White Stuff!

WE had snow! It was late arriving we were looking for it on Tuesday, but it came Tuesday night looks like 3 inches...its cold~

 One good thing it brings the birds into better focus, they dont disapear into the foilage...I got that yellow shafted Flicker through the window...there was a small flock around.

              

I'm having some trouble with the spacing of these photos...but I'm not gonna mess too much the more I mess the worse they get :o(~ so its all over the place! Anyways the Northern cardinal and Blue Jays were busy in the yard, 

                               As well as the chipping sparrows, female cardinals ....

Annie, and a last days Camelia....

                        

Dark eyed Juncos males and females abound, and a few American Goldfinch showed up- for snacks too!!

                     

At least I don't have to look at all the pine needles I have not removed off the front lawn this winter...that's kinda nice!

Course it will still be there when the snow melts, but for now I can imagine its perfect under there...

                      

The mail hasn't run yet, hope the mail person doesn't have an encounter with that icicle!

Annie likes it....and so do I!

PEACE

Eleanor Roosevelt: You must do the thing you think you can not.

Back in the Saddle?

I'll soon be losing my helping hands (literally), cause my sister will be returning to Colorado weather permitting next weekend! Sad is not even close to the feelings I'm experiencing.  Try as I may I can not convince her she should stay here with us! She has no other family there so.....?However my Mom has decided she is gonna stay in SC, she had a hard winter heath wise after all she is 89 yrs young and traveling is much harder for her, she has a lot of GEAR that has to go you need an SUV just to take her to town, oxygen, walkers, etc.

 IF I, as a caregiver of an older person, could dish out any advice to my generation (and younger),  based on the difficulties I see her experiencing, I would have to say work on making and keeping strong bones, do NOT smoke or become obese! My mom has osteoporosis and respiratory disease she has however kept her weight down all these years (thank goodness) because that would mean the difference in her being able to live here or not! I would not be able to help her if she was a large robust person...When she fell in the kitchen last month it took both of us about 15 minutes to get her up...

this is how we found her..

mostly because I was not able to lift with my hands since I'm recovering from the accident I had, so it was some improvising that helped get her up, literally by grabbing her by the seat of the pants, and her putting her arms around my neck as I bent forward, and I placed my feet in front of hers so she could push against them to help lift herself some, and I could lift using my shoulders and my sis lifting the back end! 

Anyway I know its not blog worth material but you never know when you may need to help get someone off the floor, or find yourself on the floor! I had to get up off the floor with 2 broken wrists, when was the last time you got up using no hands?  My sister and I both agree everyone should strengthen the muscles we use to get up after a fall! I was able to get to my knees by pushing up with one undamaged elbow to get off the floor.

A much younger more nimble me could sit down and get up in crossed leg Indian style...but those days of that flexibility are gone, replaced with arthritis due to years of hard work and living a full life, bare-horse-back riding, skiing, backpacking, jumping in and out of ambulances all of that has taken a toll on my joints!! Now I can add stiff uncooperative hands to that list...oh well we don't go out all in one piece now do we?

Any ways IM not throwing in the hat a'contrar in fact I'm continuing on with what I have to work with...I will continue to work on the house project doing what I can improvising when I have to and making use of any resources I can get my (hands) on!!

Things change in life it don't have to be life changing unless its for the better.  

...here is the before of the next room we (I?) will be tackling...

I am very limited but inch by inch things will get done! 

More stuff to sell on ebay!
Before

MY baby sister is leaving Friday for Hawaii---she and I have had this race to see how many states we can visit....she will win that race but....

all my progress photos were lost so this is after the walls were done...

I have asked for a solar Hula doll for my dashboard....how fun is that???????

A fresh coat of paint does wonders...

A nice bidding war has broken out on some Legos I've listed on 
Ebay so off I go to check the latest!

PEACE

Eleanor Roosevelt: You must do the thing you think you can not.

Warn N Fuzzy Feeling!

Although its fun to put up a few decorations its good to see it go back in storage too...less clutter.  I think that's why organizational needs surface right after the holidays! Mom and I straightened up the linen closet in the bathroom, it was an unorganized mess...and we rolled up all the pennies that were tumbling around in my pocketbook, making it way too heavy for me to deal with.

...next we will tackle the Junk drawer....its a treasure trove of "things" cant do without it, but I was thinking one of those silverware organizers may help us keep it in better shape?  So I'll look for one next time I go to the Dollar tree...I will get one about this long....

My Mom fell in the kitchen last week...she banged up a knee pretty good and her COPD has been acting up quite a bit so lots of coughing, oxygen, and pills, and just lots of stuff...so I've been reading her the riot act lately I think she is about ready to knock me out!! See she fell cause she was walking around the house without using a cane or walker!! NOW she is having major trouble walking so we made a deal...she is to use the walker UNTIL the knee is well enough to go back to using a cane...I walked into the kitchen the walker is standing there she is not there then I hear her on the back porch...its 2 steps down  and out to the porch WTH?

So I got angry...she said I'm not giving her any credit...

She just doesn't get it....I don't want to spend 6 weeks sitting by her bed while a broken leg heals...I just got 2 casts off my arms she is my arms for now....

I told her she is selfish she was NOT happy bout that..she gave me the stink eye for a couple days!!

BUT then she didn't complain when I watched the Breaking Bad marathon that was on amc channel....and I taped the last 6 episodes so we could see the ending....I asked in my best "pleaseeee, can we, pleaseeee"... voice and used my best puppy dog pleading eye trick!

She was a real good sport and said "oh stop whinning you can watch it, geeze..." and she even got into it and I think she enjoyed some of it!!!

My friend and I had a good New Year's "brunch" and that was very cool...we chattered away and ate like a couple of ...

So I'm still recovering....Mom is improving and doing very well today, the weather is COLD and the New Year is off and hopping!

Hope your New year is as cuddly as ours has been!!

(...these fellows are part of my Ebay inventory I haven't been out taking many photos recently so they agreed to stand in for my Blog Post)

PEACE

Eleanor Roosevelt: You must do the thing you think you can not.