Small Steps to Success, and Other Stuff

 Well, life has been hectic of late, albeit in a somewhat slow sense. Let's face it, everything I do now is slow ... fast is not in my vocabulary any more. But that's ok, I plod along and do my best, in dribs and drabs, and measure my achievements, no matter how small.

Brunel's new training class got underway this past weekend. The whole goal of the intermediate one is to get them focused on you when there are multiple distractions around. This is one of our problems, and Brunel (although now a year old) is still a very large and playful puppy. Working with him at home, he responds well to all my commands, but as soon as there's a distraction - off he goes doing his own thing. We are also having to keep working on the "no jumping up on people" as he gets so excited and loves everybody, but (me, particularly being scared of dogs so I understand others may be also) I do not want him doing that, I want him remaining calm when other people are around, and so that training is also continuing.

Having a puppy in the house, particularly a large one that can reach up to get things, meant that my model making took a hiatus, with his crate blocking access to my work table. Finally, yesterday, I took some time to get back to it, and completed the fire station. I'll be packing up the rest of my supplies and kits though, as I am trying to declutter and empty the kitchen, in preparation for remodelling in a couple of months time. As said previously, my only speed now is slow, so I am trying to do something every day, and it IS noticeable. The 2 racks of wire shelving that I've used for pots, pans, storage containers and other kitchen necessities, once emptied, will be going out to hubby's shed for his goodies to be stacked on, as when we redo the kitchen there will be lower level cabinets in their place. Goodwill and Miracle Hill love me, as the more I clear out, the ore donations they get!

With my AVON business sadly slowing down (Covid and the economy have done a number on it for me, and I probably earn less than half what I did 2 years ago, now) I have been contemplating going into publishing as a business. I am currently looking at a program however all the editing is done in Canva and I seem to be having difficulty figuring it out. Yesterday, my grandson published a journal and dream log, and in speaking with him, he used Canva to edit it and said he'll walk me through it sometime in the next couple of weeks. I have a poem "The Storybook Witch" which I have long wanted to publish for my great-grandchildren (and others) as a picture book, but have had problems finding someone to illustrate it for me. Although that isn't going to be the focus of the first book that I want to publish, I intend using that poem in it. I am thinking, a double page spread with an illustration on one side and the poem on the other, and then 2 double page spreads of colouring pages with things pertaining to each poem. I am going through my poetry to find al my children's poems, so that this would be a poetry/colouring book. My friend, Steph, had offered to help me learn Canva, over the phone, but now that Dylan has used it for his editing and can actually sit with me and show me, I think I may finally be able to learn it. We shall see.

Hubby finally received a 20% disability rating from the VA for his diabetes, since chemicals he used in the military to clean off other stuff (and some has been banned in the decades since) have been found to be a cause. Had we known this, he could have claimed when he was first diagnosed 10-12 years ago. Well, you live and learn. Likewise, the same chemicals are now known to be carcinogenic, and so they acknowledge his CLL, but he has a zero rating on that while he is just in the "watch and wait" stage ... but if he ends up needing treatment, that will go to 100%. 

He has an upcoming appointment with our regular doctor next week, and will be discussing his Long Covid with her. The heatwave we are in, right now, is causing him a lot of difficulty with his breathing, and - although his cancer doc said his breathing/lungs are good - he says it fees like someone has whacked him in the chest, and hurts like when he had the pneumonia during his Covid bout. Talking with a workmate, who also had a bad case of Covid, and was hospitalized for weeks like Mark was, they apparently both share this symptom, along with the brain fog/forgetfulness and the lack of energy constantly. I hate seeing him suffer, and next May cannot come quick enough, in a way, so that he can retire and allow his body to dictate what it can and will do, rather than a work schedule deciding that. I don't want him dropping dead from his body being physically and mentally exhausted.

Tonight, my granddaughter has offered to come over with a friend, and concrete me a pathway from the house across to the driveway, so that I have a level surface for my walker as recently it has become much more difficult for me to get across.

Having finally completed fire station model that I began a year ago, tomorrow I will be packing up my other model kits and all the accessories (glue, scissors, paints etc) so that We can take the fold up table out ready for our kitchen redo. Slowly but surely, I am getting stuff done.

