medical update

Well, it's been two weeks since my rhizotomy and I actually can see and feel improvement, YEAH!

Today, I really pressed it to see how far I had come and I was able to wander around the library without any discomfort and do some grocery shopping with minimal pain. I think we are on the right track at last!

I almost feel like a child that has to find her way back to the right path. At least Tim's there with me.

just an update

Last week, I went golfing with Tim, no I didn't play, I just went along for the ride. Fortunately, the weather got a bit wet so we had to quit and go inside. I was a bit sore the next day and worried that I had screwed up my back again with all the bumps, but after a few days of rest, I'm still able to walk and stand pretty much pain free. I thought I was going to have to go back to the doctor but (crossed fingers) so far so good.

Yesterday I started a new set of water aerobics classes. The water was a bit chilly so you really wanted to keep moving and the instructor definitely put us through our paces. When I got home, I was pooped. I'm grateful that I don't have anything on the agenda today other than getting my nails done. I think my heating pad, recliner and I are all going to get reacquainted today.

Latest news on the Medical front

I went for a walk!

Four months ago, three months ago, 2 months ago - if someone had told me that I would actually volunteer to go for a walk, I would have told them they were crazy. At that time, simply walking across the room was painful, but the treatment in January is still holding true, so I ventured out for a walk with Tim. It wasn't the best day, a bit chilly, but to me it was beautiful because of the sheer fact that I was able to do it! YEAH!

Progress is being made on the Pain front!

Last Friday I went to Penney's to get my hair highlighted and since I was feeling good, I decided to see if I could get some shopping done. Wow! 45 minutes later, two bags in hand, I walked out and my back still hadn't twinged. KNOCK ON WOOD!!!!!

I've been able to stand and cook, go up and down stairs more, and even do a bit of walking on the treadmill, ( SHHH! don't tell Tim) along with my Wii exercises.

Wednesday there is one more shot scheduled for pain management and it seems that they are really going to ease some of my pain. YEAH!

My only question is....Why did I have to wait so long?

Has it been that long?

Mama mentioned that I hadn't put anything new on my blog and when I looked, I said, OMG, has it been that long?

So let's catch up....

My three "grandchildren" are healthy and growing quickly - Jackson is now 2, Molly Kathryn is 7 months old and Isabella is 4 months old. There is a new grand-baby in the making - Stella Reese Stoehr is expected September 9th or there abouts. So I have been working away on baby things for all my beautiful grand-babies!

February, first, I got my new car for the next 3 years - Town & Country van with a bunch of bells and whistles (2 DVD players, Bluetooth, Navigation system, etc). Tim and I drove it when we went to Hilton Head to visit with Mother and Tina and Mary-Ruth and Peter were there one day with us also. Tina had brought her Wii so I got to try it out and now I have one of my own which I use at least 3 times a week.

March we flew down to Florida for a long weekend to celebrate Mike 's (Tim's Brother) 60th birthday but the afternoon we arrived, he went into the hospital with a possible heart attack so we had to party without him. Luckily no heart attack, but some blockage so he had to have a stint inserted. Doing fine now.

Kathy (Tim's sister) and her hubbie David came up the end of March for the DC tour at the perfect time for the cherry blossoms. It was great to visit.

The end of March and early April were taken up with activities for the Ladies 9 Holers - I'm now the Treasurer as well as the secretary. I played duplicate bridge 3 times with my friend Rosemary and been playing Mah Jongg just about every week.

May has started out busy as well. I'm on the Social committee at the Country Club - and we are starting a Ladies social group called the LILIES - Ladies Involved with Like Interests, Efforts, and Specialties - I worked really hard for that acronym! So I have been working very hard on getting that started (I was named the Committee chair) - getting a list of topics for the gatherings (I don't want to call them meetings) and then finding speakers or experts to talk about the topics. Our first gathering is June 22nd!

Lastly, on the catchup scene, I went to the doctor about my back again, and I have been sent to the Pain Management specialist. Next week I will be starting some special injections into my back to try to relieve the near constant pain in my back. Keep your fingers crossed for me and a few prayers might help.

Needless to say, I have been reading all along, and currently have read 42 books for 2011. If you are interested in what I read, check out my book blog at Cheli's Shelves.

I'll try to do better from now on keeping up with what's happening.

Where did a month go?

