Thankful Mom of Five, Adoptive Mom of Two Ukrainian Beauties and Bereaved Mom

         Today I am thankful that my new family room  couches were delivered!! I just love them!  They are beige with beige, brown, and white throw pillows!! We put our family room couches in the basement and we are donating our basement couches to Habitat for Humanity.  They are picking up the couches on Wed this week.  It was hard to maneuver a schedule to get the couches moved to each new location!! The people I hired to do the yard work moved the couches to the basement so the family room was free when they called about delivering the couches.  The furniture store had told me that the couches were on back order.  First we had been told they would be available in a few days.  Since the couches didn't come in when promised they didn't charge me the delivery fee! Our old couches had a chaise on one of them.  I didn't get a chaise this time because the room looks bigger without it! I never buy super expensive family room furniture because my family is not that neat and they

         Today I am thankful for the happy memory that Dan reminded me of.  He is away camping by himself.  His brother Larry was supposed to go with him but Larry got sick and couldn't go. In the summer they were supposed to go together but Dan got sick!! So Dan decided to go alone. He is not far from Olya's college campus so yesterday he picked her up and they went train watching and out to a Chinese buffet for dinner!!Dan has a scanner and Olya loves using the scanner for trains.  I think Olya likes to go train watching!! When Dan called me this morning, he told me that he doesn't need an alarm clock because there are chickens somewhere close by the campground that wake him up early every morning. When I was a kid, 5 and 10 cent stores like Grants and Woolworths use to sell baby ducks and chickens near Easter. I don't think any of those stores exist today! The baby chicks and ducklings were dyed pink, green, purple, orange, blue, and yellow.  They all looked so cute

         Today I am so thankful that my insurance approved a second shot for my sciatica pain. I will get the shot on Monday morning.  I keep hoping that something will do the trick of relieving some or all of my pain! I also have been seeing a Rothman doc about my torn rotator cuff on my left shoulder. I am falling apart at the seams!!  This getting old stuff is not for the tender-hearted!!  Yesterday I went to him to get the calcium removed.  He decided not to do it and ordered an MRI instead.  He thinks I need surgery.  He said he is afraid to further damage my tendon by removing the calcium. I am having the MRI next week. My whole left side is useless right now!! I am not suicidal but I truly understand how some people would chose to leave this planet to get rid of chronic pain!!          Last night I went to the library book club.  I go every now and then.  I have been sitting home a lot so I have more time to read lately. I like the library book club because there is no commi

         Today I am thankful that I saw my pain management doctor.  She is really nice.  My second epidural shot was denied by my insurance company so she is going to submit for a different type shot.  I forget what she called the shot but I am willing to try anything. I have gone to PT, seen a physiotherapist, got a shot of cortisone, and got an epidural block shot and no relief yet!! I spoke to the doc about medical marijuana!  Some groups I belong to online have said that it helps.  I hope it comes in capsule form and I don't have to smoke it. Her partner,  who gave me the epidural shot, has a license for dispensing medical marijuana.  My next appointment is with him  My doc told me it is very expensive but what is the price to be pain free? I am willing to pay whatever it costs.  I hope the shot gets approved by my insurance company and works and I get to be pain free or have less pain!          I am also thankful that Olya is doing so well in college.  It is difficult

         Today I am thankful that I threw away two more bags of crapola!! I am continuing to purge.  My friend Kim,  from the bereaved parent group,  said they are moving in two years and starting to clean out their house!  That is exactly what I am doing! How do we gather so much crap over the years?? And what do you do with it all? My friend Amy B, who I had lunch with in her new townhouse yesterday, told me that it was a HUGE undertaking to clean out their house! She filled boxes with stuff for her kids and just handed them the box to go through.  Olivia and Olya still live with me so I can't really do that right now! Amy B.  said it was just amazing, on the last day of ownership, to see their house so empty!!! I have been filling hefty trash bags for Goodwill and filling trash bags of trash!! I had an entire bag of packing peanuts and packing bubble wrap.  I threw it away. I don't think Goodwill would want that stuff but who knows?  Dan and I had two apartments, then thr