All in all, I am quite satisfied with the way I am decluttering and packing, and am actually quite pleased with myself. God is good and is def helping me do this because I'm staying pain-free and without that, I'd never be able to do this.

Another Busy, Very Good Day

 It feels like a Saturday, but is actually a Friday;  the sun is out and it is HOT out there!

The great-grandpuppy, Rover, went home today, so - since the great- grandkids are out of school - we met up at Pizza Inn for lunch (and I did have more than I should, unfortunately, but I guess everyone's entitled to splurge sometimes) and then came home to pack all his things up and for him to leave with his mama and human siblings.

We treated Daniel and Sami, each, to a tin with Pokemon cards in since they are both Pokemon fans. It was nice seeing them, and making them happy.

After they had all left, we were watching tv and I dozed off, but then awoke with some mojo, so I cleared the one chest of drawers in the bedroom, that I've been wanting to for MONTHS, emptied the drawers, decided what was "to keep" and what would also be getting donated to Goodwill, and have a huge bag of various linens for them, along with the chest.

Brunel missed Rover as soon as he had left, so we let him snuggle with us for some loving, he has such beautiful eyes, and went nose to nose with me on the pillow.

My new walker arrived yesterday, and hubby has it  put together for me, so now I will be able to leave one in my car all the while again. The other will be the "house" one, but will also end up being the one that goes with me when I'm with Mark, in the truck.

In the night, I got a text from paypal giving me a code to access my account. Well, I'd been asleep, so it was obviously not me trying to get into my account, so I got on the computer and put all my accounts to 2-step verification, just in case some hacker was trying to mess with my banking. I don't need the hassles of trying to change accounts and cards again, we had to do that a few years ago, and it was a pain!

We took the drawers and linens to  Goodwill and had a look around Miracle Hill. As much as I am decluttering, I am also browsing now for stuff for my "new" bathroom later this year. I have one accessory so far, a pink washbasin and jug made for me many years ago, by a friend who did ceramics, in  Sembach, Germany. Now that I've decided on the colour scheme (palest pink walls, white paintwork and porcelain, and a light grey cabinet) I need other accessories that will fit in with it all. I didn't find any accessories but did find another walker, for $20, so I now have the 3 - 1 for each vehicle and one for the house. 

Yes, it has been a good day!

Unexpected Money - Oh how easily I spent it!

Yesterday gave us a pleasant surprise, some extra money in the bank account as my husband's disability through the VA was approved for his service-related issues from dealing with bad chemicals in the late 80s that are now banned, but were used back then to "clean" everything - including arms and hands!

I am a cheapskate. I batch cook and divvy stuff out to make it go farther, I use up leftovers, and I am a queen of B1G1Fs and store loyalty cards, but yesterday and today I blew money like it was going out of style ... and now our bank account is depleted once again.

As much as I hate spending money, it seems I do it soooo well. 

I paid ahead on utilities (the bills for this month were already paid;

made hubby's truck payment (ahead on that too now until the end of August because I pay something every week to keep it ahead);

bought an ink cartridge for the printer, 2 dog beds and treats (now that we have our great grand puppy, Kassel's, old crate for Brunel, he needed a new bed for it and we are using his old one for when Rover comes to stay, so we needed a bed for that too. It means that we don't have to bring his crate with him every time, making it easier on my granddaughter, and us);

a new fob for Mark's truck as the current one is sometimes not wanting to lock/unlock doors or start the vehicle and yet other times does ok;  

2 tires for my car and had them check the sensor issue;

another rollator walker for me as I'm down to one and it was handy just leaving one in each vehicle and having one in the house, 

and despite feeling bad that I blew so much, I think I did well and it was mainly things I've been needing and haven't been able to juggle the paycheck to afford.

While we were at Lowe's getting the 2 screen doors (which hubby is putting on as I type this) we looked at things for our bathroom and kitchen remodelling that's going to be happening later this year and early next.  I found a nice grey bathroom cabinet that will look nice in the grey/pink/white colour scheme that I'm planning. 

I'm a white porcelain, white paintwork/trim kind of girl so the sink will be white and I'm thinking a grey marble look top. Walls will be pale pink, and I have a pink ceramic jug and washbowl that a friend made for me in Sembach, many many moons ago, that will have pride of place. The toilet we have is still great, so we'll reuse it, and when it's disconnected I will scrub it all nicely so's it looks as good as new.