I thought that once I finished up my big project at the golf course in mid-July, I would have plenty of time to get things in order and be able to spend some time with my Mom and read some books and do some needlework and finish the plans for this years village, but no such luck!

I can't begin to figure out where 4 entire weeks went. We had big storms and power outages (thankfully ours was of short duration) visitors because of their lack of power while we were still chilling out, doctors, dentist visits and crab feasts.

Then this week I lost my appointment calendar! How in the word am I suppose to function without knowing where I'm supposed to be at what time!?!?! I think that I have tentatively reconstructed my appointments, but if I missed anything, I sure hope it's not that important and can be rescheduled.

This weekend starts a bounty of special events in the next few weeks.

1. The annual Maryland Terrapin fan tailgaters crab feast on Saturday the 21st
2. Our friend Marshall's wedding on Sunday the 22nd (it was also my Dad's birthday)
3. I see the Spine specialist on Tuesday the 24th
4. Dentist to replace an old filling on the 26th
5. Bingo on Friday the 27th

That's just the first week. Then we hit the road to go to South Carolina for the Baby shower for Molly and her first little one due at Halloween, return so that Tim can go to the Maryland v. Navy football game on Labor Day, Bowling season starts on the 8th, and then a surprise birthday party for Tim's Aunt Phyllis in West Virginia (she'll be 95!) interspersed with 2 sessions of bridge (29th and 1st) and MahJongg whenever we can get 4 players in town and free on the same night. And somehow we need to fit Bunko in the schedule too!

Busy....Busy.....BUSY

Big Project coming to an end

Well, I've been working on a big project for the last few months. The Ladies Golf group for which I am the secretary is holding an Invitational Golf tournament tomorrow and I was selected the Chairperson. So I have been very busy with invitations and menus and decorations and phone calls, and now it is all coming to an end. Tomorrow is the big day and our little Summer Fair (that's our theme) is ready to open. Yesterday a large group of us got together and made little gift bags for our visitors and stuff popcorn bags and finished up the decorations. Tomorrow morning we are due at the golf Course at 7AM (UGH!) to set everything up so that the visiting ladies will be greeted at 8AM with breakfast and a FAIR TO REMEMBER (sorry I couldn't resist!).

I'm taking my camera so hopefully I get some good shots of the fun we're expecting. I'm just praying for no rain!

Countdown for the holidays has started!

I was just visiting my sister's blog (Tutu's Two Cents) and she confirmed that Beth, over at Beth Fish Reads has given us permission to take a break from our computers for the holidays. YES, the holidays... So blame it on Tutu, she got me starting thinking about the holidays and everything that had to be done. They are coming and with them, many mysteries to be solved with moments of wondering ....

• who do I invite?
• what will I wear to that party? Should I take something?
• when will I fit that into my schedule? Can I get it done in time?
• where can I get that gift? What color, what size?
• how will I get it all done?
• why can't I think of something for her/him?

There are so many decisions to be made each year and sometimes they become overwhelming.

• The tree - should we get a real one and should it be small or large or huge?
• Christmas Goodies - Should we cheat on our diets - dah, of course, but when can we start? What should we make and how much of each?
• What do we get everyone or are we giving gifts at all?
• Are we sending cards? Should we include a Christmas Letter?
• Decorations - Same old, same old, or something new and different?
• When will I see everyone? Do I travel to their house or invite them to mine?
  And what about all my book challenges? Will I manage to squeeze in all the final books I need to finish?

The answers, for me, are pretty simple...

• Trees - 1 Small, 1 medium, 1 large all fake
• baking - list decided- all I have to do is schedule what when
• presents - gift certificates for the out of town kids (I know that's cheating but they love to go after Christmas for all the sales and get exactly what they want) the siblings have ceased to exchange except for nominal items, so that leaves one for Mom and 1 for hubbie
• Cards are scheduled for the 2nd week in December
• Parties are all scheduled, invitations have been sent and RSVPs done,
• and decorations are in progress! (should be finished this weekend)

It's all in the organization and having a calendar that can handle everything - yeah Outlook!

So my advice, take an hour or two and plan it all out, print out your calendar and enjoy this special season...It won't be back again for another 365 days!

Good day, Bad day

I woke up this morning and I felt pretty good. It was the first night on my new pillow and I was surprised at how well I slept. It was planned that I was supposed to go to the Country Club where Tim (after playing golf and showering) and I would meet up with Mary-ellen and Molly (after they dropped Bryan at the airport) and head to the Wine Festival in Virginia. However, things didn't run smoothly.