          Today I am so thankful that I was invited to lunch at my friend Amy's new house!! The tuna salad lunch was delicious(always about the food).  Amy is the friend that everyone wishes they had as a friend.  Amy exudes kindness and goodness. She is the nicest person ever!!She is the most positive, upbeat person I have had the pleasure to know!  Her kids went to school with my three older kids, her kids were all in band, orchestra and choir with my kids! Amy's oldest son is a neurosurgeon, her daughter is a head Rabbi in a city synagogue and her youngest son works with the Philadelphia orchestra.  She has three amazing and musically talented adult kids!! Amy came to so many days of my Amy's civil trial and I will never forget that she did that. It meant so much to Dan and I.  My friend Nancy,  who reminds me of my friend  Amy, also came to Amy's civil trial  They are so much alike.  They are both nurses, Amy is now  newly retired but was a hospice nurse for many

          Today I am thankful that I went to lunch (always about the food)with my three long time best friends Jackie, Carol, and Nancy.  We went out to celebrate Carol's birthday yesterday!! We have so much fun at our birthday lunches!! If only we could run the world, how well it would be run!! We decided that we will meet more than the four times for birthdays, it just isn't enough!! If we had another hour or so, we might have been able to solve world peace!  Jackie is so funny!  She was babysitting her grandchildren last week because her son and his wife are both teachers in the same district and had back to school night! Jackie ordered take out pizza for dinner.  Her 3 year old granddaughter Ella wanted ketchup on her pizza.  Jackie said that if her own daughter had asked for ketchup for her pizza when she was growing up, Jackie would have said, "absolutely not." But since it was her granddaughter Ella, Jackie said "sure" and poured it on and asked if

          Today I am thankful that Dan and I got to spend the day with our youngest daughter, Olya.  On the way to Olya's university, we stopped at an Amish roadside food stand to get corn on the cob and some fruit. Dan got a dozen ears so we could give some to Olya! We got to her college apartment about 12:30. First we went to eat at her favorite diner.(always about the food) Olya's favorite foods are breakfast foods so a diner is perfect for her.  Then we went to CVS to get nasal spray for her. Of course she had to wait until we got there to get her nasal spray even though her allergies have been bothering her for days. After that, we went to Goodwill  and Olya got a brand new rain jacket that looked so good on her! I got a package of Christmas paper gift bags for the pizzelle project with Priscilla!  My sciatica is back in full bloom so I couldn't walk around all that much! I only had a tiny bit of relief for two days and then it came back with a vengeance!  My insura

         Today I am thankful that we are going to visit Olya at college today.  We will take a leisurely drive through the farmlands to get there. Olya is doing really well in school. She is struggling a bit with environmental science.  It is a very difficult course! She has As and Bs in all of her other courses. Olya says she is much happier living in an apartment than in a dorm. Yesterday when she was walking back to her apartment, a girl drove up on the sidewalk and into a fence and ran over a medium sized tree!  Apparently she put on the gas instead of the  brake!  Olya ran over to help her and helped her get out of the car.  She was fine but she ran over a tree which was lodged in the bottom of her car. Olya said the roots of the tree were sticking out of the back of the car. I am so glad that no one got hurt, things can be replaced, people can't be replaced and good health can't be replaced.       Yesterday Olivia dyed my roots.  She is so good at cosmetology, she really

          Today I am thankful that Dan and I finished making all of our travel reservations for our  upcoming Houston trip!   It takes forever to make train, hotel, and car reservations! It is a job that has to get done and is time consuming!  After I made hotel reservations, Dan reminded me of our discount so he called back and we got 10% off of our hotel reservations!  Every little bit helps when you are going on a trip for a vacation! We are going to Disney in the Spring.  I really am "Disneyed" out after going so many times,  but the girls really want to go one more time. Having five kids makes Disney a place I have been to enough.  Our three older kids were in high school band and we went every time the band played in Disney.  It is quite  a smart marketing strategy to have high school bands perform there because many of the families then go on a vacation to Disney!  It is exciting to see your kid walk down Main Street with their band. We have gone to Disneyland and Disn