I am having issues trying to find a plain walk in tub that's just a seated bath basically, no jets or anything because I am freaky about electric and water, and even though  I KNOW the wiring isn't near the water, with my BP and heart issues, I can't deal with trying to not think about it. I want my tub to be a relaxing experience, not a stressful one, saith she.

My kitchen planning is going well, in that I've made some decisions on what I want, and utilizing what is already there. We have a red-brick wall at one end of the kitchen that goes 2/3 up the wall and has a mantel shelf on it, and then the 1/3 above is just blank. We are going to leave the brickwork as is, and add decorative tile above it.

At the opposite end where my stove is, we will mimic that end by surrounding the stove with fake red-brick veneer over plyboard and above it, thus hiding the hood behind what looks like real brickwork. We'll match the tiling to the same decorative tile used on the far wall.

I've picked my stove, and - for someone who doesn't like spending money - it is expensive but a lot cheaper than my first choice (by about $18,000!). I've rediscovered a love of cooking and also, this being freestanding means my feet can fit under it while I am sitting and cooking ... trying to cook sideways these past few years has been very painful, but I had to do what I had to do.

I am feeling quite accomplished in having used the money wisely, and in getting a few more ideas kind of set in concrete for what I want. There's still lots of planning to do, and am thinking the bathroom project will be the first as it is smaller and should be able to be completed in less time, maybe a week or two, between the reflooring, ripping out the wall, rearranging the fittings and such.

So, that's been life in the Dempsey household the last couple of days.  Plus, I filled out 2 surveys, 1 each from NTB and Lowe's, to give kudos to all the people who helped us today. Theyd esreved a pat on the back.

Have a great day everyone!

#whoisrosedempsey 

Oh what a lovely time we had in Helen!

This year, for my birthday, we took a day trip to Helen, GA, and 2 of our grandkids met us there for the day.  I managed to persuade them to have their picture taken ... don't they look good?

We had an awesome lunch at the Troll Tavern, we sat outside right by the river so I could listen to it bubbling over the rocks, and watch it just rolling along.  Waterways like that calm me and are an added health bonus for me, with my high blood pressure.  A natural remedy! The food was excellent, hubby and Dylan both had a Reuben, Nicolette had fish and chips (the fish was the length of the plate, and some!) and I had a Chef Salad without some of the usual components, so as to keep within my sodium limits. We all thoroughly enjoyed our meal and plan on eating there the next time we are in Helen.

I'd wanted to watch the 3 of them tubing, but - unfortunately - the places that did tubing didn't open for the season until the next day, so that idea went down in flames.

Next choice was for them to go ziplining ... but we got there too late.  It was 4pm but they said they weren't doing any more tours that day. It's on the "to do list" for the next time there.

Third choice was a treat, they went on the Georgia Mountain Coaster and had a blast.  Their only complaint was that they wished it had been longer.

We did a nice little walkabout (with me on my trusty electric mobility scooter) and hit up 2 of my other  favourite places there. 

One is the Hansel and Gretel Candy Kitchen and it seems I'm not the only one who loves that place! Here's a video from another chocolate lover from her visit to the candy kitchen. We made our own assortment of truffles ... raspberry, orange, lemon, mint ... and I treated myself to a red candy apple.  It's been a long time since I'd had one of those and I savoured every mouthful.

The second is Betty's Country Store, where I always pick up my German pickled cabbage with apples, and this time, a jar of German pickled carrots, since I love that too! It's the only grocery store in Helen, so is perfect for those who are camping, or staying in a cabin, and wanting to prepare their own food and have staples on hand to make sandwiches or cereal for the kids.

We love Helen, it's one of my "peaceful places". Just sit me by he water and I am happy.  When we've stayed before, we have picked hotels with balconies overlooking the water and I've taken my elliptical cycle with me, and had hubby set it up on the balcony so I can pedal while listening to, and watching the water, and the people tubing on it.

I'd definitely recommend it as a place to go.  There are a lot of fun things to do for families, including a water park and putt putt golf.

My one word of warning would be the sloping streets - if you have mobility issues and use a stick or a walker, some places will be difficult to get to. I tried to walk it before, and it was too much, hence the mobility scooter this time.

