catching up

For those who are dying to know the rest of the car story it goes like this. I have my car. I picked it up last Wed. Is it fixed? Of course NOT. The part didn't come in because of the storm that hit us. I was told that I could bring it in Monday and they would fix it. I said, "I don't think so. I have to go to Utah next week and I need my car to get there." Just for the record. It has sat down there for 8 whole days with nothing being done to it. The day they worked on it was the day that I sat and waited while they did it. Mike works with the husband of the owner. He was telling him about my adventures. He said he would call his wife and get things going. Mike said no it's ok.

Mike worked Thanksgiving. We celebrated early and enjoyed left overs. The best part was while all the rest of you were slaving over your feast, mine was done and over with and I totally relaxed and enjoyed 3 days of some good football games.  Lots of close games and Boise lost and Utah beat BYU. And basketball season is here so I can have an Aggie team to cheer for.

Still Waiting

My car is back in the shop today. They have another part to replace and then we will be all done. Once again I took the car in shortly after 8 AM and still don't have a car tonight. I told them several times that I have to have it tomorrow afternoon. I will have Mike take me down there before he goes to work tomorrow. I may spend the whole afternoon at the shop but at least I won't be stranded w/o a car again.

Car shop again

The car shop called me today. They wanted money. I tried to pay them when they finished a couple of weeks ago but they said to wait. Now they want the money yesterday. That's fine. They need to close up the account and they deserve to be paid. So when I went down there, mom (the boss) was there. Wheew. It's good to know she is back. Just like I thought, she was off recovering from surgery. She is working her way back to full time. She said that she needed to be back at work. I said, "no kidding, the place just isn't the same w/o you and gave her a brief account of my dealings. She said, Yep that's why I need to be back. I have one more appointment to get things finished up. I will do it on Mike's days off so I have some transportation.

Did you know

Besides it's conventional form Icy Hot also comes as a gel, roll-on, aeresol, roll, and several sizes of patches. I'm sure there are a few others that I have overlooked.
Just thought you might want to know.

DUH!!!!

That's how I felt when I visited my Wal-mart fabric department today. When I was in SLC last week, it took visits to several Wal-Mart stores to find some particular fabric that I was looking for. Steph even helped me out  by buying some at Wal-Mart. You guessed it. I looked in my Wal-Mart today and found the fabrics that I had been looking all over for. My Wal-Mart never has that much fabric. What are they doing? It did make me laugh.

I've been having some back muscle issues. It has resulted in a few sleepless nights. Not fun. I went to the dr and got muscle relaxers and pain pills. They helped the first night but then the pain returned and I couldn't find any relief. On a whim I decided to try some Icy Hot. Viola!! Back pain gone. Yeah for Icy Hot.

This is from the instructions for the muscle relaxer. "Take this medicine on an empty stomach. To prevent stomach upset, this medicine may be taken with food or immediately after a meal." So do I take with food or not?  

Family news

Guess this would be a good place to give some family updates. For those who don't know, Russ was put in their bishopric a few weeks ago. That should keep him busy for a while. His white shirts and ties are getting a work out.
Grandpa went to the doctor Monday. He is starting physical therapy for his hip. Hopefully that will help him out.
Lance and Molly now live in Lenanon, Oregon. They are managing an apartment complex and Lance is still looking for an engineering job.

I guess I have a couple of Mark stories to share. Several weeks ago, Mark surprised me on the phone. I hadn't talked to him for a while and he very clearly said, "Hi Grandma". I was sure I was Isaac and said "Hi Isaac". He said, "I'm not Isaac, I'm Markie". (No grandma points that day)  OOOPS.  So now when the boys come on, I always say "hi Nathan". So far I'm safe with that. The other day Mark is talking to me and he says "I'm Nathan". What a tease. It is fun to watch their little personalities.


Another time Mark got on the phone with me and said "Hi Ma-wa-win." (Sound it out). I guess we are pretty tight since I'm not even grandma, just Ma-wa-win. Since then he does say Grandma Mawawin. It's fun.

Some Results..................finally

The middle of Aug I went in for my annual "visit all my drs and get everything taken care of until next year" trip. As I have already posted, things did not go as planned since I went a-fib during my upper scope. Since then, between all my doctors (including the dentist) and procedures, I have had 12 procedures. One of them was in Elko. Fortunately many of the appts were done in the same trips. I am finally starting to get some results.

The a-fib isn't a real problem right now but the cardiologist wants to keep a close eye on it for a while. So every 3 months for at least a year, I will be going back to see him so he can do all his tests on me. I am also on an experimental drug that we will be monitoring. So I'm done with him until Feb.

We (they) have determined that I have myositis. I have a muscle biopsy in Dec to determine the specific form of myositis. I started prednisone today and haven't had any nagging aches since then. That is a nice relief. With time, they expect the muscle weakness to improve. I see the rheumatologist on a seperate trip in Dec. Hey but I only have to go over once in Nov. Maybe I should run up to Twin and get my permanent crown put on.

