Love Buzzard's Crafts & Life

Tiny Miracle

Deanna Gottreu — Tue, 23 Sep 2008 01:37:18 +0000

I arrived at the doctor’s office four minutes before my eleven o’clock appointment. I filled out the sheet that one has to fill out before each visit and then sat down and had read only one page when the nurse called my name. When I was shown into the exam room another nurse was already in the room preparing the shots for the doctor. Read about half a page and the doctor himself came in. He asked about Brian since he had seen him last Monday just before he saw me. He rubbed my knees with iodine, gave me the shots and I was on my way out the door at six minutes after eleven. That is the quickest I have even gotten in and out of a doctor’s office in my entire life. Maybe since I was only getting shots, the doctor came in to see me between other patients.

This time the shots did not hurt as much when he injected the medicine into my joints. I really do think that the shots are helping, I am definitely praying daily that they will. If they do not work then the next thing is knee replacements and I definitely do NOT want to go that route. I asked the nurse the name of the shots and the ones I am getting are Supartz which is a newer therapy than Synvisc. My doctor and the other orthopedic doctors in the office think that Supartz is more effective than Synvisc. I pray that they are right and that in five weeks I will be walking around pain free or at least almost pain free.

To help the Supartz do its job there are two other things that I must get back to doing and those are losing weight and going back to Curves three times a week. I have been completely lax about both this summer but the time has come to get on the ball and get this extra weight off my body and my poor knees.

Something New For My Car

Deanna Gottreu — Mon, 22 Sep 2008 02:44:33 +0000

Monday when I was at the orthopedic doctor, I asked if he could give me a note to take to the Office of Motor Vehicles so that I could get a handicapped tag for the car. He said sure and had the nurse fill out the form and then he signed and I left and drove to the OMV. The lady told me that the form I had was no longer used and if I would get a new form signed then I could get the tag for four years instead of two with the old form. I was planning to get a new form on Monday when I go back for my second two shots but since I was in Ruston Friday, I went by the doctor’s office and got the new form signed. Then I spent several minutes driving up and down the highway trying to find the OMV in Ruston. There is road work for quite a distance and of course the OMV is right in the middle of it. After the third try I finally found the driveway into the building and went inside. The place was full of people and a very nice man got up and gave me his seat. They were on number 97 and I was 09. Fortunately I had a book so I sat there and read for probably fifteen minutes before my number was called. The lady took my form and was doing everything that needed to be done and then she said, “That will be three dollars.” I asked if she would take a check and she said no and then I asked about a debit card and again the answer was no. I then asked if she could hold it while I drove to Walmart and got cash. She told me I would not have time for they were closing in twenty minutes. I must have looked rather pathetic for she said, “Let me see.” Then she pulled out her billfold and pulled out money and told me that she had two dollars and asked if I had one. Well as it so happened, one dollar was all the cash I had with me. I pulled out my checkbook and told her that I would give her a check. She said,”No you do not have to do that, this will be my good deed for the day.” I thanked her profusely and then she told me to come back for a picture. I moaned and groaned for hate to have my picture made, especially at the Office of Motor Vehicles. I asked why and she said it was in case I was ever questioned about the handicapped hang tag then I had a photo ID to prove the tag was mine. I said, ” I can hide it in my wallet and not show anyone” and she smiled and said, “yes that would be fine.”

I left the OMV and drove to West Monroe to get a book the library was holding for me but a regular parking place was as close as the handicapped so did not use my tag. The library was supposed to be holding the book for me but someone had checked it out about an hour before I got there. The librarian called the main branch and they had a copy of the book so I drove there to get it. The handicapped slots were in use so still did not get to use my tag. Left the library and drove to Hobby Lobby and finally I was able to use my handicapped tag. When one has PAINFUL knees, it is great to be able to park close to the door of the building.

Yesterday I went to the library in Ruston and it was great to park right by the walkway into the library. Still have not gone to Walmart where I really NEED the tag for most of the time I have to park in the back forty and then by the time I walk around in Walmart getting what I need, my knees are hurting so much that I feel I may have to crawl to my car. And I have been known to forget to check which number lane I park in and then come out of Walmart and can’t find my car. At least now I will only have a few places to look if I forget where I parked.