#ontheroadwithroseandmark #whoisrosedempsey #HelenGA #visitingHelen #daytrip #familyfun #asliceofGermany #tubing #ziplining #handmadechocolates #GeorgiaMountainCoaster #theTrollTavern #beautifuldayout #childfriendly

April, 30 Minutes A Day Reading Challenge for St Jude's

I read.  More than that, I love to read. I learned early, and became a bookworm as soon as I had mastered the art. My childhood was riddled with The Secret Garden, The Narnia Chronicles, Jane Eyre, Wuthering Heights, Lorna Doone, and all the Dickens volumes ... and, back in those days there were no paraphrases.  I was 7 or 8 and reading original unabridged versions ... if I didn't understand a word, that was what a dictionary was for.

I now read when I'm pedalling my elliptical bike, or the Intellistride machine at the gym.  I get lost in the story and time just flies by.

This past week, I finished another Kristin Hannah book, Magic Hour.  I honestly think this is my favourite of hers, although I've enjoyed all of the ones I've delved into so far. I also finished another Thomas Perry, The Burglar, and that kept me on my toes, as always, trying to feel where he was taking me and not wanting to cheat and check out the end to see if my ideas were correct.

They are 2 authors that I have been binge reading the past few weeks, 2 totally different genres and styles of writing, and yet both weave tales that I find myself caught up in and unwilling to put their stories down.

I am still needing sponsors for the St Jude's challenge.  Even if you could only spare $1, if I had 100 people simply donate $1 that would give me $100 towards my goal.  It's such a worthy cause, they do so much and there's never  a charge for patient care ... something that many of the parents would not be able to afford anywhere else.

Please share my blog post and share the challenge website (on Facebook )for me, donate if you can, it truly is a worthwhile cause.

Thanks for reading!

Alternate Medicine and Me

So, this weekend was the weekend that my hubby and I enjoyed our Christmas present to ourselves - a massage and facial at Studio Rejuvenate in Greer - with Roger (my favorite massage therapist ever!) and Hannah who made me feel like a million dollars with a wonderful facial.

As always, conversations began, and discussions of alternate therapies happened. My massages are an important part of my health plan. They help relax me, the lymph drainage ones help the swelling on my legs, and the reflexology lets me know sometimes of issues that I wasn't aware of. 

I have been a fan and user of alternate therapies for many decades, and as my health has deteriorated with age, and I have an inability to take many drugs, I am thankful for the knowledge I have accrued over those years.

My "go to" for pain is an essential oil blend, which - when massaged on hips or back - alleviates it. To relax, and to help me sleep, I have lavender oil and a lavender pillow spray. Aromatherapy has also been a mainstay, has different fragrances provide different moods, some uplifting, some soothing.

My "go to" for colds and flu, since so many over the counter products are unsuitable for people like me with high blood pressure and heart issues, has always been Vicks vapor rub. It goes on the soles of my feet, along my sinuses, under my nose, around my throat, and on my chest and back. I have been a Vicks fan since my childhood, and have sometimes have even used it as a rub for pain when I have not had any essential oils to take care of it.

I also use foods to help with various issues that I have. I eat plenty of fruit, which helps lower blood pressure. I drink cherry juice or eat cherries, to help my arthritis. I add lemon juice to my water, and sometimes cucumber, as they are natural diuretics for the body. In moderation, I use sunlight to get my vitamin D. When my heart goes really slow, I will eat something spicy as that helps boost metabolism. Since I don't usually drink any caffeinated drinks, when my heart rate drops below 40 I will often have a couple of sips of my husband's soda to help boost it. 

I also pedal on my elliptical bike to help raise it longer term. Most days, every couple of hours, I will pedal for 10, 15, or 20 minutes, just to keep it at a reasonable rate. The exercise is obviously also helping me to lose weight and tone up the muscles that my immobility leave slacking.

There are certain drugs that I must take basically to stay alive, but for most of my other ailments and issues, I stick with the natural. And another way that I lower my blood pressure, something that I find soothing, is to watch water - rivers, waterfalls, and streams. They provide me with my peaceful places that help to calm me.

With everything that I deal with, my doctor says that I am still one of her healthiest patients. I guess I must be doing something right.