1. Tim forgot to get gas in my car after using it for the tailgate on Saturday and I wasn't sure that I had enough to get to the Country Club let alone to Virginia.
2. When I went to put my seat belt on, the connector that I use on the driver side (because I can't feel the place to clip it) was missing.
3. After gyrating around to hook my seat belt without the connector, I backed out of the garage, only to see that there are bungee cords and duct tape sitting on my hood.
4. The bus for the Wine Club to go to the Wine Festival, left at 12PM, we left at 2:30PM.

We finally got to the Wine Festival around 3:15Pm and once we got there, had a wonderful time. The weather was perfect and the some of the wines were good.
I'm not sure whether to count this in the good day or bad day category.

A day with Sister #2

In my family, we jokingly always go by number, all our names seemed to run together when we were young, so to keep straight with our parents, we were #1, #2, etc I was daughter #4.

Today I spent with sister #2, Mary-Ruth, who is a floral designer for special events. She wanted some feedback on her website so I went up to her house and we chatted about it. Then I helped her with computer things for special scrapbook items for 2 of the Lady Maryland Terrapins. I had a delightful time helping her ( at least I think I helped her) with some organizational aspects of all her family photos.

It was great to realize that sister #4 can help sister #2 and have great time while doing it.

Another day in Maine

After a good night's sleep, I woke this morning and prepared for a trip to the General Knox House in Thomaston, Maine.

Tina, Kyla and I went to the Montpelier where we took a tour of the "home" of General Henry Knox. We were informed that the building was not the original, but a reproduction because the house had been badly cared for after the General's death and fallen into disrepair. It was eventually demolished and the DAR worked to have it reproduced on a new site ( the railroad had already taken over the original site). The ceiling and chair moldings were magnificent, the flying staircase was tremendous, and the reproduced wallpaper patterns were extremely interesting. But the most magnificent part was the oval ballroom with 2 fireplaces and doors that were actually curved. I did pick up a book about the homes of the Founding Fathers in the gift shop.

Afterward we went to lunch in a restaurant that resides in what was an old railway station. As rain began to fall we headed home and spent the rest of the afternoon with a friendly game of Maine Monopoly.

Chèli

Activities in Myrtle Beach

Things have been very busy here. We have spent precious time with Molly and Bryan before they headed back to Spartanburg, shared laughs with Bradley and Leslie before they went back home and to their jobs this week. This morning at 5AM Sheila, Theresa, Caitlyn and her friend Hannah arrived.

Now, a group of 7 are headed to the golf course for some sun and fun!

Stay tuned!

Busy day ahead

I woke up this morning thinking that I would head to the driving range to hit some balls. no-no. It is only 36° and a wind chill of 31° - too cold for me. Scrap those plans. So instead I'm headed to the library to return 4 books and pick up 1. (I swear I'm only picking up 1!) Then the grocery store for fruit and cheese (Tim can't live with out his mozzarella these days) and then home to start the demo on the village. I figure I better get started before I have to begin working so that I have a reason to keep at it when I get home from work. If I don't start now, I may never get started.

And tonight MAH Jongg!! (Bear's not happy that I won't be home to watch the O's game with him.)

Chèli's personal blog

Well, I'm taking the plunge and striking out on my own. I'm setting up this blog to let my friends and family keep track of what I'm doing and what's keeping me busy. That said, HERE GOES!

It's Opening Day of the baseball season and it was raining this morning, but the sun is trying to poke its way out so that there might be a game. I spent some time last week on the phone with Verizon to make sure that I had the correct availability so that I wouldn't miss a thing. Everything is in place, just waiting for the right time! Bear and I are set, we have our Orioles shirts on and are ready to boo the Yankees! GO O's!!!!

While we wait, I have been making some modifications to the Derry Family Blog to make it easier to read and finishing up the design here. Hope everybody likes my bright colors.
Now for the Chèli update.

1) I'm still on my diet (cheating every once in awhile) but have lost 63 pounds. I went to the Gastroenterologist today and he said that I was a STAR PATIENT.

2) I’ll probably be starting back to work in Tim's office very shortly (Georgia is due to have the baby April 19th but I'm not sure she'll hold out that long. As soon as she has the baby, I'm in the working force again.)