As I normally do every Sunday, I went out for lunch after church today and then went to the library to sit and read until the library closes at five. I know I could eat and read at home but when Don and I married we always went out to eat after church on Sunday so I guess that I am just continuing the tradition. And the best part is that I am around other people. I do not mind being at home alone at night but during the day it gets lonely sometimes. This week I must finish the quilt for Mignon so the only times I will go out will be to the doctor tomorrow morning for my shots and then to Bible Study on Tuesday morning. If I will really work at it, I should be able to finish the quilt this week.

Ouch! Ouch! Ouch!

Deanna Gottreu — Tue, 16 Sep 2008 04:30:58 +0000

Today I had an appointment with the orthopedic doctor to start the series of shots that I am praying will help my arthritic knees. I am not sure of the name of the shot but know that it is made from rooster comb. The needle going in did not hurt but when the doctor started shooting the liquid into my knee, then it hurt. When he pulled the needle out it stopped hurting but when I stood up to leave the pain was so severe that tears came to my eyes. I had to sit back down and then the nurse told me to move my knees back and forth which did help. I hobbled and limped to the car and drove to the library. After walking around in there a bit and then walking to and from my car, my knees felt much better. It is probably wishful thinking but I do think they are better already. I was told that there is a fifty/fifty chance that the shots will help. I have an appointment for the next four Mondays to finish the series of five shots.

When I saw my regular doctor the end of August he sent me to get X-rays of my knees. The X-rays showed that my knees are severely damaged from arthritis. All my cartilage is gone but thankfully I do not have bone spurs. By the time I get the fifth shot I should have a thick cushion of Synvisc. I think that is the name of what I was given. The doctor told me the name of the medicine but it did not stick in my mind. The needles pushed the name completely out of my mind.

Home Again

Deanna Gottreu — Mon, 11 Aug 2008 04:39:17 +0000

Thought I would write about my mission trip tonight but am still tired from the thousand mile bus trip home from South Dakota that was completed yesterday evening. Going to bed early again tonight and hopefully will be caught up on my sleep by tomorrow morning. Today was the start of our week long revival at church. We have an excellent minister bringing the messages for the week. Tonight after church there was a get together in the Family Life Center with ice cream and all the trimmings for any kind of sundae one might desire. There was also a table with cakes and cookies. Plenty of calories and sweets to make anyone happy.

I am off to bed for tomorrow will be a busy day with all my clothes from the trip to be washed and also want to get back to work on the quilt for Mignon. There will be supper at church tomorrow night for the senior adults and anyone young at heart. Will be interesting to see what people come for the meal. There will also be meals for the entire church on Wednesday and Friday nights. And I am happy that they are not potluck but will be catered.

I Am Packed And Ready To Go

Deanna Gottreu — Fri, 01 Aug 2008 04:48:25 +0000

Went to bed this morning at five and was awakened by the phone a little after noon. The phone call was from a friend in one of my groups and we are going to meet for dinner when the group stops in Springdale, Arkansas on the way home. Still have not been able to get in touch with my sister-in-law in Kansas City. Tomorrow night we will be staying in Lees Summit and was hoping that we could get together. She has a brand new granddaughter that I would love to see and also a granddaughter who is about two that I have never seen either. Going to keep trying to get her up until tomorrow afternoon. I have also tried to reach two cousins and had no luck there either. Actually they are Don’s cousins but I claim them as mine. Maybe tomorrow one or all three will call me and we can get together.

My alarm was set for twelve forty-five so I got up after the phone call and showered, dressed, and left for my hair appointment and now I no longer look like a shaggy dog. Before I went to bed this morning I had everything out and ready to be put into the suitcases except for the air mattress and bedding but I was sleeping on those. When I got home from the hair dresser I did some laundry for I did not want to leave anything in the laundry basket and possibly provide a feast for ants. Now everything is in the car except my purse and me. Just sitting here reading a book and waiting for three o’clock so that I can leave for church. Going to get on that bus, put my pillow against the window, cover up with my blanket, and sleep until we stop for breakfast which will probably be Little Rock.