Very Frustrated Right Now

 As those of you who follow me know, I have a myriad of health issues that prevent me from working a regular job anymore. 

Since becoming disabled in 2006 I have had an AVON business that has provided me with enough money to stay home and build that business, in order to contribute to the family Kitty. I have had business pages and groups set up on Facebook during that time but suddenly it seems I have offended the Facebook gods because they have unpublished one of my pages and shut down one of my groups, and right now are not allowing me to post in the groups that I admin. This is very annoying as two of them are for other representatives, one of which is for my team members,  for encouragement and training , and at the moment I am unable to work in them. 

I take my job very seriously, I am not the sort of person who harasses my team members to produce, produce, produce, but I try to be there when they need me, and to provide information that is useful to them which they can either choose to use or not. I see my job as being there to support them in their vision of how they want to run their business. 

I do not understand why Facebook would find this threatening in any way or claim that it goes against community standards.

I do share a lot of things, and sometimes they go to two or three groups at a time because I need the people in them to have the information. With my business advertising, there are only a couple of groups that I post in other than my own private groups, so it should not bother them that I am posting in them because people have chosen to join those groups and are expecting there to be advertising in there. 

Friends have suggested that maybe it is another representative who is jealous of what they perceive as my success. My business has suffered, like a lot of other peoples, during COVID and then these hard economic times, my income now is about 1/3 of what it was a few years ago. I do not claim Social Security disability, I have chosen to support myself as best I can with my AVON, so it actually hurts my feelings that somebody might do this to me and be reporting things that I post, as they could only be in one or other of the groups that I administrate. It also hurts me to think that somebody would be that petty within the Avon family. Over the years I have helped so many people who are not on my team, I have spent hours explaining things on the telephone, sending emails and sharing information with people I have never met and whose businesses do not help me in any way, but that did not stop me because I see a joy in helping somebody else succeed. I do not believe that not being nice gets you anywhere. 

As somebody who is disabled - and works around that disability to the best of my ability - it always annoys me when people feel they have to score over somebody like me. I have a neighbour who, when he moved in began causing me issues, and I feel bad that somebody is so weak and such a sad person that the only way they can make their self feel better was to harass somebody like me. I have no respect for him. I had tried to be a good neighbour when they moved in but now choose to have nothing to do with them. 

Likewise, Facebook. The page that they shut down and unpublished, they were quite happy taking advertising money from me for it a couple of years ago and changed my audience to a different country so that the leads that I was getting was from South Africa and not the USA. At the time I did not realise this period it was a few months later after i had commented to people that I was getting an awful lot of inquiries from South Africa. I had gone onto the page to promote another ad and wanted to put it to where it was shown to people within a 50 mile radius of me and I got an error message telling me that I could not post this because it was in the wrong country. Although my audience choice showed the USA, the map showed South Africa and no matter how I tried to change it it kept telling me that I couldn't post in the USA. At that point I realized why I had had all the inquiries from South Africa, and so I stopped boosting posts from that page since I could not change my audience to my local area. but they had taken my money for quite a few months, which was a waste to me as I was trying to help people in another country get started in their country and was not helping my business at all, which had been the point of my advertising. 

The other thing being that there is no way to argue with Facebook, they do not respond to any disputes that you may have or any complaints.

It is all very frustrating to me and sadly, because of my blood pressure issues, it affects my health. It also disappoints me and saddens me because I feel like I am letting my team members down when I cannot keep them abreast of everything, and they go to the group to check on stuff because they don't check their emails.

It is times like this that I do get resentful of my inability to do things that I used to, if I could still walk normally I could canvas local areas and talk to people more. If I could still sit for longer periods of time, without my legs swelling and my blood pressure going up which is weird that is what happens if I sit too long, then I would still be able to go out and do events, and if I could walk and climb stairs I could still go do house parties to promote my wares. Unfortunately all of those options are now unavailable to me which is why I have spent a lot of time building my business online these past 16 years. So at the moment I cannot do anything in any of the groups or on my business pages and they shut the one down on me totally and the one group so they are gone forever. It is frustrating, unfortunately with it being a free site they rule the roost and can persecute whoever they want. Not sure why somebody thinks that it's great to score points of somebody like me but Oh well I guess, this world is full of all sorts of people and entities.