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Several weeks ago, I had a place on my upper gum that got all swollen and sore.  It got pretty big over a few days, and I thought I had likely gotten something lodged up under the gum and picked at it.  The swelling went down and away and I figured I must have dislodged whatever was in there.  Then, early last week, the swelling and soreness came back!  Since it was in the same spot, I figured it might be something to be concerned about and I went to the dentist on Wednesday.

When the doc came in the room, I said, "Hey doc!  You know, I'm turning 60 this year and I feel like I'm falling apart!  I need a hip replacement, I have a lipoma I need to have removed, and now THIS!" and I laughed.  He said, "You're getting a hip replacement?  Who's doing it?"  I told him I wasn't sure because I can't get my damn doc's office to call me back, so I'm considering another guy.  He said, "You should go see Dr. Jana - he did my brother's and both of mine.  He's by far the best hip and knee doctor in Omaha!"  Well, believe it or not, this is the doctor whose name and phone number I had JUST gotten from my work-friend, Sharon!!  I had been complaining to her about how this Dr. Hartman wants me to lose 25 lbs. but now I'm stuck and can't seem to lose anymore weight.  She said he did her knee without insisting she lose weight, and she's heavier than I am.  So his recommendation solidified my decision to go in another direction.  I figured this was a big arrow from the universe pointing me in the direction I need to go, so I made an appointment with Dr. Jana.  Unfortunately, he's so popular/busy, I can't see him until June 4th.  (YIKES!)  That means it'll be mid-summer before I get it replaced.  I hate that, but I feel like it's all working out how it's supposed to, so I won't make a fuss about that...

Ok, so back to the abscess... the doc gave me a shot of novocaine  (YIKES again!)... the first time I've had one of those in about 30 years!  I am a total weenie when it comes to needles, so I was a nervous wreck when he gave me the shot - he assured me he was really good at it and that I'd barely feel it.  And you know what?  He was right!  He put a little deadener on my gum first and I didn't feel a thing.  Then he poked and messed with the abscess for awhile - there was quite a bit of blood on my bib when he was done, so I was really worried it would be super-sore when the novocaine wore off.  The dental tech who had tried to take xrays had told me that usually an abscess indicates a dead or dying tooth and usually ends up in either a root canal or an extraction, so I was pretty nervous about that, too!  I have all but my two upper wisdom teeth and they're all in great condition.  I had one filling back when I was about 20 and that's it...the only other things I've had done is I wore a retainer for a couple years to fix a space between my two front teeth and had veneers put on those two as they seemed to want to get little chips...  Anyway, he tested the tooth and said the tooth is fine.  There just must've been something in or under the gum that caused the abscess.  Whew!!  He put me on antibiotics and off I went.  Thankfully, it really wasn't that sore a few hours later...

BUT, another positive thing that came out of this was that as the antibiotics started to work, I started to have all this gunky drainage from my sinuses.  Apparently, I've had a sinus infection brewing for some time and the antibiotics seem to be making headway with that as well.  So out of what seemed like a negative thing came these two positive things!  Isn't it funny how sometimes you look back and think "if not for this thing happening that seems like a bad thing, I wouldn't have done this or been led down this path"... 

Next up...  My plants.  I need to start talking about them and try to get back my enthusiasm.  I've been living vicariously (plant-wise) through Marco for the last several months.  He's got the perfect environment and they do so well for him!  He sends me lots of photos, which is a curse and a blessing... The curse part is that it makes me envious that no matter how hard I try, I will never get mine to grow and flower like he can!  (Unless I want to make a 1500 mile move, LOL!)  Of course, the blessing part is that I love perusing the photos, and I'm so, so happy for him that he has this great hobby to fill his time.  (If you read this, Marco, don't stop sending the photos!  I enjoy them all!)  But my point is that I need to try to regain my enthusiasm for MY plants before I lose more of them!  Since it looks like it'll be another summer with this hip, it's hard to look forward to taking care of too many plants, but I guess we'll see where it all ends up...

H. cardiophylla hangs in my bedroom, and it's got a nice new vine with baby leaves forming:

Today, I took down my H. macgillivrayii that hangs in the spare bedroom and it had a glob of scale on one stem!  I mean, where do they come from?  I've had that one hanging there for some years and never had scale on any of them in that room, and suddenly, there they are!  How weird... And it was strange that they were all congregated on one stem at the top of the plant - I couldn't find another single one anywhere.  So I treated it with BATS...

What a dreary day it is!  We started out with a thunderstorm at about 7:30 or 8:00 and it's been misty and overcast since then.  I know we need the moisture, but I'm sick of all the dreary days.  We need a stretch of sunny days!

Well, more later...

Tryting to stay positive!

Happiness is my natural state, so it takes a lot to bring me down.  But the frustration of this stupid hip does affect my mood.  What's really hard to deal with right now is the moment-to-moment changes.  I'll get up and do some stuff around the house and think, "Hmm, not bad!"  When I get sore, I sit for a bit, then when I get up the next time, it can be so bad that I literally almost go down!  I worked a branch on Thursday, which was really pretty easy duty.  Not much walking... and there were moments when it was very painful, but overall, not bad.  So I thought, "I think I'll let them call me in tomorrow."  By the end of the day, I texted Jessica to let her know I didn't want to work Friday because it was proving more and more painful as the day wore on.  Dang it...