Finally The MP3 Player Works

Deanna Gottreu — Thu, 31 Jul 2008 05:21:49 +0000

Got out of bed about one this afternoon and started right in to see if the MP3 player would work. Called tech support for the second time, first time for today, and again got a guy that I could not understand. Did what I think he told me to do and thanked him and hung up. Still did not work so I made my third call to tech support. The third guy had me format the player and told me some different things to do and I did them. Still had the same problem. Made another call and this guy really seemed to know how to fix the problem. He stayed online with me for a while and after hanging up still had the problem. At this point I was ready to throw the player through the nearest window. But I called tech support for the fourth time today but fifth call in all. The fifth guy had me do the same thing the one before had me do. Finally after hanging up with the last tech support guy, I just started playing around and decided to clear the player and re sync my books. I pulled the first one over to sync and left to take my shower. When I got out it was finished and I went to the player to see if it would finally work. Would you believe that all ten of the books were back on the player and now they are working just fine. Hallelujah!!! Now I do not have to make a trip to Ruston to return it and try another. Since I have over one hundred hours of books recorded I started listening to them on the way to church tonight.

I am finally one happy camper. Well I was happy until I got home and came into the studio to put my supper on the table beside my computer. I had stopped at Sonic and my drink was the quart size cherry limeade. You probably know what happened. I had several things in my arms and hands so I put the drink on the table first and then Miss Graceful hit the table with the piece of luggage I was carrying and over went the drink. Soaked the seat of my computer chair, and then covered a wide area of the floor. I don’t know which made me the most unhappy, losing my limeade or having to mop up all the liquid on the floor. Just last night I bumped the table and spilled about half a cup of water and a few ice cubes. Things seem to come in threes so I am not going to bring any drinks in here tomorrow.

I have been going to bed in the wee hours of the morning this week so that I can stay up tomorrow night and not be too sleepy to drive to the church at three in the morning. Now I need to get off the computer and get my clothes and all the other stuff together and then will put in the suitcase tomorrow. Finally found out that most people take snacks so I have a bunch of granola bars and bottles of water. I also bought some chocolate candy to take but I left it in the kitchen and it got so hot it melted together. I no longer have peanut clusters but one big peanut and chocolate glob for I put it in the refrigerator to cool down and of course it got hard as a rock. Maybe I will just go with the granola bars and forget the candy. Also had chocolate covered raisins but they are also one big hunk of chocolate with raisins. Guess I could buy new packages and keep them in the studio where it is cool. And then bite size Tootsie Rolls would even be better for they will not melt and are individually wrapped. Love those little Tootsie Rolls. They are one thing that still tastes as good as it did when I was a kid.

I Am Now A Commissioner

Deanna Gottreu — Wed, 30 Jul 2008 04:08:08 +0000

This evening I attended a class for election poll workers and my name is now on the list of commissioners to be called to work at the polls when there is an election. The names are randomly chosen so I am not counting on being chosen but if I am it will mean two hundred dollars in my bank account. The Clerk of Court did tell me that workers were needed in my Precinct. There is one thing that I really do not like but it will not keep me from working if chosen. Poll workers have to be at the voting place at FIVE THIRTY in the MORNING. But hey, for two hundred dollars I can be there at five thirty and stay until eight at night. I was really surprised at all that is involved with being a commissioner. I thought selected people just showed up and checked to be sure a person was registered, looked at their drivers license, and then had the voter sign his/her name. Much more involved and now I know why there are five or six people at each voting place. There is an election coming up on September 6, October 4, and then the presidential election in November. Hope I am chosen to work all three. I really cannot believe I did this for I am very apolitical. I hate to admit it but I am doing it for the money. :O)

I returned the MP3 player this afternoon and fortunately Wal-Mart had another red one. When I got home I plugged it up to the computer to charge and when I got home from the class the battery was full. About an hour later I was going to transfer my audio books to the player and the battery was showing empty. I tried it two or three times and always empty. So I called the tech support at SanDisk and of course I got someone who was not in the USA. He told me several things to do and none worked. He finally told me to plug the USB cord into the back of the computer. Had to call Scott to ask if I had extra ports on the back. He assured me I did and then after performing acrobatic moves to reach the back of the computer I could not plug the cord in for the USB port in the back takes a different kind of plug. So I came back to the front of the computer and plugged it into the top port and it is now charging fine. Now the test will be to see if it stays charged. If it doesn’t then I am going to return this one too and just forget about having a MP3 player. I changed ports because I found out that my camera will only work in the bottom port. I don’t understand why but I tried it in the top and nothing. I bought a four plug USB port but have not gotten it plugged up yet. Will be interesting to see if I still have to plug the camera into the bottom slot.

