I'm back & new freebie begins

Sorry to have disappeared like that. We decided to go see Berkeley and Jeremy Mother's day weekend. My father had refinished a 19c barrel topped steamer trunk which was to go to Jeremy but he couldn't fit it in his Dodge Charger when he was here for the funeral; so we carried it up to him. Long ride to Mechanicsburg PA but we found a route that did not include the headaches of I-95. Much more peaceful. Jeremy took us out to dinner Saturday night (to avoid Mother's Day crowds) and then we took them to dinner Sunday. Nice visit but too short. Monday we headed across to New Jersey to visit with hubby's favorite cousin, Joann. She's about five years his senior and has been having health problems. Lost most of her hearing a couple years back and won't wear her hearing aids because she says they give her vertigo. Then a couple months ago, her vision which had been declineing suddenly went out totally. She had some surgery and we had hoped things had improved. No, all she can see are vague shapes and some colors. Since she lives alone this is very troubling. We helped her with some things while there: hubby took her grocery shopping and I read her mail to her and updated her checkbook. We talked to her about going into assisted living and she is against it. Then hubby spoke with her youngest son who looks out for her as best he can and learned that he had moved her into a very nice assisted living place after the surgery. A month later the administrator called and told him to come get her. She wouldn't participate in any activities, complained about everything, wouldn't eat and cursed staff. All except the last sounded familiar. When we took Joann out to dinner, we also discovered that she has no patience with anything and complained loudly about the restaurants (places she's gone to in the past and liked). It's a bad situation. I sure hope that when or if I'm in that position God gives me grace to accept the help I need gratefully and not be obnoxious.

I'm now trying to catch up on all the appointments and so on that I had to put off when Dad was ill. I have this whole week booked, except one of my scheduled days is to meet with my lunch friends to go see the movie, The Book Club. Today it was my pulmonologist and I sort of dreaded it. Last year I had improved my lung capacity by 2% (I have C.O.P.D.) but I haven't been using my inhaler and I'm out of condition due to all the other things I had going on. Went through testing and learned that I'd lost 2% lung capacity but worse, my oxygen diffusion was down from 70 something to 56% Guess that is part of why I've been feeling so tired. Got a new inhaler, this one with small amount of a steroid, and have to go back in two weeks to see if I'm improving.

So I decided it was time to do something for me. I had to stop at the little Walmart grocery store on the way home and it is in the shopping center with the Women's Workout Center I used to be a member of. I marched myself right over and re-newed my membership. I figure it will take me a couple weeks of just walking around the pool and gradually adding in my aqua therapy exercises before I can do anything more. With the fibro, the pool exercises are about all I can comfortably manage. However, the Center now has yoga lessons and I'm going to try joining that class in a couple weeks. A little over a month ago, I happened upon a sale of GNC's prenatal vitamins. It made me remember how my baby fine hair had grown stronger and thicker when I was pregnant. I've been struggling with hair fall from age and stress and nails breaking in the quick, so I decided it couldn't hurt me to try the prenatal vitamins. Maybe they contain something or a different amount of something that other vitamins lack. The bottle says to take one of these big capsules 3x day with meals. Not being pregnant, I decided to try taking just one a day and see if it made any difference. I'm happy to report it has. More so with my nails which are now long and healthy, somewhat with my hair

I wanted to do something different and some free resources I received gave me the idea for this new kit, Larkin's Dream. It's fantasy of the sort a little girl like my grand-daughter, Larkin, would have. But I think it might be fun for a lot of us big girls who still enjoy sweets, treats, pretty things and things that sparkle. If not for scrapbook pages, big girls could make themselves some cute journal or planner pages.

It's bedtime. Fresh from a sweet smelling bubble bath, Larkin dries off and puts on her soft flannel pajamas and slippers. While she brushes her teeth, she thinks about some of her favorite things: tea parties with Nonna, cupcakes, pink lemonaide, Papa's Italian dinners, fuzzy puppies and kittens, and sparkly stuff. In the bedroom, Larkin takes the clips out of her long hair and picks up her bedtime buddy, Ducky. Ducky is a soft plush animal half the size of his owner; he sits patiently as Larkin says her prayers. The two snuggle down under the bed covers. Larkin rubs her cheek against Ducky's fuzzzy head and whispers: "I hope I dream of unicorns." It had been a busy day so it doesn't take long for the little girl to fall asleep. The dream begins.

Link:
https://www.dropbox.com/s/p4qoewmsg4f99yc/ws_LarkinsDream_1.zip?dl=0