Oh, and it's not just the hip pain.  It's the frustration of this diet.  I started on it the day after seeing the doc on November 15th.  I lost 9 lbs. in the first 6 days, and in spite of diligently following the high protein/low carb diet, I've been stuck at the same weight I was at after that 6 days!  I have to lose about another 16 or 17 lbs. before they'll replace my hip.  I've decided, however, to call the doc's office and see if they'll let me sign something that releases them of responsibility of any complications that might occur because of my weight so I can go ahead with it.  I'm willing to take the risks at this point... 

I may have to switch to a new diet to get me off this weight plateau.  I sure hate to do that - I really like this diet and feel so satisfied... I'm never hungry.  Last night, I had two chicken legs I had marinated in teriyaki sauce, baked.  I had some Brussels sprouts I had tossed with olive oil and soy sauce, baked crispy-ish, and since I didn't have any carbs all day, I had about a cup of scalloped corn (about 34 carbs, well under the 50 allowed on my diet.)  It was ridiculously delish! 

Anyone who knows me well knows that I believe that everything in our existence is because of what we BELIEVE.  Our health, our wealth, who and what we let/attract into our lives... So here's my take on why I can't get more weight off on this diet.  In my subconscious, I think that dieting needs to be miserable and if I'm enjoying what I'm eating, it can't be a diet and therefore I can't lose weight.  So if I could just get my head in the right place, I actually wouldn't even NEED to diet to get back down to a decent weight!  I need to work on that!  Maybe I should try hypnotherapy...

Wow, it's in the mid-60s and feels so amazing!  Sounds like it's not supposed to be as nice tomorrow.  I can feel spring in the air.  I hope that we have an early spring - it's been such a long winter!  I hope that the closer we get to spring, the more inspired I'll be to get back to taking better care of my plants.  It's one of the reasons I want to get going on this hip... 

I looked at a property in Griswold, IA - my old stomping grounds.  A big building on the main street with commercial property underneath and an apartment above.  I love the building - it's over 130 years old and in great shape:

 

This is the western exposure.  The corner window and two of the windows to the left of it are in the "living room."  It's a room big enough to be used as a small bedroom on the west end and a living room on the east end.  The other 3 windows are in the large bedroom.  

 

It's hard to tell from this photo, but underneath that narrow window to the far right is the separate entrance to the apartment.  There are 23 steps up to the apartment.  That room that could be living room/bedroom is 22'7" x 14', so it's a big room.  

 

This is a photo of the big room, taken from the west end looking east.  That last window is the narrow one. Across from the narrow window is a large closet that is also access to the attic, which who knows how big that space is and it's not something I even care about... Most of the windows (believe it or not) are about 4' wide and 8' tall!  BIG windows... lots of light!  The ones you see in this photo face south.  Look closely at the very left, the door entering this room - notice it has one of those top glass tip-in window above the door.  Very old fashioned.  Woodwork is all in good condition...

 This is the big room looking from the east to the west, showing that corner window, which is actually a foot taller than all the others.  

 And this shows doors going into the bedroom - the doors aren't shown here, but they're in great condition as well.  I noticed the old light fixture, but only now am I noticing a ceiling fan.  

 

The kitchen is nice sized, I'm sure bigger than my kitchen here at home.  All nicely updated.  Nothing fancy, mind you, but totally functional.  There's a new window at the end (you can tell by the sunlight on the cabinets.)  There's plenty of room for a table and chairs.  

In the hallway, there's a large storage space that I'm pretty sure was added long after the building was built, but there is also a nice pantry.  The bathroom is on the other side of the wall in the photo above.  It's big and includes a stackable washer/dryer, the water heater and the furnace is in a space kind of off in the corner from the bathroom.  There are two large windows that face north in the bathroom.  It has a new tiled shower that's roomy, and is very updated...

 

Anyway, it's a very cool building and I would love to buy it.  It's only $50,000, and it would be so awesome to have somewhere out of the city to "escape" to on weekends.  And Mom has sure shown an interest in it as well.  I think she wouldn't mind having someplace to get away to as well - it seems like the quarters at Merry's seems a little too close at times, so I think she would welcome some place to go.  I have a feeling she is considering getting a place of her own, and she may feel that this is ideal because she can still live with Merry & Rick, but when things are getting a little tense, or when she's feeling like SHE could use some alone time, she can go to the apartment.  And it would be great if sometimes we could be there together!  It's not like we'd have to be checking in with each other to see when it's "available."  I'd want my own bed either way.  I figure I'd put my bed in the big room because I'd love nothing more than waking up to the sun streaming in, whereas she might want her room darker and sleep in...

Well, I let Diane (the realtor) know that it would be the first of the week before we could get back down to see the place and she says she's had a few calls on it in the last few days, showed it yesterday and will be showing it again Monday or Tuesday.  I sooo want it, but I'm a little scared to make such a leap...  Can we rent the space below?  If we did, it would cover the expense of owning it, I'm pretty sure.  I've calculated it and, let's see, it would be about $1500 a year for insurance, probably another couple hundred a month for utilities, and I read somewhere (now I can't find it) that property taxes were around $750.  So if all of that is accurate, it would cost a right around $400/month to own the property, and Diane thought a person could probably get somewhere in the neighborhood of $700 a month on the commercial part of the property.  Of course, that assumes we can get it rented...

I guess my stance on it at this point is that if it's mean to be, the universe will kick all the obstacles out of the way.  It may be that this is just a way for the universe to show me that I CAN, indeed, have a place to get away to.  In other words, maybe it's just planting that seed so that I start searching for something more practical.

Anyway, that's all for today!  Maybe by the time I blog again, I'll have photos to share of my plants.