What a long title huh?
Boy am I busy this week. Just think a couple of months ago I wouldn’t have thought about doing any of the things I’m doing lately. (or planning to do…heck, I wouldn’t have made plans.)
So yesterday and today we started working in our little garden patch in the front of the house. When it rains we have a river running through there so we had to be inventive.
I wish I had a before picture, then you would know just how much work we have done. We decided to work with the water flow instead of against it. We put some small pebbles to help the path of water, so it won’t tear up the garden, then sat potted herbs on top of the rocks. (We still need 2 more pots to fill the area, but our local gardening center was out.) The pots contain herbs, we have day lilies coming up from last year, and we put out wild flower seeds to fill in. We’re also going to put a rock border around the front. (We found a lot of cool rocks in the woods right behind our house!)
Tomorrow night we start fostering classes. They will need to do a house visit to inspect where we live, so we need to get the house in order…and ready for a child. We also need to sign up for CPR classes, including CPR for children. And we each need to make appointments to bet a physical. Lot’s to do, but totally worth it.
On Friday I’ll be getting my hearing aids. How cool is that? I just can’t wait to hear what I’ve been missing. I wish I was getting them before we start our classes, I’m afraid I won’t be able to hear what’s going on. Luckily, I’ll have Stuart there to help.
I’m still having too many headaches. I do wish they would go away. Perhaps the next time I see my neurologist she will be able to do more. I’m also having more hip pain than usual, of course I’m doing more. But that doesn’t mean I should be in pain all the time.
What is everyone else up to?
Picnic with Ants 
Sounds like you have been busy! We haven’t even thought about working on any gardens yet, still weird weather in Chicago, one day cold, the next day warm. I did order some plants from QVC home shopping. Never done that before, but the prices were great and everything is guaranteed. Good luck with theose new hearing aids! I hope it opens up a whole new world for you!
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WOW! You guys have a lot going on right now.
That’s a great, little garden you have started. I wish I could try gardening where I live. A couple of years ago I went out back and saw that some seeds and roots and come across the fence to our driveway (we have no back yard really). I started digging them up to transfer to the front yard and I started to see why people find gardening so relaxing. However, at this place, too many people would want to get their hands dirty, so to speak. Previous neighbours gave us some plants for the yard when they moved and one of the guys that used to live here, thinking the plants had died, dug them up and threw them out either in the late fall or early spring.
Since they were perennials, we were not amused.
I hope the fostering classes and home visit work out for you. And hearing aids this week as well!
A lot of times when they say “it never rains but it pours”, it’s viewed in the negative. But, I’m happy to see so many good things happening for the two of you.
Maureen
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Maureen,
Thank you so much! It is pouring right now, but in a good way! I can only hope that I continue to feel well, no relapses, so I can continue to get on with my life.
wendy
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Good luck with the hearing aids, classes, gardens, home visits: all the wonderful, enjoyable, new adventures you have going on in your life right now!
Thanks for sharing the garden. I can’t wait until spring is here enough to plant more wildflower seeds, and start roaming the garden shops for more perannials to add to mom’s garden. It’s my good bye to her and to the house to bring the small side garden back and add something of light, life, and colour again this year — probably sunflowers again!
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Purdy garden. 🙂 We did the same thing as far as working with the water flow and put some potato-size pebbles under the rain spout where the yard used to flood. My husband is really into native gardening, so he ripped up our front yard and planted all California coastal plants. It was amazing to watch in just one year all of them grow from those little one gallon plants into ginormous bushes. I will post a pic on my blog sometime. Anyway, he is the gardener in the family and I am the plant killer. So I just enjoy the fruits of his labor.
Holy smokes, life is getting busy for you. That’s wonderful! It’s nice to be able to engage in some distractions from always feeling sick. I am amazed at how quickly my dance card can fill up once I am back in the swing of life.
I hear you on all the other aches and pains. I went to a podiatrist for the first time today! I have so much foot pain and I can’t figure out what I am doing wrong. I wear good shoes, I am not overweight, I try to take care of myself, but in the end he said my feet and legs just have “bad mechanics”. He recommended some inserts I can get at the shoe store. I hope they work because I am tired of my feet hurting all the time!
You guys are awesome for wanting to open your home to foster children. What a need they have! I wish the best of luck going through the process.
Keep on keepin’ on!
Angelea
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Angelea,
I love that your husband is in to native gardening. We want to do more of that. This year is the first year we’ve really had much of a garden. Eventually, we’d like to have the yard done by a company here called Edible Backyards. It’s a really neat company that creates a great landscape out of plants you can eat. They use as many native plants as possible.
(I’m trying not to kill everything. House plants I kill, I’m pretty good with outside plants though…who knows why.)
I’m so sorry about the foot pain. I know how hard that can be, you can’t stay off your feet. And when you do everything right, it’s so frustrating. I hope the inserts help some. I really know how you feel about being tired of hurting all the time. I feel like that with my hip and more.
thank you for the best wishes on our adventure getting in to the fostering system. It’s scary, but getting less scary as we learn more about how to handle things, and how much help we will have.
wendy
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Hi Wendy,
I found your blog looking for gluten free restaurants in Williamsburg, where we are currently on vacation. I am also gluten intolerant, and was intrigued to read about your hip pain. I had chronic hip, pelvic, and lower back pain, labral tears, etc. for years before I found a diagnosis. It took me 10 hip orthopedists, in multiple cities, and coming to grips with the fact that I would likely have to have my hips replaced at 24 (as told to me by multiple orthopedists) before I finally found my diagnosis: hip impingement.
I am sure you don’t need me telling you about hip disorders, but I would have loved it someone had mentioned this particular one to me earlier. Anyway, just in the off chance that you hadn’t heard of it, it is an under/misdiagnosed disorder that frequently affects females and is a very common cause of labral tears. (I had it in both hips.) There are only a handful of doctors in the country that have any serious level of experience in treating this condition.
Good luck with everything.
-Stephanie
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Thank you Stephanie,
One of my doctors have mentioned a hip impingement, and I’ve heard hip dysplasia. I’ve been told that I have a lot of little things wrong, but nothing big where they could just go in there and fix it. I’m a little worried because my other hip has been bothering me lately. It acts like it gets stuck in one position and it doesn’t want to rotate properly….ouch. I’ll see my orthopedist in a month, we’ll see what he thinks then.
I’m sorry I haven’t had a chance to comment until today. If you are still in Williamsburg, I hope you found Food For Thought. We had 2 wonderful meals there while we were in Williamsburg, the staff seemed very knowledgeable.
Thank you for dropping by!
wendy
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I know how it feels to not make plans – so frustrating.
Good for you, keep up the great work, and health!! : )
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