        Today I am thankful for having Olivia do my nails at her cosmetology school! There is a salon in the school and all the services are provided by the students.  I got a manicure. The prices are very low, $6 for a manicure but they didn't charge me since Olivia is my daughter.  I gave her a twenty dollar tip.  She did a really nice job.  I enjoyed seeing her at her school working in the salon! The lovely black and blue mark on my right hand  is from my IV for anesthesia when I got an epidural block shot in my back on Monday. It sort of takes away from the look of my manicure!  Olivia looks so cute in her work smock! Olivia was all business doing my manicure!  I got the full treatment!     It really is a small world!  There are a lot of feral cats near Olivia's school.  One of the teachers feeds the cats daily and she bought them a small shelter for when it is raining so that they and the cat food stay dry.  My bereaved mom friend Kathy lives right near Olivia'

              Today I am THANKFUL that a small amount of my sciatica PAIN is gone or is less than it was!  This is the first time since April that I do not have excruciating pain non-stop!! I can feel the pain brewing and bubbling beneath the surface but not all of it is the same as before.  My piriformis muscle still is very painful and the outside bottom half of my leg is still red-hot and throbbing.  But I do have some improvement.  And any relief, no matter how small, is something to be thankful for. I am still in pain  but it is better, maybe by about 20% and that is definitely something to be thankful for!! Yesterday afternoon I would have said it was about 30% better even into the evening but this morning it seems to have gotten a bit worse than yesterday! That epidural shot worked somewhat.  Maybe the next shot in 2 weeks will take away more of the pain.  I was able to mop half of my kitchen floor and I have had to use the automatic Brava Wet Jet mop for the last  few mon

          Today I am thankful for happy memories.  The other night when Olivia, Frankie, Olya, and Matt were playing board games, they decided to play TWISTER! Olivia, at age 9, got that game as a gift from my friend Nancy the first night she was in the U.S.  Nancy came over with the game and we all played! Olivia still remembers that night quite clearly!  She sat on my bed and recounted the first night she had ever played Twister and that Nancy, her friend(really my friend) gave her the game!We played that game all of the time!! I think Olivia learned the words for colors and body parts from playing that game! I remember my niece Erica playing the game with Olivia too!  Olivia was obsessed with high heels when she first came to America.  Almost ALL of the women in Ukraine wear high heels! Erica usually had on high heels after work. But she would kick them off and play Twister!  Erica wanted to take Olivia out to buy her a gift when we first adopted her.  Erica told her that she was

        Today I am thankful for my gardens looking so great and so weed-free!  I have not been able to  weed much this season due to my sciatica so it was great to find people to do it and to do such a wonderful job!          The weeders came again today with their little boy.  I gave him some of the toys I got for him at CVS.  He played with them but he left them here.  I think he thought they were just to play with but they were gifts for him.  He mostly played with his chihuahua. It was cute listening to Kevin speak to the dog in Spanish! He kept bringing his little dog over to the patio door and letting Rosie look at the dog.  Rosie kept jumping up at him through the glass is a friendly way!  I made french toast and hash browns for breakfast.  I took a plate out to the little boy, Kevin, and told him he could eat it or throw it away if he didn't like it.  I looked out the window a few minutes later and the plate was empty! I had taken a cooler with soda cans

         Today I am thankful for a noisy house!  Olya came home from school with her boyfriend Matt.  They watched the football game with Dan and Renee. They didn't get out of bed until after 12:30 but I figured they are on their college schedule. Normally I make everyone get up by 11 at the latest! For a weekend visit, they can sleep as much as they choose. Olya vacuumed the basement because she said it was so dusty.  Apparently the dust hasn't bothered Olivia at all! Renee was in the area hanging with her friends at a local orchard so she came and hung out for the afternoon because Adam was golfing. She hurt her foot so she sat with a bag of ice on it.  Renee starts her job at the hospital as an ER PA in two weeks so I hope her leg/foot heals by then!  After the game, Olya and Matt worked on their homework! I always LOVE to see that!  Olya and Matt are both good students and do their work. Olivia worked at the salon most of the day,  and then came home,