times. My hips were screaming at me by the end of each day. I consoled myself with the thought of the bulging dab of money in Danny's secure pocket as we went about our cleaning, shuffling, and explaining about our wonderful "products" to anyone who asked.

We did pretty good and I'm hoping to get a visit to Olive Garden soon in celebration. But first - say it ain't so - he wants to gather up our remaining stock and try our hand at the upcoming yard sale down at the church this Saturday. Oh my! At least there aren't steps involved! I hope our goodies will all fit in the SUV. It should be fun and I'm blessed to have a guy that gets into doing these kinds of things. I'll let you know how it goes later. Just pray for an empty vehicle for on the way back home.

I think I mentioned earlier that I went to Reed Manning Salon to collect my Christmas present from Danny of a massage with mani/pedi. At the last visit they had a leak in their water dept and I was offered the choice of returning for another massage or the mani/pedi. I took another massage. Well, today I got that 2nd massage. I told my gal, Christine that she was one of my last hopes to find the problem with my shoulder and that pinched nerve that drives me crazy. You know, I think after this 2nd massage we're making progress. So much so, that I have two more appointments to see if we can finish working all these knots and tension spots away. I know from my doc that when muscles tighten up they can 'pull' things out of whack. I already feel better.

And after another yard sale this coming weekend I may need another massage anyway! I think Danny is starting to seriously think about getting a massage too. It wouldn't hurt him any either, with him pulling his back from doing too much too often!