3) I'm still trying to improve my golfing skills, (working won't help) so I will be popping to the Country Club when I get a chance to hit some balls. I am also the coordinator of the lady 9 holers invitationals, so I have to make sure that I get enough ladies to play at the other golf courses on the events day. So even though I'm not playing golf on a regular basis, I'm still getting sucked into the golf environment. (Just teasing - the ladies 9 holers are great!)

4) Tim and I have been working diligently to get the Montgomery Country Club Bridge Group started and growing. We had been playing on a monthly basis but now we have a bunch of new members (my recruiting is finally paying off) and we are expanding to twice a month. We play on Sunday evenings at the Club and we have new group members that Tim and I have been teaching bridge. It’s been lots of fun and great meeting and getting to know such nice people.

5) On the home front, I will be starting the demolition of Derry town in the next few weeks. I need to get the pieces inventoried and photographed so that I can get a listing sent off to the insurance man. (Hear that, Dave!) Once that part of the inventory is done, I will be working room to room to update the info on the rest of the house so that I eventually, can burn a CD and give it to State Farm for safekeeping. While I’m working on the home inventory, I will also be working on making my will current (the last one was 15 years ago) so if anyone has something they would like to be heir to, let me know. If that’s not enough I also have the 5000+ photographs from the Bill Derry’s that I agreed to scan into my computer and burn CDs for everyone. (I haven’t forgotten.)

6) I would also like to get some work done on the two books that I am writing. The first is a novel that I started in 1993 and would like to eventually finish. The second is a children’s book that I am writing for my “grandson” Jackson. (Those that know me, also know that having had no children, it would be hard for me to have a grandson. However, when our nephew Christopher and his beautiful bride, Melanie, were expecting, Ellen (Christopher’s Mom – my sister-in-law) and Melanie’s Mom, Gloria, said that I could be Nonna – the Italian grandmother – they are sharing their grandson with me and I feel so blessed by their generosity. ) Hopefully, I will make some progress on both of these projects soon.

7) For my relaxation time, I have been reading and stitching. As of this day, I have read 54 books in 2009 and my goal is 109 books for the entire year. I have joined LIBRARYTHING (LT for short) and I have met so many nice people who share my love of reading. I have joined into a number of challenges/groups which drive the need to read those 109 books.

a) the Main Challenge is the 999 Challenge. Here each person chooses 9 categories and 9 books in each category = 81 books.

b) Terp Challenge was to read 2 books for each loss that the Men’s Basketball team suffered in this past season. Since they had 14 losses that’s another 28 books.

c) Supplement to the 999 Challenge and Terp Challenge are the 75 and 100 Challenges which are basically the same books.

d) The last challenge is the one that Tina (my sister) and I devised together. The US Presidents’ Challenge is to read the Biographies of all 43 Presidents before the end of the term of our current President. That gives us at least 4 years and possibly 8 to get this reading done. So far, (I’m reading in order) I’m done, Washington, Adams, Jefferson, and Madison. I’ve been reading background books as well – drafting of the constitution, War of 1812, those kind of things so that I can get a feel for the time in history that these men occupied.

Thanks to all my new friends at LT I have found so many new interests in books. I have been stretching my normal areas of reading to include history, biographies, (these are what led to the Presidents Challenge), Award Winning books/Authors (these are probably books I never would have read), non-fiction, and Classics. That doesn’t mean that I’ve given up on the old standards because I am still reading oodles of mysteries (I currently have 45 series that I follow) but I haven’t read a romance so far this year. I have some on my list but haven’t gotten to them yet.

Also in my relaxation time, I am back to working on my Cross Stitch projects. I finished a Cross Stitch Birth Announcement for Jackson and have a few others in the works but since I want them to be a surprise, I won’t tell what they are.

Lastly, I am still spending time travelling to Baltimore to visit with my Mom (she’s doing great) and working with my sister, Mary-Ruth, trying to finish up the cataloging of my Dad’s stamp collection.

So, Chèli’s Cozy Corner is very busy, but never too busy for the love of her life, TIM. This year we will be celebrating our 35th wedding anniversary and I can’t imagine what my life would have been like without this man who treats me like a princess and always, always, makes me feel loved beyond belief.

So, come in and sit down, anytime you’d like in my cozy little corner of the world. I may not be posting everyday, but hopefully, my postings will be fun!
Love to you all! Chèli