So 2 dr visits and 2 new drugs. Not bad. The good news is that one is free and the other only cost 5 bucks. And I don't have to eat anything but pills. It's time to upgrade to a bigger pill reminder container.

home again

I had 2 dr appts the last 2 days and will be starting 2 new meds. I'm sure there are more to come. More details later.

I arrived home just before 7 and 2 hrs later looked outside to see a covering of snow. I think I'm glad I came home tonight instead of waiting until tomorrow.

Mike's day

Mike got up early this morning and cut a load of firewood. He took the dogs with him. They knocked over the gas can on the way out. Just a little bit dripped out so that was ok but Chewy laid in the gas. When Mike stopped, she jumped out of the truck and was rolling in the dirt. And then Fluffy ran off when Mike was about ready to come home. He hung around for a few minutes and she showed up. He had quite an eventful morning.

I canned another batch of chili today. I have now done 3 batches. That will get Mike through this winter and maybe a few left over for next year. I ended up with exactly enough for 2 full cookers full today with none left over. That never happens.

Back to the shop

I called the shop today to see if my part had arrived yet. (I was sure that it had, but decided not to wait until they called to tell me). Yep it was there. She said I could bring the car right down and get it fixed. I specifically asked if it would just take an hour or so. She said yes. So off I went armed with a book. They did take the car right in. It did take almost 2 hrs. That's OK. They were working on it. When he was finished he came out and gave me the news. The part they put on there did NOT remedy the problem. We needed to order another part. That happens. No problem there. Too bad the part costs over $300. She did not want any money from me today. She said to wait until it was all fixed.
I'm pretty sure that the office lady is the owner's daughter. She needs to learn some customer service skills from her mom.

Earl had a bad pancreatitis attack. He was in the hospital for a couple of days. They got him hydrated and doing ok and sent him home tonight. I'm sure Emily was more happy to have him home than he was. His vacation is over. He is setting up an app't in SLC to get things all checked out. I think he is just jealous of all the attention Ellie has been getting.  

When is it fall? (An editorial)

This is a question that I have pondered the last couple of weeks.

Is it fall when the calendar says it is, even if the temperatures are in the 70's? Not in my book.

Then we had a cloudy, stormy weekend a couple of weeks ago. It was raining and yellow leaves were sticking everywhere. And since I married Mike, I have learned that this is perfect deer hunting weather. That is fall!

But then I was driving home between Pocatello and Twin Falls and then home. First I saw the hoards of green semi trucks loaded with sugar beets traveling between American Falls and Twin. And then I even passed a couple of fields where they were harvesting beets. That brought back memories. I quickly noticed a difference from when we harvested. They dug lots more rows at a time than we did and they loaded into semis!! Now I knew it was fall.

Near Twin Falls, I passed a corn silage pit. There was a tractor driving across the pit to tromp the corn down. Oh, yes, I remember those days. (I could tell several memories that quickly came to mind). Once again the harvesting equipment has been super-sized. It used to take us at least a couple of weeks to harvest our beets and then another couple of weeks or more to harvest the corn. Carl now harvests his corn in less than 2 days. Look at all the fun they are missing out on.   It is now a confirmed fact......it is fall.

Where's my car?

I guess I should finish my car story. I called the shop Tues afternoon. She didn't know if my part was there yet. I thought she was going to check and tell me but she hung up instead. I went down there about 4:45. I was either going to wait until my car was finished or take it home without. The part was not there so I took it home as is. I'm so glad that it is driveable. She was going to call me when the part came in. It has been 2 days and I have not heard anything. Guess I will call her tomorrow and see if I can get it fixed before I go to Utah next week.
I know you are asking why I didn't take my car and run Monday. Well I have had oil changes done there several times and they were reliable and I trusted them. I don't know of any other place in town that I can say that. But that was when the owner was working there. Now the owner isn't there and things are different. I think the owner is home recovering from surgery. I hope she comes back to work soon.

Nevada Blue

Years ago I would wake up to the Elko news. They had an old DJ who was strange but his weather forecast often reported a day of "Nevada Blue". As I have been on my walks, I have been reminded of this and really enjoying lots of beautiful Nevada Blue.

Car update.   I was surprised to get a call from the shop today. She said that they had to order a part and will fix my car tomorrow or Wed when the part comes in. And then I add or Thur or Fri or whenever. I did tell her that I have to have my car tomorrow whether it is fixed or not.

Car Part 2

I called the repair shop. I was told that he was just about to put it on the rack to check it out. Does that sound familiar? At least he said that he has driven it today. BIG progress. I asked if they were lying to me again. She asked what I meant. So I told her that Fri noon I was told that it was about to go on the rack. I told her that I find this to be unexeptable. She hung up on me. Now I may NEVER get my car back fixed or not. Guess I'll be doing plenty of walking.