Ants, Ants, And More Ants

Deanna Gottreu — Tue, 29 Jul 2008 05:41:28 +0000

I was in a war all morning using my hands to kill a few hundred ants and a few of them fought back. I have three or four bites but fortunately I grabbed the ants just as they started to bite so no itch so far. For some reason ants have decided that the place to be is in my laundry basket. I had the same problem earlier in the year and thought I was safe again. This morning I grabbed the laundry basket to sort the clothes for washing and saw that the basket was crawling with ants. Having to get rid of them is bad enough but the little devils eat holes in my clothes. Fortunately I did not find any holes in my new pants and shirts but my brand new underwear was not so lucky. I had the basket near my bed until last night when I moved to the other end of the room and I don’t think there were any ants at that time. They marched in during the night and had a feast. Think I will get a hanging laundry bag and see if that will keep them away. I have also been fighting ants on the sink and cabinet most of the summer. What they find so appetizing on stainless steel I will never know.

I went to Wal-Mart this afternoon to get an adapter for the MP3 player. On the way to Ruston I was listening to a book on the MP3 player through the tape player in the car and it was working just fine and then all at once it just switched from one book to another. I assumed it was the recording but then tonight I was going to put all the books I have downloaded on the player and it just went off and it will not turn on again. So, now I have to drive to Ruston again so that I can return the player. If they do not have another red one then I will go to Radio Shack and get a red one there for I know they have two on the rack and I doubt they have sold both since the last time I was in the store. A black one would be all right but the markings are easier to see on the red. I am beginning to think that I am not supposed to own a MP3 player.

Memories

Deanna Gottreu — Mon, 28 Jul 2008 04:25:14 +0000

Yesterday when I was in Wal-Mart I bought something that really took me back to memories of junior high and high school trips. At the time my mother was taking me to the dermatologist and of course in those days the doctors believed that chocolate caused acne. So I had to give up chocolate and that was painful. When we would go on school trips we would all have candy and other junk to eat and while everyone on the bus was eating chocolate, I sat there eating orange slices. What I bought tonight was a container of orange slices. I ate three and thought I was going to have sugar overload. When I was young I would eat them like popcorn. I still like sugar but some things have become sweeter over the years or my tastes have changed. I think the latter is the correct assumption.

Today was a gorgeous day but the temperature was in the three-digits. When I got in my car after church, the steering wheel was almost too hot to touch. This is the first Sunday in ages that I have not gone out to eat for lunch. I started downloaded eAudiobooks when I got home from church and then about two o’clock I realized that I was hungry and had not eaten. So I just had a turkey sandwich and kept on downloading. I now have ten books downloaded and tomorrow will get the last eight transferred to the MP3 player. Now that I think about it I really do not need to transfer all ten but just enough to keep me listening for four days on the road. All ten are over one hundred hours and I know I will not be listening for that long. Besides the battery is only good for twenty-four hours. I am going to get an adapter to take with me for it also charges the battery. And it may end up that I will sit and talk with someone for the entire trip, except when I am sleeping. I am pretty sure that I will spend at least the first half of the first day sleeping since I will not have been to bed at all before leaving. And speaking of bed, I am getting sleepy so going to bed now and it is not even midnight. I have lots to get done before I leave on Friday.

A Better Day

Deanna Gottreu — Sun, 27 Jul 2008 05:02:11 +0000

After yesterday, my days had to get better. This morning I was having trouble with three different computer programs but I kept plugging along and finally got them solved. I also kept playing with the MP3 player until I finally figured it out also. The problems with the computer also concerned the MP3 player. For some reason one book was in the audio book folder and the other was in the music folder. The one in the audio book folder would not play so I moved it to music and now it plays perfectly. Weird. Earlier when I was having trouble figuring how and what to do on the player, I had about decided to just return it and use my old CD player on the trip which is in two parts but still works. Then I tried the player in the car and it works with the adapter so that settled it and I am keeping it. My car has a tape player that I have used for nine years and on a lot of tapes the voices come out sounding like Donald Duck. Now I can just put audio books on my little player, plug it into the tape slot, and listen with great sound. One thing that I really like about the player is that when I turn it back on after pausing and turning it off for a while, the book starts right where it left off. Had to pay twice as much to get that option but it was worth it.

I have spent most of the evening downloading eAudiobooks from the Ouachita Parish Library. They have approximately 2500 now and are adding new ones every week. Of course there are a few hundred that I have no desire to read. Just the Christian novels and the mysteries will keep me listening for quite a while.